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Audio CD Description Into Thin Air is a riveting first-hand account of a catastrophic expedition up Mount Everest. 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.

Customer Reviews Enjoyable Krakauer does a very decent job of recounting this tragedy. I thought that he resisted extremely well the temptation of finger pointing. It is obvious that the storm in itself is not the cause of the deaths. It is a combination of greed, fame, unpreparedness, inadequate planning and erratic decision-making. Only the leader of the South African Team (Woodall) comes out as a villain and from what I read elsewhere, it is well deserved. Even Boukreev gets a fair account, both sides of the coin being shown. Krakauer does not make a final judgment on this and lets the reader decide. The debate will go on. Krakauer may embellish some of the facts and his own actions, but he does not hide his guilt, the fact that he made critical mistakes (re Harris). What I personally enjoy is not so much the macabre side (people on the edge of death, and consciously or not playing with their lives). It is the capacity of human beings to go beyond exhaustion, what made Weathers rise from the dead and walk to safety, what made Fisher, Harris, Hansen and others go on and on only supported by willpower, despite the lack of sleep, food, the intense cold, the wind, etc. The way Hansen collapsed after the summit is extremely revealing on how the mind can drive the body. The only weakness of the book is that I got several times lost among the many characters/climbers involved. But this may also be due to my generally fast reading pace. Que libro! 5 stars is short for this book, after reading It makes you feel quite dizzy, about how death can close so fast up there on a mountain, all of a sudden. Nothing that an outsider expectator may say can change or diminish what is related here, about what happened on the spring of 96 at the top of World. But I want to leave two messages, first for Beck Weathers, if you ever read this lines, I really would be proud for that, you define the term for endurance and principles. In my opinion Americans like you founded your country, and might stay at the TOP of United States too!!, I hope some day I could give you a hug personally, I never seen a survivor treated that bad!! ... Sorry. The other message is for Jon Krakauer, as an Ecuadorian Climber, and as a human I must say, forget that guilty feeling, after what you survived up there, you must thank God that you are still alive! just to remind you this: you did a great job up there and writing this unvaluable book. Astounding research, and a survivor hug too! And for both of you, if you ever came to Ecuador give me a call with pleasure I can show you part of my amazing country. Congratulations Francisco What a book, translated to spanish = Que libro!