Reviews

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

kaitlincarroll's review against another edition

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3.0

I think this would be easier to understand if I knew literally anything about Everest. I had to keep stopping to look up terms and pictures of locations. And I think we all know this but I’ll say it: I do not have what it takes to climb Mt Everest

haligon_ian's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional informative sad fast-paced

3.0

sivujaselaten's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging sad tense medium-paced

5.0

camicarreno's review against another edition

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4.0

Esta historia es terrible. Creí que iba a entender el porqué de querer escalar el Everest y creo que lo entiendo menos que antes. Es demasiado difícil, es terrible para el cuerpo, apenas están en la cumbre y pueden morir en cualquier momento. Hay algunas partes que reflejan demasiado la maldad y la miseria humana, como cuando alguien prefiere llegar a la cumbre que ayudar a un herido; pero hay otras que muestran lo buenas y generosas que son algunas personas. Me gustó mucho el libro.

readingphoebe's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.5

laurenthelas's review

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adventurous dark informative inspiring sad tense medium-paced

4.0

lilbuzzball's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional reflective tense medium-paced

3.5

emilyann4500's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

physicalsecrets's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional informative sad tense fast-paced

4.75

laurenofgreengables's review against another edition

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5.0

I’m in a complete book hangover from Into Thin Air. I simultaneously want to go down a rabbit hole of related videos, articles and interviews, but also want to forget I ever read it because I feel so emotionally drained.

Into this Air is Krakauer’s true life account of his 1996 climb of Mount Everest, and the tragedies that struck his climbing group. Into the Wild by Krakauer is one of my favorite books, but this is even better.

The structure is almost too perfect. You go on a journey with Krakauer, from when a magazine assigns him an article to write about Everest’s guided climbs and the increasing commercialization of Everest. You meet the group that you know will be doomed, and their month-long preparation to reach the summit. A slow sense of dread builds up because you know many of the climbers will die, but you don’t know who and how.

I knew nothing about mountaineering or Everest before this. Krakauer does a good job explaining things in simple terms, but I did have to Google Image search more than a view locations to better understand what they encountered on Everest.

Fair warning, if you’re a sensitive reader this will be hard to get through. You come to know and love these people, and Krakauer writes about their deaths with no details spared.

Overall an incredible read and of the best books I’ve read this year.