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Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster (Paperback) (平装)
by Jon Krakauer
| Category:
Adventure, Outdoors |
| Market price: ¥ 168.00
MSL price:
¥ 158.00
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MSL rating:
 Good for Gifts |
| MSL Pointer Review:
A true page-turner that combines interesting background elements with a well-told account of the events surrounding the tragedy and a humanity that could only come from the author's first-person experience. |
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AllReviews |
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A reader (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-29 00:00>
Having never understood why people climb mountains, and after seeing Beck Weathers on television last year, I bought Into Thin Air in order to gain more insight. Krakauer delivered.
Have some time on your hands, because once you begin reading Jon's story depicting the turn of events throughout his journey on Everest in the Spring of '96, you won't be able to stop reading until you've read the last word in his book. This account of summitting Everest is a page turner even though the outcome is old news. It will leave you wanting to know more about other attempts made on Everest, both failed and successful.
For those who don't understand why on earth anyone would want to do something as dangerous as climbing "Into Thin Air" on rock and ice... this book answers that curiosity. Because Jon introduces his readers to the backgrounds and personalities of the main characters in his book, we can better comprehend the different reasons people spend thousands of dollars and two or more months of their lives in "hell" on a mountain - freezing and injured - 'just to get to the top'. We learn through Krakauer why they continue their ascent even though the conditions are pure torture and more life threatening with each step; why they don't give it up once they've lost feeling in their extremities, separated their ribs, lost their vision, can no longer breathe due to oxygen depleted air, why they don't turn back even when they see the dead who've attempted to reach the summit on prior expeditions. You'll understand because of Krakauer's talent as a writer... his ability to replay his emotions, his thoughts, his experiences, and his opinions through writing.
You'll feel the frigid wind, the snow, the ice, the pain, the desperation, the sorrow, the regrets. The "if only's" will torture your soul just as they have and continue to torture Jon's.
He writes in such a way you will have no choice other than to join him on that mountain. You'll meet and get to know the members and guides of Rob Hall's team as well as Scott Fischer, his guides, and some of his team members whom you will respect even though you may not like. Unfortunately, not everyone on the mountain was a "good guy"... you'll be livid thanks to the danger the teams encounter due to the inexperience, egos, arrogance, and ruthlessness of the few "bad apples".
For the survivors, Jon's book is an avenue in which fathers, husbands, wives, sons, daughters, and other loved ones are portrayed as the heroes they were. Although some of the deceased's relatives were upset with Krakauer, it will seem unjust because of the respectful way in which he depicts his fellow mountaineers and the Sherpas.
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J. Mullin (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-29 00:00>
I found Into Thin Air, as well as Krakauer's excellent Into the Wild, to be two of the most gripping, emotional, unforgettable reads of my life. Into Thin Air tells a fascinating story of hardship, tragedy, heroism and perhaps lack of respect for nature, and unlike virtually all books of the genre the author was there, suffering through the storm and watching his comrades fall. Sebastian Junger, in his compelling book The Perfect Storm, pieced together information to try and imagine what it was like on the Andrea Gail out in the North Atlantic. Krakauer was actually on the summit of Everest in May 1996, and he takes the reader on one helluva ride.
Most of you who have gotten this far in the reviews knows the basic premise. Krakauer was sent to Everest by Outside magazine to join New Zealand guide Ron Hall's expeedition in the spring of 1996. He was there to write an expose about how anyone who is reasonably in shape, has some (and not a lot) of climbing experience, and who can fork over more than $60,000 could be taken to the summit of Everest while Sherpas and yaks carried most of your supplies, cooked your meals, and carried you when you collapsed. One climber even brought an espresso machine. He also wanted to comment on how Everest has become a virtual junk yard, with empty oxygen cannisters strewn all over the face of the mountain.
What he found changed his life forever. Krakauer was caught up in a deadly storm, that appeared virtually "out of thin air", leaving members of his and other teams stranded on the summit and on Hillary Step (a ledge just below the summit) with little chance of making it down. The story is gripping, suspenseful and ultimately deeply moving. The reader may think humans, especially those with pregnant wives at home, have no business at the summit of Everest, but you cannot help being deeply moved as you read about Rob Hall talking to his wife on the other side of the world, via satellite phone, to discuss the name of their unborn child while Hall is stranded on the mountain. The book kept me up nights as few others ever have.
