243 reviews for:

Eiger Dreams: Ventures Among Men and Mountains

Jon Krakauer

3.88 AVERAGE

gabrielledurrett's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous informative medium-paced

flokat's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

omad's review against another edition

4.0

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Short stories from Jon Krakauer, some of read before, but all enthralling.

nickn77's review against another edition

2.0

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Eiger Dreams is a collection of 12 non-fiction mountaineering shorts by Jon Krakauer. The stories range in topics from the art of "bouldering" to deadly climbing escapades on K2. [return][return]I read and enjoyed Into Thin Air and Into The Wild, but this book did not spark my interest in the same manner. I found myself yawning through the name-droppingly dull story of Chamonix. Krakauer spent a great deal of paper real estate describing every climber that set foot in town and penned what felt like only a few paragraphs on the actual mountain. Unfortunately, a few stories in the collection shared this characteristic.[return][return]This collection is not all bad. A few standouts include: "Eiger Dreams" - describes attempts to conquer the North Face of the Eiger, "Gill" - A tale of bouldering and "The Devils Thumb" - A personal account where Krakauer sets out to climb in Alaska alone (Should be a familiar tale if you have read Into The Wild).[return][return]Unfortunately, this book did not rate very high for me, but if you are a Krakauer fan it may be worth reading just for a few of the standout stories mentioned above.

erinlm's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous lighthearted fast-paced

hannahproctor's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous dark reflective tense medium-paced

theredhead15's review against another edition

4.0

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4.5 stars. Great writing and storytelling, as always

tanja_alina_berg's review against another edition

4.0

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This is a series of essays written a few decades ago about mountain climbing. I have read “into thin air” by the same author of course, but fell into this one as a follow up to “the god of the woods”. It’s a niche subject matter and I am not a climber, but I found it quite entertaining. He describes the cabin fever that ensues when you’re stuck in a small tent because of bad weather, and various adventures and misadventures. I can’t quite get it, I admit. Why risk your life to conquer a mountain just because it’s there? But it makes for great armchair adventure!

shanekelby's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

dogmold's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective relaxing sad slow-paced