Quality of the Book

In my opinion Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer is an excellent book! It it contains something for everyone, from excitement to tragedy this book has it all. It also contains many interesting facts ranging from history of climbers on Everest, to the different sections of the mountain, to medical injuries associated with high altitude climbing (HAPE and HACE). I recommend this book for all groups of people. Even if you aren't into non fiction books Jon Krakauer does a great job of making this book seem more like realistic fiction rather than non fiction. However it is dry at some parts and the long length of this book makes it a burden to get through at points. When the climbers get near the summit though the book becomes very suspenseful and pulls you in with all of the injuries and deaths. Jon Krakauer does an excellent job of describing all of the thing that are imparing the climber's mental and physical capibilities.

-Tom Burns

Book Aspects

An aspect of Into Thin Air that I have really connected to is the power and danger shown by Mount Everest. It gives you a feel for how the climbers must have felt knowing that their certain death was never very far away. This danger and the beauty described by Jon is what has drawn me into the book. The danger is seen right away with him telling about dangerous sections of the climbs and ice crevices that you can fall into. The figurative language he uses is very descriptive, for example, "a three-dimensional landscape of phantasmal beauty". These great, and rather abstract, descriptions allow me to envision what it was like very easily. The thing that I havent connected to so well in the book is the backround information. The first few chapters are all about the history of climbers on Everest and things of that nature. He always links in back to his life though in some weird fashion.

-Tom Burns

Character Traits

The main character in the book is Jon Krakauer who is also the author of the book. Some characteristics that Jon Krakauer has are being adventurous, down-to-earth, and mentally tough. This book easily shows how Jon Krakauer is adventurous since it is about him climbing the tallest mountain in the World. However, his whole life he participated in high adventure activites like climbing, kayaking, and just being outdoors. We know that Jon was a very down-to-earth person in the book about how he lose interest in climbing Everest because a Texas millionaire payed for a guide to take him to the top. Everest is apparantly less physically demanding than other, steeper mountains. We know for a fact that Jon Krakauer is a mentally tough individual from the book. He had to deal with the weather, the lack of oxygen, and some of his friends dying. While these first to adversities are physical they have a big affect on mental process and mood, lack of oxygen especially.

Conflicts

In the book Into Thin Air the main conflict in the book is not people, but Mount Everest itself. In the first chapter it explains how much of a toll it took on Krakauer to reach the summit, and his effected thought process from the lack of oxygen. Six climbers end up dying from the bone chilling tempurature, snow, and lack of oxygen. For these reasons most of the conflicts in the book are external. These conflicts and eventual deaths in a sense were brought apon by the climbers themselves. Most people know that death is never far away when you are climbing, especially on Mount Everest. The climbers knew that they all had a chance of not coming back home. However, they cannot control the weather on the mountain so it is out of their hands too.

Inital Blog Entry

Well, here i am blogging about a book for school. Seems like an easy enough grade. My book is Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer. It seems like a pretty good book, most of the things he writes are good. I have even read a little of it before since it was in my dad's office. I think thats mainly the reason I chose to read it too. Haha, why look for a book when you have one that will do just fine? Besides the fact that i already had the book I'm also reading it because it sounds interesting. I dont know why but I have always liked distaster books and reading about people overcoming adversity, and boy is this book full of adversity. Its all about how an Everest expidition goes wrong, and many die. It is the deadliest Everest climbing season in history. Should be a good read !

-Burns