Scan barcode
A review by laurenofgreengables
Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster by Jon Krakauer
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.
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.