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Jon Krakauer: Into Thin Air

 This is another book that I'll use for AP.


Jon Krakauer describes what led up to the Mt. Everest Disaster of 1996. Since he was personally a part of the expeditions that ultimately lost 12 climbers on the mountain, he gives his perspective while attempting to represent the other members of the expedition accurately. Sent to write an article for a magazine, Krakauer joined the expedition of guide Rob Hall. Several other expeditions were on the mountain that season as well, a Tawainese team, a South African team, two other commercially led teams, and then an IMAX film crew. Summiting Mt. Everest on May 10, Rob Hall and Scott Fischer's expeditions were caught in a storm late in the day. Ultimately several members of both expeditions, including guides Hall and Fischer, died in the bitter cold and storm.

I didn't love this book. I didn't hate it; it was interesting, but not really something that's normally in my interests. I also struggled with how much background Krakauer put into the story. While some of the background information is entirely needed and necessary to understanding the disaster as a whole, I felt that the extensive background information of previous expeditions (like the first ones that climbed Everest) were arduous and necessary, taking away from the story and dragging out the tale longer than it needed to be. The last half of the book was far more engaging than the first half, as the disaster truly starts to unfold.

I found the afterward information particularly interesting, as Krakauer defends his story from other writers. As I use this in AP, that's a portion that I want them to include reading, as it will be a good analysis piece to look at for the test.

Overall, I rated this book: 
⭐⭐⭐
PG/PG-13

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