Reddit reviews Into Thin Air

Everest is climbed in several stages, with a few day's rest at each camp. The final summit push is a single day up-and-back hike. The base camp for the summit hike is just below 8000 meters. That's where the "death zone" starts - that's high enough that there isn't enough oxygen to support a human, so you need to get in and out ASAP.

The people who die do so because they plonk themselves down at the side of the trail in the Death Zone and don't have the energy or brainpower to get back up, mostly due to hypoxia. Everyone else who's going by them is also maxing out their physical and mental abilities just to haul their OWN body around. Providing meaningful help to someone else just isn't usually possible, because you would BOTH die. About all you can do is hand them another oxygen bottle and hope.

This is also why nobody brings the bodies back down. The physical effort to move your own body is all an individual is capable of up there. Source: Jon Krakauer's excellent book "Into Thin Air".

Into Thin Air by Jon Krakeur.

Try Krakauer's other well known book Into Thin Air, and because there's some controversy regarding his version of events, also The Climb by Anatoli Boukreev who was a major player that day.

Krakauer's other book Under the Banner of Heaven is a good "true crime" style story about some Morman murders, but may not be enough like Into the Wild to appeal to you.

Over the Edge of the World is more of a history, covering Magellan's circumnavigation of the earth. It was facinating and definately had intrigue, machinations, and survival elements.

Another book on exploration and survival, Endurance: Shakleton's Incredible Voyage

And another one, Fatal Journey: The Final Expedition of Henry Hudson. I think this is the one I read, but I can't be certain. It doesn't seem to be as well regarded, but i thought it was still interesting.

A book on diving and survival: The Last Dive, Chowdhury

The Hot Zone could be thought of as science survival. Anyway, you'll probably love the opening bits in Africa, although it does slow way down after that.

Far away from survival, but still about travel are the wonderful Bill Bryson's travelogues. Witty and informative. In a Sunburned Country and A Walk in the Woods are particularly recommended.

Have you read [Into Thin Air] (http://www.amazon.com/Into-Thin-Air-personal-disaster-ebook/dp/B000FC1ITK/ref=sr_sp-atf_title_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1411590869&sr=1-1&keywords=into+thin+air) by Jon Krakauer? I enjoyed reading this one.

I also read [Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage] (http://www.amazon.com/Endurance-Shackletons-Incredible-Alfred-Lansing-ebook/dp/B006L74DMC/ref=sr_sp-atf_title_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1411590938&sr=1-1&keywords=endurance+shackleton%27s+incredible+voyage), could not put it down. Would still recommend giving it a shot, even though in the other comment you said you weren't interested.

You could also probably find a book about the [Donner party] (http://www.amazon.com/Desperate-Passage-Donner-Perilous-Journey/dp/0195383311/ref=sr_sp-atf_title_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1411591075&sr=1-1&keywords=donner+party+books). Have not read this one yet.

I actually really want to read more of these true doom/adventure stories as well. Let me know which ones you'd recommend or find interesting. We can swap notes :) (I'm looking up the Franklin expedition right now!)

Edit: another recommendation is possibly books on North Korea? [Escape from Camp 14] (http://www.amazon.com/Escape-Camp-14-Remarkable-Odyssey-ebook/dp/B005GSZZ1A/ref=sr_sp-btf_title_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1411591287&sr=1-1&keywords=escape+from+camp+14) coming to mind. It's still got that morbid fascination element to it. Another good one is [Nothing to Envy] (http://www.amazon.com/Nothing-Envy-Ordinary-Lives-North-ebook/dp/B002ZB26AO/ref=sr_sp-atf_title_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1411591283&sr=1-1&keywords=nothing+to+envy).

Edit2: Saw you wanted to read about that rugby team that was stranded in the Andes, was this the book you were thinking of: [Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors] (http://www.amazon.com/Alive-Survivors-Piers-Paul-Read/dp/038000321X/ref=sr_sp-atf_title_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1411591507&sr=1-1&keywords=alive+the+story+of+the+andes+survivors). The only other book I can think of is [Miracle in the Andes] (http://www.amazon.com/Miracle-Andes-Days-Mountain-Long-ebook/dp/B000GCFW6O/ref=sr_sp-atf_title_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1411591638&sr=1-1&keywords=Miracle+in+the+andes).

The best narrative, novel-style nonfiction writer out there is probably John Krakauer. Into Thin Air, his story of a Mt. Everest expedition gone very badly wrong, is probably my favorite of his, but the guy has never written a less-than-excellent book.

Along similar lines, Shadow Divers by Robert Kurson, about a bunch of amateur SCUBA divers exploring an old WWII submarine at the bottom of the Atlantic, is equally hard to put down.

Touching the Void

I'll second The Push

Into Thin Air

http://multipitchclimbing.com/ is probably my top climbing resource ever

You can watch a few Reel Rock films

Also, you can hang out on the Mountain Project forums. There's some gold from rgold and then everybody else.

I found out about Brandon Sanderson from this sub and really enjoyed these two series:

Mistborn

The Stormlight Archive

I also can't recommend Jon Krakauer enough.

1. El Narco is about the Mexican drug cartel. I'm from Central California so this is a very interesting and important issue to me!
   
   
2. I read "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer. It's about an ascent on Mt. Everest gone wrong. SO amazingly good and well-written!
   
   
3. Infinite Lake.
   
   
4. I have one!
   
   Thanks for the contest :D

Into Thin Air, A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster. That was a gripping motherfucking book.

Do it

Walden is fantastic - he goes into great detail as to how he builds his hut, how he gets his meals and such - Into the Wild really moved me because I was in a similar set of mind like McCandless when I was younger. If you didn't like the film though don't try it. But you might be interested in Krakauers Everest book Into Thin Air.

Jack London's short stories will blow your mind: Of interest to you especially Gold Canyon I think. To Build a Fire was my favorite. He wrote novels too like Call Of The Wild, very good books about the wild and survival.