Into Thin Air

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Into Thin Air

By: Jon Krakauer

Narrated by: Philip Franklin

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About this listen

One of the inspirations for the major motion picture Everest, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Keira Knightley.

This is the true story of a 24-hour period on Everest when members of three separate expeditions were caught in a storm and faced a battle against hurricane-force winds, exposure, and the effects of altitude, which ended the worst single-season death toll in the peak's history.

In March 1996, Outside magazine sent veteran journalist and seasoned climber Jon Krakauer on an expedition led by celebrated Everest guide Rob Hall. Despite the expertise of Hall and the other leaders, by the end of summit day eight people were dead.

Krakauer's audiobook is at once the story of the ill-fated adventure and an analysis of the factors leading up to its tragic end. Written within months of the events it chronicles, Into Thin Air clearly evokes the majestic Everest landscape. As the journey up the mountain progresses, Krakauer puts it in context by recalling the triumphs and perils of other Everest trips throughout history. The author's own anguish over what happened on the mountain is palpable as he leads his listeners to ponder timeless questions.

Adventurers, Explorers & Survival

Climbing & Mountaineering

Ecosystems & Habitats

Nature & Ecology

Outdoors & Nature

Science

Scary

Thought-Provoking

Adventure

Extreme Sports

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Most relevant

If you read a lot of expedition climbing books you soon see a common narrative arc. The setting up of the team, the journey to the peak, the slow struggle up the mountain, the summit, and then the descent and return to a world that doesn’t comprehend what just happened. And all through there is a constant pointing back to how hard previous climbers had it on the same mountain – usually with extensive quotes from previous books.

I stopped reading them because they started to feel similar.

I used to climb. I know some mountains, and I’ve known about the tragedy this book is about for many years.

Having said that I can’t tell you how pleased I am I picked this up.

Sure, it follows the standard path – but with some important differences:
First Krakauer is a great writer, and second the book starts with the fact that you know you are going to hear how 8 people died over a two-day period in 1996. It is not a “who done it?”
As you progress the tension builds up as you follow an account of who perhaps did what. You are actually following the path Krakauer took trying to understand just what he had experienced, what happened, and what when wrong.

Personally, I think it is too hard to apportion blame for actions at high altitude by people struggling through a storm, cold temperatures and starved of oxygen. Krakauer is very open about what he feels are his own mistakes and, when the writing feels so open and honest, maybe other readers will feel confident forming their own opinions. I do not.

The book leaves me with a feeling that for all the guides you can hire big mountains remain big. High altitude climbing is a dangerous sport and the margins between success and failure are so narrow.

For me a 5*. I will read and listen to more by John Krakauer.

With the performance. It is good but in fairness I did think the attempt to replicate accents for particular nationalities of characters in the story did sometimes miss the mark!