Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Everest Disaster
Jul 2011 · Pan Macmillan
4.5star
156 reviewsreport
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About this ebook
Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air is the true story of a 24-hour period on Everest, when members of three separate expeditions were caught in a storm and faced a battle against hurricane-force winds, exposure, and the effects of altitude, which ended in the worst single-season death toll in the peak's history.
In March 1996, Outside magazine sent veteran journalist and seasoned climber Jon Krakauer on an expedition led by celebrated Everest guide Rob Hall. Despite the expertise of Hall and the other leaders, by the end of summit day, eight people were dead. Krakauer's book is at once the story of the ill-fated adventure and an analysis of the factors leading up to its tragic end. Written within months of the events it chronicles, Into Thin Air clearly evokes the majestic Everest landscape.
As the journey up the mountain progresses, Krakauer puts it in context by recalling the triumphs and perils of other Everest trips throughout history. The author's own anguish over what happened on the mountain is palpable as he leads readers to ponder timeless questions.
One of the inspirations for the major motion picture Everest, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Keira Knightley.
'Into Thin Air ranks among the great adventure books of all time.' - Wall Street Journal
'A harrowing tale of the perils of high-altitude climbing, a story of bad luck and worse judgment and of heartbreaking heroism.' - People
In March 1996, Outside magazine sent veteran journalist and seasoned climber Jon Krakauer on an expedition led by celebrated Everest guide Rob Hall. Despite the expertise of Hall and the other leaders, by the end of summit day, eight people were dead. Krakauer's book is at once the story of the ill-fated adventure and an analysis of the factors leading up to its tragic end. Written within months of the events it chronicles, Into Thin Air clearly evokes the majestic Everest landscape.
As the journey up the mountain progresses, Krakauer puts it in context by recalling the triumphs and perils of other Everest trips throughout history. The author's own anguish over what happened on the mountain is palpable as he leads readers to ponder timeless questions.
One of the inspirations for the major motion picture Everest, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Keira Knightley.
'Into Thin Air ranks among the great adventure books of all time.' - Wall Street Journal
'A harrowing tale of the perils of high-altitude climbing, a story of bad luck and worse judgment and of heartbreaking heroism.' - People
Ratings and reviews
4.5
156 reviews
sourav singh
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March 12, 2013
The end is little marred by the long description of bickering that followed between Jon and bourkeev.. else a very touching and shocking book for climbers who have been to Everest region.. In hindsight it becomes even more shocking to see the chances climbers were taking in the 90's.. the Everest climb has become much better organised now.. although that in turn has caused traffic jams on the slopes of epic proportions.
6 people found this review helpful
Tom Malone
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March 13, 2014
Krakauer's account of the 1996 Mount Everest tragedy really held my attention. The frenetic pace of events and disorientating nature of events on he mountain during the disaster really comes through in Krakauer's writing. A thought provoking postscript provides more details on some of the arguments that followed the events he describes. With limited knowledge of mountaineering, I found the author's retelling of this story fascinating and I would not hesitate to recommend the book to others.
9 people found this review helpful
Aparna Sharma
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June 15, 2017
Half side of story ,not completely researched about tragedy of 1996 that happened on Everest. He has been apologetic about his late timing of trying to smoothen things between verbal attacks between him and Boukreev, but he was too opinionated about Anatoli without researching the facts. Read other side of story too.
1 person found this review helpful
About the author
Jon Krakauer is a mountaineer and the author of Eiger Dreams, Into the Wild, (which was on the New York Times bestseller list for over a year and was made into a film starring Emile Hirsch and Kristen Stewart) Into Thin Air, Iceland, Under the Banner of Heaven and Where Men Win Glory. He is also the editor of the Modern Library Exploration series.
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