Reviews with content warning for Vomit - Into Thin Air: A Personal Account Of The Everest Disaster

Climbing Everest is one of those things that I know I’d never be able to do, but there’s a small part of me that thinks, “If so many, sometimes inexperienced, people do it, how hard could it really be?” Well now I have my answer and I think anyone who chooses to do it is crazy. It sounds like the most stressful, miserable experience. But it was so fascinating to read, and I couldn’t put this book down. What a (frankly, senseless) tragedy that so many people lose their lives for this attempt. The author did a great job outlining not just the expedition, but also the history and the background behind why so many people risk their lives this way.

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clarabooksit's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.5

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oceanwriter's review against another edition

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adventurous informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

Immersive, personal, and adventuresome, Jon Krakauer brings his readers to Mount Everest to recount his disastrous trek up the infamous mountain in 1996. In the style of a novel, the memoir replays the events of the trip from start to finish as the author remembers them (which is easier said than done when dealing with lethally high altitudes).

All I could wonder while reading was, 'is risking your life really worth conquering the summit?'. Apparently given how many have attempted it throughout history, the answer is yes. Simply picking up this book or those like it is a testament to human curiosity and thirst for adventure. While I am personally content to read about other people's travels when it comes to climbing mountains, there were a number of times throughout the book I envisioned myself out there in the below-freezing cold. Though this book is not short on the devastating loss of lives, I can ultimately understand why someone might find the risks and exhaustion worth it.

This was the second book by Jon Krakauer I've read and I enjoyed it just as much as the first.

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prairieraven's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective tense fast-paced

3.75

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armontheroad's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional informative reflective fast-paced

4.0

Excellent memoir depicting the1996 Mount Everest Disaster. Was thoroughly obsessed with this and would have given it five stars if not for the transphobia and ableism. This did strick up a new hyperfixation, though, which I am very happy about. I really liked Jon Krakauer’s voice and would be interested and reading more of his work. I did appreciate his mentioning of how fucking racist and ignorant the white climbers of Everest are to the lovely locals.

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jkfulr62's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

It’s hard to review a book about someone’s traumatic experience. The book was very well written technically and I like the interspersing of the history regarding man’s assault on Everest since the 1920s. The tragedy of the lost lives hits hard, but you’re reading a book about a horrible real-life disaster so you kind of know what you’re getting into I suppose. I think with this book it is important to remember that these are not characters. These a human beings and the ones who survived are out here in the world living their lives and the ones who died have people who are still feeling the pain of that loss. I think Krakauer did the best he could with this, knowing that no matter how he crafted it, some people would be upset.

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horizonous's review against another edition

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4.25

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