Into Thin Air is a good read- provided you approach it the right way. If you are looking for an action-packed thrill-ride on every page, this book will disappoint you. Krakauer's style is very balanced, straight shooting, and journalistic; and the story has one major limitation- reality. As a journalist, Krakauer is obligated, perhaps by professional ethic, perhaps by personal belief, to tell his readers what actually happened. And as you probably know, the true story is not always the most interesting.
The book itself is riddled with pages of hard facts, which are probably unnecessary and uninteresting to the average reader. Krakauer delves deep into the history of Everest, from its discovery to the present, attempting to set the stage. But his lengthy, grueling descriptions make for laborious reading, as he relates every major expedition since 1924. After some initial background on the mountain, the author feeds you a liberal helping of climbing etiquette and technique. Finally, after nearly 100 pages, Krakauer and his climbing partners reach Mt. Everest Base Camp. The meat of the story is very interesting, and follows Rob Hall's expedition to summit the mountain in 1996. Numerous hardships and pitfalls will be met along the way, but reaching the top is only half the battle. It is on the way down that the real crisis begins to unfold- one month and 250 pages later.
Krakauer cites two reasons for writing this book: to tell a story which he felt needed to be told, and perhaps to gain some closure on the events which have haunted him since the day he left the mountain. He toils to remain balanced in his writing, sharing the accounts of other climbers in addition to his own. In good journalistic form, Krakauer poses questions to the reader without directly asking them. The ending and aftermath in particular do a nice job of drawing on readers' emotions. I also strongly recommend that you read the Author's Note, where you will learn of Krakauer's internal and external struggle; and the fierce debate over how this story should be told.
Perhaps the best way to review this book is to relate the author to you. Jon Krakauer is an incredible, one-of-a-kind journalist... but not the best at action-packed storytelling. His style of writing is one of fact reporting. It goes far beyond the definition of "non-fiction," and borders on... dare I say "boring"? The Los Angeles Time raves that Into Thin Air "will leave you gasping for breath." The only way I see that happening is if you run a marathon while reading it. The bottom line- a good read with a solid, interesting plot, but definitely not "among the great adventure books of all time." Into Thin Air rates a 3 out of 5.