A point about the "feud" with Anatoli Boukreev is worth mentioning, since, in my opinion, this has been blown out of proportion by others. Krakauer recognizes that each climber has his own way of doing things, but he took some shots at the Mountain Madness expedition led by Scott Fischer, and at his guide Boukreev in particular, for climbing without supplemental oxygen and for descending ahead of the group's clients. I think he made some good points there. Boukreev was no doubt a great climber, and his death in an avalanche the next year makes the whole debate a little pointless, but I think a client if I were to fork over $60,000 I have the right to expect that the guide will be out on the mountain with me as I descend, not warming up in the hut drinking tea. Boukreev is credited by Krakauer with a heroic trip back up the mountain during a blizzard to reach Fischer, and he may have been told earlier by Fischer to descend (we'll never know for sure), but those tactics are surely open to debate. Some reviewers here on Amazon have taken personal shots at Krakauer's actions during the storm, but he was no paid guide, and he rightfully takes some blame himself in his book for abandoning Beck Weathers and for giving some false info to the family of one of his guides, Andy Harris that added to the confusion in those first days of the incident.
In any event, if you want to get caught up in the whole Krakauer v. Boukreev debate, be my guest - you can read both of their accounts of what happened on that fateful trip. For my money, Krakauer's account is the definitive, well-written story, which should at the very least be used as a starting point for anyone interested in the 1996 Everest tragedy. And for most people (like myself) with little or no interest in climbing, read Into Thin Air on its own as a gripping, unforgettable account of a very public tragedy which you will not soon forget.
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A reader (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-29 00:00>
Jon Krakauer's narrative of the 1996 disaster on Mt. Everest is excellently written and extremely engrossing. Although the events are true, the book reads like a top action/adventure thriller, keeping us turning pages until the end. This is definitely a first-person account, though, and Krakauer makes sure the attention is centered on him, as he alternately extolls his virtues and reveals his faults. I felt extremely saddened when reading this book and I think we must look closely at how and why this tragedy happened. I cannot help but fault, in part, the two guides, Hall and Fischer. Both were experienced climbers and both had previously been on Everest. As guides, these men were running a business for profit and were desirous of satisfied customers - that meant making the summit. But these two men had also accepted the responsibility of caring for their clients' safety, as well as for the safety of those in expeditions not their own. The fact that they ignored self-imposed turn-around times simply cannot be forgiven. Ultimately, however, each person must take responsibility for his or her own actions. Technically, Everest is an easy climb, but the physical demands are enormous. The bulk of climbers were untrained, unfamiliar with their equipment, and simply not in the top physical condition needed to withstand the rigors of high-altitude climbing, a fact of which they certainly must have been aware. And if they weren't, then certainly Hall and Fischer were. Many of the previous reviewers have faulted the climbers for turning their backs on Beck Wethers and Yasuko Namba, but once you have actually engaged in high-altitude climbing, as I have done, you know Everest is not the place to become your brother's keeper. No one should have died and had Hall and Fischer turned around, as they should have, in all probability no one would have. Into Thin Air is a fascinating tale and one that poses many thought-provoking questions each man and woman must answer, not only on Everest, but in the course of his or her day-to-day life.
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Christopher Calabrese (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-29 00:00>
I've been a Krakauer fan only for a couple of years and I quickly polished off Under the Banner of Heaven and Into the Wild shortly before tackling this masterpiece. I've read "Into Thin Air" several times, and I even picked up the made-for-tv-movie that was based on the book as well. (In case you're wondering, the acting is so terrible that it makes Keanu Reeves appear oscar-worthy! The action is terrible as well, but if you get obsessed with this book, and re-reading it doesn't do the trick, you can always pick up the movie to get your Krakauer-fix.)
After I had finished Into the Wild, I didn't think much could top it, but Into Thin Air is in a totally different league. I suppose one of the most amazing aspects of Krakauer's work is that it reads like fiction, while at the same time we know it is a true story. Most readers go into Into Thin Air knowing how it ends but we are still GLUED to every page and cannot seem to put it down!
I would hate to go too deep into the plot, because I wouldn't be doing it justice, although I've gone over the story time after time in my head, and I'm convinced of the following: Scott Fischer was the person to blame in this tragedy. The reason why there was a jam at the Hillary Step was because Lopsang Sherpa was too weak to work with the other sherpa. Therefore, when the climbers began to reach the step, it took an extra unforseen two hours to fix the ropes. The reason why Lopsang was so tired was because Sandi Pittman brought along a cappucino machine, laptop, and other luxuries. She was part of Fischer's group, and he saw Sandi as a free ride to future business. This is similar to how Krakauer and Outisde Magazine were Rob Hall's free ride as well. Anyway, Scott Fischer OK'd Sandi's extra supplies and it ended up partly dooming the climbing parties. I would say it is also Rob Hall's fault for not keeping to his 2pm turn-around time as well, but at $65,000 a pop, Hall was driven by the same motivation that drove Fischer - greed. I go back to Fischer, though, because if he had done the responsible thing, he would have made Sandi Pittman pay for an extra Sherpa, or Scott could have payed out of his own pocket, in order to get a return on investment for exposing his company through someone like Pittman. But then again, this is just my opinion.
