Into thin Air, is an account of what happened on that disastrous expedition of Mt Everest in the spring of 1996, when the mountain claimed the lives of eight people including the guides of two expeditions. The book is well written, with the writer giving all the minutiae details of the expedition. The prose style is simple and straight forward, but keeps the reader hooked to the book. The author has also mentioned relatively minor details of other climbing expeditions (some from his own climbing experience and some from other well known climbers) as part of illustrations.
I liked the fact that the author questioned some of the current trends of climbing, where naive climbers with little or no experience join these guided expeditions in hope of conquering the summit, but end up struggling at the higher altitude. The author also makes a reality check on the increasing number of guided expeditions and their ever growing competition to ascend Everest. This book is an adventurous ride from a readers point of view, even though the incident is a disaster and not a miracle. This book is a learning to all those people who are out there making a career out of mountain climbing and to those who intent to make one.
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