Review of Into Thin Air

Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster by Jon Krakauer
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I had wanted to read this book, but it wasn't absolutely at the top of my list. Having a classroom set, I proposed it as one of the books my summer school students could select. I am grateful they did select it. It is one of the finest pieces of non-fiction I have read in quite some time.

Krakauer frames the story by beginning with the moment he has reached the high point on the planet, and by mentioning the impending hardships and doom that is bearing down on the mountain in 1996. It was, quite frankly, one of the greatest hooks I have ever read in a piece of non-fiction.

I enjoyed the rich history and the obvious research that Krakauer did for the book. Even though he was a participant on the climb itself, it became apparent that while stretching the human body to such extremes, the mind reels and itself becomes unreliable. It was almost like reading fiction at times in doubting what this "narrator" the voice of Krakauer was telling. Certainly, any inaccuracies here were cleared up as much as possible through the research that lead to the author's writing of the book.

What I was struck with utmost was the philosophical questions the book brings up: What compels people to stretch themselves past the realm of what seems possible? How does passion blind us all? How does passion make us stronger? What risks are we willing to take in order to achieve our goals? How lofty can mankind's goals be?

When turning these questions back upon myself, I have realized that I have been highly cautious of taking risks in my own life, especially of late. Don't go worry about me jumping out of airplanes and grinding up 29,000 foot high mountains any time soon (though I certainly did question which aspects of a climb such as the one recounted in the book I would be capable and those which I would be unable to cope with). I am a naturally cautious person; therefore, trying new activities, especially activities in which I "put myself out there." I may be most successful at work in trying new lessons, relationship-building activies, and strategies, but otherwise, I feel like I have been failing at life a little bit (nothing that can't be remedied of course).

Furthermore, this caution has extended to my writing-- something about which I am truly passionate. I am afraid of putting myself out there as a writer though. It has been over a year since I have tried to get anything published, and even that effort was half-assed at best. I haven't written all that much. Realizing that my efforts have been severely subpar, Into Thin Air has revealed to me that dreams sometimes depend upon sacrifice. The sacrifices about which I am speaking seem minor to those of the characters in the book. I may be required to sleep a little less, watch a little less TV, have a slightly messier house. I am not talking about months away from my family, sacrificing limbs and brain cells to extreme altitude climbing here. It seems asinine that my fear of rejection or fear of revealing too much about myself or fear of being unsatisfied with my own efforts could keep me from achieving some of the goals, both spoken and unspoken, that I have set for myself.

I found the book heart-touching, tragic, while still being able to leave me with a motivation and some semblance of a sense of victory of man over insurmountable odds (particularly the events surrounding Beck Weathers, a doctor from Texas who was on Rob Hall's team (Krakauer's guide)).

At the movie theater just the other night, shots of mountain peaks and men struggling up the slope filled the screen in a trailer. A storm rolls in, the name "Rob" is mentioned, and I immediately knew it was a recounting of what happened atop Everest in 1996. Everest is also the title of the movie. The excitement caused me to nearly wet myself. I have also watched the IMAX documentary that was shot during the year these events took place. The members of the IMAX team play a vital role in Krakauer's book as well. I am anxiously awaiting the film due out this September.

I would recommend this book to anyone with a pulse.

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