Reading Order
Into Thin Air Reading Order
Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster (1997) is the first-hand account of the May 1996 Everest disaster in which eight climbers died in a single storm. Krakauer was on the mountain as a journalist for Outside magazine when the storm hit; he survived, and his account — published first as a magazine article and then as a book — became one of the most celebrated works of narrative nonfiction of the 1990s. Into Thin Air spent fifty-three consecutive weeks on the New York Times bestseller list.
Where to start
Into Thin Air
Complete Into Thin Air Book List
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Into Thin Air
Jon Krakauer·1997·Start here — the complete standalone narrative. Krakauer's other celebrated books — Into the Wild (1996) and Under the Banner of Heaven (2003) — are separate standalones.
Into Thin Air — Frequently Asked Questions
Is Into Thin Air a true story?
Yes. Into Thin Air is Krakauer's first-hand account of his own experience on Everest during the May 1996 disaster. However, Krakauer's account is not the only one; Anatoli Boukreev, a guide on a competing expedition, disputed aspects of Krakauer's characterization of his actions and co-wrote The Climb (1997) as a response. The basic facts of the disaster — eight deaths, the specific sequence of events on the mountain — are not disputed, but accounts of individual decisions and actions differ.
What should I read next after Into Thin Air?
Krakauer readers continue with Into the Wild (1996) — his account of Chris McCandless, the young man who abandoned his conventional life for the Alaskan wilderness. Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, Endurance by Alfred Lansing, Wild by Cheryl Strayed, and Sebastian Junger's The Perfect Storm are strong companions in the extreme survival and adventure narrative tradition.
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