I also feel strange when I think about this story... I feel close to it somehow; close to the characters as well. I cannot put into words how this book makes me feel. I'm not sure if it's just the story or Krakauer's writing style, but either way I believe everyone on earth should read this book. It would be well spent money.
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Rita (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-29 00:00>
Unlike most people, I read The Climb, by Boukreev/DeWalt, before I read Into Thin Air, by Kraukauer. In The Climb, DeWalt (who ghost-wrote the book for Boukreev, and lives in my area), spends a lot of space claiming that Kraukauer went out of his way to slander Boukreev. DeWalt is no great shakes as a writer, but he did succeed in convincing me that Kraukauer had been grossly unfair to Boukreev in Into Thin Air. So then I went and actually read Into Thin Air, and I couldn't understand what DeWalt was talking about. Kraukauer certainly did criticize Boukreev, at times rather strongly, but his criticisms seem entirely justified and they are balanced by equally strong praise for Boukreev's courage. And Kraukauer directed the strongest criticism at himself. After reading both books, I am in full agreement with the reviewers who think that DeWalt deliberately portrayed Into Thin Air to be something it's not in order to create controversy to draw media attention to The Climb.
If you have read The Climb, you owe it to yourself to read this 1999 edition of Into Thin Air, which has a detailed new postscript that sheds much light on the Boukreev-Kraukauer controversy. If you are fascinated by the '96 Everest tragedy, both books are worth reading, but after reading Kraukauer's postscript my mind has been completely changed. I used to think The Climb was the more accurate book. Now I believe DeWalt took great liberties with the facts in order to make Boukreev look infallible, and to make Kraukauer look bad. Both books portray Boukreev as a hero, but I am convinced that Into Thin Air is a much more accurate, much more truthful, much more carefully researched book. Its honesty comes across on every page. Into Thin Air is literature of the highest order.
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Joseph Landon Jr. (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-29 00:00>
This the first book I've read about the Mount Everest disaster in May 1996. Jon Krakauer was paid by Outside magazine to join a guide assisted expedition to the summit of Mount Everest lead by renowned guide Rob Hall with his assistant Doug Harris. But once Jon and the rest of the gang get past Camp 4 and head up the south col, the balcony and then the summit, it's literally downhill from there. He'll lead you step by step through his journey up the mountain, describing every pertinent event he witnessed or was told afterwards through interviews with survivors.
To me, Krakauer comes across as honest without being too cocky. Sure, he's an experienced mountain climber who was in better shape and more qualified for the climb than some of the other clients, but he certainly doesn't "trash" his fellow climbers with nothing but negativity. I think he made an honest attempt tell both sides of the story. For example, he gave Beck Weathers his props when he realized the incredible effort he was exerting.
And the other issue was how he "blamed" Anatoli Boukerev for the disastrous outcome of the expedition. Well, if some people actually read the book, he clearly puts the blame on many people, including himself. Sure Boukerev was foolish to be working as a guide without using oxygen, but Krakauer could have stopped a clearly exhausted and oxygen deprived Doug Harris from continuing up the mountain. He could have also convinced Beck Weathers to descend with him instead of leaving him to wait for Doug Harris, who never returned, leaving Beck stranded with a group of other climbers and eventually left for dead. You can tell that Krakauer feels much blame for much of the tragedy that occured.
Other "reveiwers" say Krakauer took advantage of the tragedy by "cashing in" by writing the book. Well, the guy is a writer, after all folks, and he has to make a living somehow, doesn't he? He has also donated a portion of his profits to charities, which should quiet those critics.
From what I could tell, it was an unfortunate accident that didn't have to happen if so many people didn't try to "summit" at the same time. Also, it would have helped if the guides actually stuck to their pre-determined turnaround time like they swore they would. But up there at 29000 feet, where the oxygen is 1/4 of sea level and your mind is reduced to a 6 year old, and you have climbers with bigger egos than the mountain itself, it's a wonder that more people don't return alive. Alas, like he states, "Climbing Everest is an extremely irrational action". Indeed.
Overall, this is an extremely well written book that should be read by sports and adventure seeking readers for years to come. It's an incredibly story that had to be told.
