Into thin air: a personal account of the Mount Everest disaster

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Language:
English
Lexile measure:
1320L
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ISBN:
9780385494786
9780679457527
9780679462712
Accelerated Reader:
UG
Level 8.9, 17 Points
Lexile measure:
1320L
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Grouping Information

Grouped Work ID9e270bcd-2c8f-4f37-005d-3ccb9176c3a7
Grouping Titleinto thin air a personal account of the mount everest disaster
Grouping Authorjon krakauer
Grouping Categorybook
Grouping LanguageEnglish (eng)
Last Grouping Update2024-03-27 15:47:41PM
Last Indexed2024-03-27 15:49:10PM

Solr Fields

accelerated_reader_interest_level
UG
accelerated_reader_point_value
17
accelerated_reader_reading_level
8.9
author
Krakauer, Jon
author_display
Krakauer, Jon
available_at_catalog
Fuquay-Varina Community
Middle Creek Community
North Regional
collection_catalog
Adult Non-Fiction
detailed_location_catalog
Fuquay-Varina Community - Adult Non-Fiction
Holly Springs Community - Adult Non-Fiction
Leesville Community - Adult Non-Fiction
Middlecreek Community - Adult Non-Fiction
North Regional - Adult Non-Fiction
Northeast Regional - Adult Non-Fiction
Oberlin Regional - Adult Non-Fiction
Southeast Regional - Adult Non-Fiction
West Regional - Adult Non-Fiction
display_description
#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER • The epic account of the storm on the summit of Mt. Everest that claimed five lives and left countless more—including Krakauer's—in guilt-ridden disarray. 

"A harrowing tale of the perils of high-altitude climbing, a story of bad luck and worse judgment and of heartbreaking heroism." —PEOPLE
A bank of clouds was assembling on the not-so-distant horizon, but journalist-mountaineer Jon Krakauer, standing on the summit of Mt. Everest, saw nothing that "suggested that a murderous storm was bearing down." He was wrong. 
By writing Into Thin Air, Krakauer may have hoped to exorcise some of his own demons and lay to rest some of the painful questions that still surround the event. He takes great pains to provide a balanced picture of the people and events he witnessed and gives due credit to the tireless and dedicated Sherpas. He also avoids blasting easy targets such as Sandy Pittman, the wealthy socialite who brought an espresso maker along on the expedition. Krakauer's highly personal inquiry into the catastrophe provides a great deal of insight into what went wrong. But for Krakauer himself, further interviews and investigations only lead him to the conclusion that his perceived failures were directly responsible for a fellow climber's death. Clearly, Krakauer remains haunted by the disaster, and although he relates a number of incidents in which he acted selflessly and even heroically, he seems unable to view those instances objectively. In the end, despite his evenhanded and even generous assessment of others' actions, he reserves a full measure of vitriol for himself.
This updated trade paperback edition of Into Thin Air includes an extensive new postscript that sheds fascinating light on the acrimonious debate that flared between Krakauer and Everest guide Anatoli Boukreev in the wake of the tragedy.  "I have no doubt that Boukreev's intentions were good on summit day," writes Krakauer in the postscript, dated August 1999. "What disturbs me, though, was Boukreev's refusal to acknowledge the possibility that he made even a single poor decision. Never did he indicate that perhaps it wasn't the best choice to climb without gas or go down ahead of his clients." As usual, Krakauer supports his points with dogged research and a good dose of humility. But rather than continue the heated discourse that has raged since Into Thin Air's denouncement of guide Boukreev, Krakauer's tone is conciliatory; he points most of his criticism at G. Weston De Walt, who coauthored The Climb, Boukreev's version of events. And in a touching conclusion, Krakauer recounts his last conversation with the late Boukreev, in which the two weathered climbers agreed to disagree about certain points. Krakauer had great hopes to patch things up with Boukreev, but the Russian later died in an avalanche on another Himalayan peak, Annapurna I.
In 1999, Krakauer received an Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters—a prestigious prize intended "to honor writers of exceptional accomplishment."  According to the Academy's citation, "Krakauer combines the tenacity and courage of the finest tradition of investigative journalism with the stylish subtlety and profound insight of the born writer.  His account of an ascent of Mount Everest has led to a general reevaluation of climbing and of the commercialization of what was once a romantic, solitary sport; while his account of the life and death of Christopher McCandless, who died of starvation after challenging the Alaskan wilderness, delves even more deeply and disturbingly into the...
format_catalog
Book
eBook
format_category_catalog
Books
eBook
id
9e270bcd-2c8f-4f37-005d-3ccb9176c3a7
isbn
9780385494786
9780679457527
9780679462712
last_indexed
2024-03-27T19:49:10.099Z
lexile_score
1320
literary_form
Non Fiction
literary_form_full
Non Fiction
local_callnumber_catalog
796.5 KRAKA
owning_library_catalog
Wake County Public Libraries
owning_location_catalog
Fuquay-Varina Community
Holly Springs Community
Leesville Community
Middle Creek Community
North Regional
Northeast Regional
Oberlin Regional
Southeast Regional
West Regional
primary_isbn
9780385494786
publishDate
1998
1999
publisher
Anchor Books
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
recordtype
grouped_work
subject_facet
Adventure Consultants. -- Guided Expedition -- (1996 : -- Mount Everest)
Book club kit
Everest, Mount (China and Nepal)
Krakauer, Jon
Mountain Madness (Firm). -- Everest Expedition -- (1996)
Mountaineering -- Everest, Mount (China and Nepal)
Mountaineering accidents -- Everest, Mount (China and Nepal)
Mountaineering expeditions -- Everest, Mount (China and Nepal)
title_display
Into thin air : a personal account of the Mount Everest disaster
title_full
Into Thin Air A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster
Into thin air : a personal account of the Mount Everest disaster / Jon Krakauer
title_short
Into thin air
title_sub
a personal account of the Mount Everest disaster
topic_facet
Biography & Autobiography
Krakauer, Jon
Mountaineering
Mountaineering accidents
Mountaineering expeditions
Nonfiction

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Bib IdFormatFormat CategoryEditionLanguagePublisherPublication DatePhysical DescriptionAbridged
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overdrive:b04ace8f-3b78-46a9-ae83-67ab7c832591eBookeBookEnglishKnopf Doubleday Publishing Group1998

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