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Book Review - Into Thin Air
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Author: Jon Krakauer
Publishers: Anchor Books
Pages: 333
From the very beginning of the book, Jon Krakauer creates an impression that this is a book that keeps the reader hooked. At the end of the first chapter, it becomes hard to put the book down until it is read completely.
Krakauer is part of a 1996 expedition that is attempting to summit Mt.Everest. Even though the going is not smooth and people face hardships and struggle at the high altitude, nothing remarkable happens until the team summits and starts their descent back to the camp. A storm strikes them on the way back. At the end of an agonizing night in unbearable cold, strong winds, and little oxygen, it leaves many people dead and the others weak and shaken.
Krakauer tries to log the events that happened after the storm struck, desperate struggle of those who got caught in the storm and rescue attempts by those who were in safety, and the events leading up to and after the incident. Besides the story of devastation from the storm, the book also logs the entire Everest journey, how it begins and progresses, the kind of effort that goes into the climb and the impression that the mountain leaves on the people.
Besides being an adventure book that narrates the struggle for survival in the harsh environs, it is also a detailed log of methodical approach used by teams to climb Everest, the ecology, local people, and economics involved in climbing expeditions. An excellent read.
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About This Blogger
Arun Bhat is a freelance travel writer and photographer. While he is not writing for India Travel Blog, you can see him exploring the corners of India, be it trekking in the high mountains, looking out for colorful birds in the forest, immersed in the country s ancient architecture, relaxing in a beach or searching for less known locations. Some day he hopes to document the beauty of India in words and pictures, end to end.
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