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A Reader (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-29 00:00>
I recently purchased Jon Krakauer's bound and illustrated edition of his excellent book Into Thin Air - even though I already had the paperback version - and I found the purchase well worth it. As it is widely acknowledged, this is an incredible tale, and Jon Krakauer's writing style is vivid, stark, and quite brilliant. The many photos further illuminate this story, and serve to better orient the reader with the many characters and physical features of the Everest area. Jon's decision to include a postscriptum regarding differences between he and Anatoli Boukreev was a judgement call, though Im not sure it was worth the effort, given the rather obvious flaws in the late Boukreev's version found in The Climb. Its clear that no amount of inkslinging and jawing by anyone can cover up the fact that the Russian's idea of a Guide's responsibilites was completely out of step with what is normally expected in a commercial climb with paying clients. I read The Climb in order to get more information on this fascinating if appalling event - it did that, though it was cluttered with an unconvincing apologia, and suffers greatly stylistically in comparison with Krakauer's master work. Thus the reader may wonder that the postscriptum is perhaps much ado about rather little. After all, Boukreev, a great climber, has passed on too. It is to Krakauer's credit that the revenues from this edition are pledged to the 1996 Everest Memorial Fund. For me the lasting impressions of Into Thin Air are the tragic figures who were lost to the mountain, from Rob Hall's incredible ordeal in an completely exposed bivouac atop Everest, to what was no doubt a nightmarish struggle by Andy Harris and Doug Hansen, to Yasuko caught in the ice, and finally and perhaps most sadly the Scott Fischer story. I dont believe Jon's account was unduly judgemental. Scott's team made it down safely in the end, and he alone perished due to a rogue storm and his own human error in climbing while apparently sick with an intestinal parasite. Like other I am sure, I wish he'd turned around at two oclock, that seeing all his clients successful in the endeavor, had seen the irrelevance of his own summitting of the peak at such a late date, and that more was done to save him from that frozen ledge. It painful to realize that Scott apparently emerged from his supposed comatose state long enough to take off his gloves and jacket and bare his entire shoulder (an effort to inject some medicine?) I read an online interview conduced in 1996, where Fischer was asked what he feared the most. His reply - to die in the mountains and leave his family behind. Would that it were not so!
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Van Der Leek (MSL quote), South Korea
<2007-01-29 00:00>
This account ignited a long distilled passion for the mountains, and renewed interest in the Outdoors. Krakauer (the name itself conjures up courage and strength)writes with immediacy and more important, from firsthand experience. He's a hardcore adventurer, he's lived it, and is one of those rare, original people able to express what is often inexplicable. This book was easy to read in one or two sittings, and tremendously compelling (leading me to read Into The Wild and other books related to the 1996 Everest incidents).
I was also one of those chagrined to discover, after having loved and being incredibly excited by this book, that for all its accuracy, there are some areas that should not be read without circumspection. Although the book mostly avoids The Blame Game, it lapses into this once focus moves to the Head Climber of Mountain Madness, the heroic but inarticulate Boukreev. Krakauer's facts are interspersed with some opinions, and a few of these opinions, especially those of Boukreev (who died in 1997, in an avalanche on Annapurna 1, instead of remaining in America to receive one of the highest awards for mountaineering bravery) - some of these opinions are distasteful.
While I am merely a reader, and I respect and admire the talents of these men in the mountains a great deal, I do wonder what prompted Krakauer to pursue his character assissination of Boukreev. Krakauer has dogged determination in his writing as much as he does in his climbing, but also a stubbornness, and in writing Into Thin Air (which he did incredibly quickly after the fact) seems to strive to be seen as the one and only leading authority, acknowledging that it is not perfect, but nevertheless the complete'the best'and total story of that 1996 climb. This is unfortunate, because Krakauer himself was on the mountain, and his own perceptions were not 100%. He does succeed in communicating his experience with profundity. He fails though, in a few of his many interpretations, including of some of his own mishaps, and thus, has opened the door to a raging debate on 'what really happened', including, for example, what happened to Andy Harris, his encounter on the Kangshung Face, and important conversations he was not privy to close to the summit.
His 'Postscript' response to The Climb goes to great lengths, and like the rest of the book, turns out to be well worded, but does not hide what eventually are borne out to be a few inaccuracies (inadequacies?). His experience on Everest is not his best mountaineering experience (he was at one point assisted by 2 guides), and Boukreev fared far far better. Actions, should at the end of such events, speak louder than Krakauer's (or anyone else's) words, and Boukreev's actions do. Krakauer's behaviour on that day was quite limited by comparison.
