john amato

the williams clan is one of the best family of readers i know. thanks, in part, to their irish heritage. on my birthday this year, john gave me a few of his books that he read and liked. despite being a former devil dog, he is always reading good books.

into thin air was one of the books he gave me. for those that haven’t heard of or read this book, you really should. before reading it, i thought i knew the basics. it was a story about a tragic climb into everest that the author retells. what i didn’t realize, and what makes it so compelling, is that the author, jon krakauer, was actually on this expedition which has become known as the everest disaster.

the everest disaster refers to the day jon krakauer and his team attempted to reach the summit of mount everest. it is the deadliest day in everest history and part of the deadliest year ever on everest.

i am fascinated by true stories. this one is so great because the author was a part of an event that typically wouldn’t have been documented so well. krakauer was an avid mountain climber throughout his life and joined the everest team as a journalist to document the commercialization of climbing everest. incidentally, the expedition just so happened to be pretty extreme and resulted in the death of 8 people - including some of the best guides in the world.

for those into adventure books and stories about pushing your body to the extreme, you’d really enjoy this. if you would like to borrow it, let me know before i send it to pat or dr.