Into Thin Air

Title of the Book: Into Thin Air
 Author: Jon Krakauer
 Number of Pages: 301
 Rating: ☆☆☆☆

Review:

         Into Thin Air is the chilling tale of the tragedy that took place on Mount Everest. It details the deadly expedition of an unfortunate team's adventure up and down the most unforgiving mountain in the world. Jon Krakauer is hired by Outside Magazine to go on an expedition of Mount Everest and write an article detailing the commercialism on the mountain. Throughout the book, Krakauer tells the story of his teammates in the expedition as he attempts to piece together the events. There were several mistakes made by his team which lead to tragedy on the mountain, and Krakauer tells this story to remember the people he climbed with. Krakauer’s autobiography is a chilling look at the events on Mount Everest that took the lives of several experienced climbers. Due to the tragic experience and the raw emotions within this book, I believe this book can be enjoyed by a wide audience. However, the retelling of the actual tragedy is rather blunt and graphic, and may not suit those who are faint hearted or young.
         Jon Krakauer is a very experienced mountain climber, and because of this, he is excellent at giving a very immersive reading adventure. This book is very unique in that it is an autobiography and the author uses words that are very specific to mountain climbing. He also explains the location of the events in great detail. Not only does he describe his experiences with vivid imagery, he bounces back and forth between present and past. This allows him to explain the after effects of the expedition whilst illustrating his story in detail.The technique of writing his past and present thoughts gives the reader a peek into the direct impact the tragedy has had on him. It is also incredibly impressive that Krakauer managed to tell the story so accurately despite having most of his memory clouded by oxygen deprivation as explain when in his book he said,"The Outside piece was as accurate as I could make it under the circumstances, but my deadline had been unforgiving, the sequence of events had been frustratingly complex, and the memories of the survivors had been badly distorted by exhaustion, oxygen depletion, and shock."
         This book is very memorable due to the bluntness with which Krakauer recounts his experience on Everest. For example, Krakauer explains the extreme guilt and regret he felt after leaving behind one of his teammates on the summit, and the shock he felt after witnessing the physical deformities caused by the freezing temperatures on Everest. It is also memorable in the way Krakauer mentions the way his team contacted the family members of the missing, and this was especially heartbreaking because the expedition was supposed to be a light, once in a lifetime experience. I would recommend this book to more adventurous people, and those who are interested in real life tragedy. I would not recommend this book to children who may not understand the finality of such tragedy, or those who do not believe they are capable of handling such graphic details. I believe Into Thin Air is a very interesting book that many could enjoy.