Week 12 Prompt Response- Non-Fiction Readers' Advisory Matrix

Author: Jon Krakauer
Title: Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster
Publication date: 1997
Number of Pages: 416
Geographic setting: Mt. Everest
Time Period: 1996
Subject headings (Library of Congress):
Adventure Consultants Guided Expedition (1996 : Mount Everest)
Mountain Madness (Firm) Everest Expedition (1996)
Mountaineering accidents--Everest, Mount (China and Nepal)
Mountaineering expeditions--Everest, Mount (China and Nepal)
Type: True adventure
Where is the book on the narrative continuum: A mix- combines highly narrative moments with periods of fact-based prose
What is the subject of the book: The Spring 1996 Mt. Everest climbing season that resulted in 8 deaths.

Book Summary: The name Jon Krakauer might ring a bell for anyone who has read (or seen the movie) Into the Wild.  Krakauer is known for his gripping,  well-researched, journalistic portrayals of  controversial people and events.  The thing that makes Into Thin Air special, in and amongst his impressive catalog of work, is that he was a participant in the 1996 Mt. Everest climbing season about which he writes, and witness to many of the events that took place.  He was originally commissioned by Outside magazine to do a story on the commercialization of mountain climbing, but ended up deciding to try to summit the mountain after a year of preparation.  That spring there were no fewer that 16 separate climbing groups on the mountain.  Krakauer wrote of critical decisions made my certain guides, and questioned whether or not some lives might have been spared.  But the overarching issue was the freak storm that swept through as several teams were preparing to summit.  This book is not for the faint-hearted.  It is at times excruciatingly suspenseful, at times emotionally draining.  We get to know intimately about a dozen of the key figures involved in the story, several of whom do not make it out alive.  The author does a great job of interspersing personal history and action-packed narrative, but in the end, it is the final few days on the mountain, when everything changes, when oxygen is running low, and a vicious storm sweeps onto the scene, that suddenly the story takes on a life of its own.  This book is ideal for anyone who enjoys adventure fiction, but who doesn't need or even necessarily want a happy ending.  And you don't have to be a fan of, or even knowledgeable about, mountain climbing.  While the author does give us a pretty solid technical framework, his story-telling abilities take over, and at times it doesn't even feel like non-fiction.  Some of the scenes are  horrific, terrifying, and intense.   Any reader looking for a page-turner, but one that will leave you with some deep insights into human nature; what drives us to do utterly insane things for glory; how one or two small decisions can change the fate of many, will love this book.

Reading elements:

• Pace- although this is essentially an adventure book, the pacing is surprisingly slow, but not to be mistaken with "boring".   The author takes plenty of time discussing key people; their personal histories and how they ended up on the mountain that spring.  He also takes plenty of time discussing the political and social make-up of the mountaineering industry and expedition business.  However, the moments on the mountain, especially those toward the end, the story picks up considerable speed.   
• Characters- Keeping track of the people in this story can feel very overwhelming at times.  Even with the list of people involved at the beginning of the book, it can feel nearly impossible at times to remember everyone at first.  However, as the story goes on. Krakauer does zero in on a few key players, and ultimately focuses on both the people who die, as well as the leaders/decision makers of some of the expeditions.  Again, Krakauer spends a great deal of time on personal histories, so there are a few people who we get to know intimately, including Krakauer himself. 
• Tone/mood- Exciting, suspenseful, and tragic are all accurate descriptors for this book.  Much like the story of the Titanic, we find ourselves careening toward an inevitable, terrible end, and yet the story leading up to it is fascinating and worth knowing.  In that regard, the author does make an effort to not just create a sense of dread and doom, but to give us intimate details of the people who were involved, along with relevant histories of the sport.  However, because we know what happens in the end, the reader cannot help but feel a sense of dread and foreboding in even the most innocuous of details.  
• Frame/setting- The setting is not only important part of the story, it can be argued that it is the story itself.  Because while Krakauer is telling us about events, Mt. Everest is an undeniable force.  People have bee trying to conquer this mountain for many, many decades, and many have lost their lives doing so.  And while the author doesn't quite address the why behind the burning desire to reach its summit, Everest is an almost otherworldly force for many people.  We get to know this mountain in almost intimate detail, and even without maps or photos, the image of Everest's treacherous passages, crevasses that go on for an eternity, still sort of haunt me.  After I read this book, I found myself doing countless Google image searches to put a face, as it were, to this mountain.  
• Style/language- While there is some technical terminology when it comes to describing mountain climbing and everything that is involved, the author doesn't get too lost in it, but rather relies on his talent as a writer and narrator to drive most of the story.  I would say that the language is important only in that it doesn't rely heavily on the reader having any knowledge of mountain climbing to read this book.  It mercifully does not read like any sort of technical manual, but is quite narrative.  

Annotation: Journalist and mountain-climber Jon Krakauer's account of his experiences on a 1996 expedition to the summit of Mt. Everest.  Krakauer was working for Outside magazine and was to be reporting on the commercialization of the climbing industry, specifically on Everest.  The climb, however, turned out to be an enormous tragedy.  When an unexpected storm roared onto Everest, it resulted in the death of 8 climbers.

Articulate appeal:

• What is the focus of the story? The personal histories of the mountain climbers themselves, but also the history of climbing expeditions and mountaineering companies, with a specific focus on the people and events leading up to the death of 8 people on Mt. Everest in 1996. 
• Are there sufficient charts and other graphic materials? Are they useful and clear? Yes, there are maps of Mt. Everest, including maps with the routes taken by the climbers.  There is also a dramatis personae chart that outlines everyone who was on the mountain during this Spring climbing season.  This was important, if not vital, because there were at least 16 expedition groups and a few solo climbers during that season.  There is a caveat that not everyone who was on the mountain in the spring of 1996 is listed, but there are still over 160 names, and the positions they held within their expedition groups. 
• Does the book stress moments of learning, understanding, or experience?  Yes, in fact, it could be said that the whole book was dedicated to trying to understand exactly what happened to lead up to this terrible tragedy.  It even goes so far as to question decisions made by individuals that may or may not have lead to their own deaths or the deaths of other people.  In that way, it can be regarded not just as a cautionary tale, but a question about the ethics behind commercial mountaineering expeditions, as well as the cost of achieving a goal such as reaching the summit of Mt. Everest. I think the author wanted to unpack it in his own mind because of what he witnessed and experienced, but he also likely wanted it to serve as a cautionary tale for anyone who might be considering embarking on this type of journey.  His conclusions were met with a good deal of controversy because of some of the personal criticisms he issued to particular climbers, one of whom was Anatoli Boukreev, who ended up dying on a separate expedition.  

Similar works:

   Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors by Piers Paul Read

  Annapurna: A Woman's Place- Arlene Blum, Maurice Herzog

  Above the Clouds: The Diaries of a High-Altitude Mountaineer- Anatoli Boukreev, Linda Wylie (Editor), Galen A. Rowell (Foreword)


Name of annotator: Mandy Saia