Into Thin Air - Jon Krakauer - Scott Goggins

 



This book gave me a very similar feeling to The Big Short. You just can't believe how much tape and glue aka negligence exists in such an esteemed place/event aka climbing Mount Everest. Before he really gets into the story he gives you the background of the mountain, the experiencing getting to the mountain and everyone on the mountain. At first I was kind of like, why are you telling me this, but now I appreciate it. It seems climbing mount Everest is 40% skill and 60% luck. You are basically rolling the dice for a huge number of tragedies and the main one being dealing with the lack of oxygen as you climb. It seems that everyone is affected differently and this could make or break your trip. 

The event that happens on the mountain is absolutely nuts, a crazy tragedy that you are surprised you never heard of but as you'll learn from the book is just another day on Everest. What I enjoyed most about the book was the behind the curtains look at the whole operation. As I said before it's filled with EGO's and negligence. You are also dealing with all walks of life from different cultures, religions, generations. This is just a recipe for disaster when the stakes are just so high. The other thing that I can relate to is when I did my half ironman. One of the racers crashed up above and part of me felt very conflicted, do I stop and help or do I keep going? I am racing and I didn't cause the crash. It's very similar to when you are on an airplane and someone gets sick. You immediately think 'if we have to turn around I'm going to be pissed?' Now imagine yourself on a mountain that you paid tons of money and probably took years to schedule. Good luck with that conundrum. 


This book is in all of the top lists. It's a very interesting book that you will not want to put down. I agree with the hype but I will say it's not a life changing book but I think that's due to the genre. You don't read suspense adventure to find a new passion or motivation to work on yourself.

It's a good book. 

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