Reviews

Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster by Jon Krakauer

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lizzycatslibrary's review against another edition

3.0

A couple of things... firstly, I never want to climb Everest. Second, why does anyone want to climb Everest? And finally third, what was the deal with all the dra-ma at the end of the book? He's like I don't want to feud but lets feud. It was just... weird. I know it's natural for everyone to try and blame someone for disasters but... it's Everest. These kind of things are not unheard of. It's not a surprise that people die on it, apparently that is the norm. So is it really worth it to try and blame someone? The whole end post script post post script post post post script was just weird.

issysarchives's review against another edition

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5.0

Incredibly accessible writing for a non fiction about scaling everest. Honest, brutal and brilliant.

cassiakarin's review against another edition

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5.0

Allow me to quote myself in what I texted to my husband the morning I completed this novel:

“I am physically shaken and emotionally disturbed upon finishing Krakauer's Into Thin Air. Horrifying, with no resolve or solace for my beating heart to idle through or my nerves to land or dissipate upon. I thought it was going to be a riveting and proud tale of feats accomplished and man's conquering splendor before a giant of renown. No. It's a journalistic retelling of desperate cries, unwarranted loss, unquenchable desire, frivolous pride, cold distance, and nerve breaking horrors of ghosts, corpses, and grotesque resurrections. Yikes, I am stirred and quivering with anxious nausea…”

Ya, those are the kinds of texts I send to my husband…but you might say, “So, you didn’t like it?” Wrong. I highly recommend this book, and partially regret being the one to break the mystery of it’s contents for you since the surprise was such a powerful element of the book’s affect on me. This book is already considered a “classic” in the mountaineering world. Once I read it, I realized how many renown climbers have quotes from it regularly on their lips.

Recommended by: Unknown (Most likely influenced by my husband who is deeply in the climbing world)