Into Thin Air

By Jon Krakauer

A book that was hard to put down. I love that about it. I never ever thought I would be interested in Mountain climbing. As a matter of fact I thought that people who did it were crazy and why would they even want to do something so dangerous. After reading this book, my mind was entirely changed. I realized they are much more like athletes than they are like crazy people. I began so see them as a Lance Armstrong, instead of a person who should be committed to a state institution forever. I also love how Jon Krakauer writes. He draws you in, and keeps your interest for the entire book, so you cannot put it down. I have read another of his books, "Under the Banner of Heaven" that was just as good with some very informative writing. I liked that one just as much as "Into Thin Air".

The book is basically all the events that led to, during, and after the author's tragic trip climbing Mount Everest in 1996 where 5 people perished as a blizzard struck in the early afternoon, as people were at the summit.

I learned a lot in this book about mountain climbing and high altitude effects on the body, and the numerous dangers involved in climbing such a mountain as Everest. This was one of the great things about the book that I love the most. It answered and let me understand all the questions I had had about mountain climbing, and yes, yes, it made me want to climb a mountain, but definitively not climb a mountain like Everest, but, something more manageable, and safe, say like Mount Hood in Washington. This book inspired me to find out about it, as I have already, and make it a goal to actually go up and CLIMB mount hood in the next few years. Do I have any volunteers to accompany me? I guess all in all that is what good writing is all about, something that makes you think and changes you, and this indeed changed me, and my outlook on mountain combing.