"Into Thin Air" is an account of several ill-fated commercial expeditions on Mt. Everest in May 1996. Author Krakauer was on the trip as writer for Outside magazine. The what, the why, the who, and the how of May 10 of that year on the world's tallest mountain makes the reader wonder. What would I have done? What duty have we to each other? Why this grating goal?

It's a tremendous story filled with drama, courage, miscommunication, tragedy, basic decency and lack thereof. Get the hardback to read because it contains reference photos. I thought the book would have benefited by more photos of the mountain and mountaineering geer.

Confusion sets in for readers, however, who are trying their best to keep the dozens of individuals and separate expedition groups straight. Krakauer gives us priceless precision with character description, but then trips us up by using full names or switching between first and last names. Was this a guide, a client, a leader, a volunteer? Who was it who told whom to do what and where and for how long? Consistency and a graphic organizer would have been helpful.

Each chapter began with a passage from other authors or adventurers. Many of the passages are studiable.

There's also a so-so movie by the same title. It skips over a lot, but you get a sense of what it's like up there. Body and mind suffer at that altitude, and there's the cold and terrain to contend with, competition, negligence, jealousy, one-upmanship, celebrity, money, volunteers, villains, and vanity.

Got so interested in Everest that I read two other survivors' books, one by a controversial Russian guide Anatoli Boukreev called "Climb," the other by a Dallas physician Beck Weathers who'd been "Left For Dead: My Return From Everest".

Krakauer's book was the best. He'd written first an article for the magazine, then was haunted by memories and learned new facts, then wrote the book. He took hard knocks after the book came out. Read some of the correspondence he received here:

http://outside.away.com/outside/destinations/199609/199609_everest_clarification_1.html


Here's the link to Krakauer's September 1996 Outside magazine article:
http://outsideonline.com/outside/des...hin_air_1.html

Link to PBS' Nova Program: Lost on Everest: http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0oGdGFHGHJMYDAAWG9XNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTEzZGNzbml mBHNlYwNzcgRwb3MDNARjb2xvA3NrMQR2dGlkA0RGRDVfMTA1/SIG=12ick2r31/EXP=1282632135/**http%3a//www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/everest/lost/mystery/mallory.html

"Into Thin Air" served to educate me about the unique features of Mt. Everest, the political and cultural history of the area, and the damned determination of many to reach its peak. Learned a lot about the Brit George Mallory who coined the phrase "Because it's there" in the early 1920's. And "there" is where his body was recently found and where it shall remain. Nova did an episode on finding Mallory's body, although that of his fellow 1924 climber, Andrew Irvine, has never been found. Unless the camera these two were carrying can be found, no one can know if they got to Everest's peak first.

"Into the Wild" relates the true story of a rich kid who changes his name and gives away all his money after college to commune with nature and philosophize. He befriends many people, has wilderness adventures, and then heads to Alaska to live off the land, intending to spend only a few months before a return to civilization. Saying more would spoil it. The author slips in side stories of other lone adventurers. The film of the same name is masterful.

Advice: Read "Into Thin Air" and watch "Into the Wild".