This is one of the most fascinating works of non-fiction or memoirs I've ever read and one of the few I've been drawn to read more than once. I found mesmerizing how the author brought me into another world; that of extreme climbing and the "thin air" of Everest. Air so thin, that if you could be dropped down by parachute without acclimating yourself first you'd die. So thin that even going there using the proper procedure, you might find yourself struggling so hard to breathe you might crack ribs, or risk death by a syndrome that makes your brain swell. And should you make it up on the roof of the world, even with bottled oxygen, if the weather turns on you there's a very good chance you'll never make it back.
This is the story of a climbing season on Everest--a year when Krakauer himself was trying to make the climb, when several people didn't make it back. Krakauer is part of that story, and doesn't hide his side of it--parts of which are steeped in controversy and which have spawned other books. None I've tried so engrossing however.
