Into Thin Air

Those of you true crime fans will be familiar with Ann Rule's book, The Stranger Beside Me, which is her firsthand account of the search for a serial killer, and how that serial killer (Ted Bundy) had worked side-by-side with her for years, without her ever knowing it. If you haven't read the book, as you can imagine, it is fascinating. Into Thin Air is Jon Krakauer's The Stranger Beside Me.

Krakauer had written for years for Outside Magazine when Outside approached him with the idea of writing an article about what it was like to climb Mount Everest. Krakauer accepted (with some reservations) and barely made it back alive. The May, 1996, Everest disaster was the worst in the mountain's history (which is saying a lot), and Krakauer was right smack dab in the middle of it, struggling to survive.

The article for Outside was too much to be contained even in a series of articles, thus Into Thin Air was born. The book is absolutely riveting. Even at 333 pages, you may read the majority of it in one sitting (you may read the whole thing at one sitting if it's a slow weekend). Krakauer sticks to the facts, while also opening his feelings to the reader. Some of the members of his Everest team died only yards from shelter because the weather was so bad they didn't know where they were - for those that had made it to shelter and had no knowledge of how close the others were, like Krakauer, the thought of teammates dying so close is especially haunting.

I highly reccommend this book! It is a great read, and available for the Kindle from Amazon's Kindle store. Enjoy!