Krakauer needs to be more gracious to a man who helped insure the safety of every one of the members on his team (all but the leader survived,) with no permanent damage, while 4 members of Krakauer's team died, and at least one survivor had severe and permanent damage. The idea should not be to blame people in mountains, when things go wrong, but to recognise the right things that happen that save lives.
Krakauer's own account of his meeting with Beck Weathers also differs from Weather's own version. Krakauer actually resisted Weather's desperate plea for assistance, although Krakauer paints a more gracious picture of himself in his story. The point though, is not to point fingers, and Boukreev puts it perfectly when he says 'each is responsible for his own ambition' on the mountain. Thus, others should not be blamed when things go wrong, but hopefully, will have the wherwithal to respond in these extreme circumstances. The reality in the Death Zone is one person who breaks down, slows down, and needs assistance causes a domino effect, it leads to an exponential increase in the risks to the lives of others, as valuable resources of energy and oxygen and time get used up.
We live in world of soundbites, of show, and of course the 1996 Incident has been written about, and made into a television show.
Into Thin Air powerfully communicates the meaning and drama of that high world. It's most important defects though, are not recognising the astonishing courage of a man who stood up through the storm that day while it seemed everyone else, including the sherpas, whimpered in their tents. Few understand what happened, and Into Thin Air sadly perpetuates that mystification as far as it communicates Broukeev's role. Read The Climb after Into Thin Air, for more perspective. It's equally engrossing, well written, but a far more genuine account. |
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Kevin Lynds (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-29 00:00>
Mr. Krakauer's account of the deadly trip to the top of Mt. Everest has a credibility to the story that many other action filled, non-fiction works have. Due mostly to the fact that Mr. Krakauer was a reporter who was there, a member of a team who witnessed the way the disaster unfolded in one of the most unforgiving environments in the world. His book is a chronicle of the things that went wrong with the expedition, things that were red-flags to those there but were not heeded. Some of the book deals with the commercialization of Everest, where if you have the money, you can find a guide that will risk your life, his life and others lives to get you to the top. Some of those who died were Everest guides, people who knew the signs of things going wrong, yet they still made the fateful decision of pressing on for the summit. Part of the book, about Beck Weathers is amazing and does give some hope to the extents and abuse the human body can take with a certain frame of mind. Albeit, it cost him his hands and part of his face, the fact that he survived is amazing none-the-less.
The ending of the book was strong as well, where the author talks about the expedition and climbing Everest on a personal level and states that "it was a mistake". He doesn't believe apparently that given its risks, that it should be climbed and questions some of the motives people may have who want to climb it.
Even for someone not familiar with the sport, it is a great story. The book will give you an appreciation for the skill, energy it takes to climb mountains. It will also give you an appreciation for how small, powerless and insignificant we are when facing the Earth, Mother Nature and all her changing moods.
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Benjamin Dewolfe (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-29 00:00>
Make no mistake, Krakauer's book, Into Thin Air is gripping and difficult to put down. He writes of the tragedy in 1996 on Everest as many climbers died due to the harsh conditions and their own relentless drive to make it to the top. He does an excellent job of capturing mountaineering culture, and the politics, yes, politics with the various groups on the mountain. The book is engrossing because it is from a journalist's perspective rather than that of a highly experienced high-altitude mountaineer. However, Krakauer is a highly experienced climber, and ice climber in lower altitudes. Some have criticized him for distorting the truth to build the drama (Anatoli Bookreev), and have put down Krakauer for not having the expertise or insight that more experienced high-altitude climbers. This is a little proposterous. He did make it to the top of Everest, and never claims to be an expert in high altitude conditions. He is absolutely no slouch! The guy lives for the outdoors and has been on some very "hard core" expeditions other than this trip (read Eiger Dreams). He is modest in his accounts, but his accomplishments are great as a climber. This book is especially interesting because it is an account from someone outside of the high altitude mountaineering elite. If you would like a different account of the same disater, read The Climb by Boukreev. In my opinion, it is no where nearly as well written, but is interesting if you want another perspective. Krakauer's account of this tradgedy will have you asking yourself, why do these people put themselves through so much agony just to get to the top? It is really only somnething that people who have climed mountains understand, but Krakauer attempts to try to answer this. It is certainly sad to hear the possible dire consequences of climbing at high altitudes. Although, people who climb accept the risk, it is impossible to not feel sorry for them when they meet a tragic end. Read this book! If you are even casually interested in outdoor adventure, you will find it engrossing!
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