Into the Wild by Krakauer

[4eyedbuzzard]

Krakauer does, indeed, seem to invoke some controversy after his books come out. Not sure if its because he is so blunt, or because he frequently has bad info. I found it interesting that the latest "Everest" movie kinda disses Krakauer's role/part in the 1996 tragedy.

In any case, his books are indeed interesting. Check out some of his others, like "Under the Banner of Heaven" (about Mormons) or "Three Cups of Deceit" (about that Pakistan charity fraud).

NOVA the science show on PBS had an episode where a group of climbers when to Antarctica to climb Mt. Vinson. In the group was Krakauer and Conrad Anker who is a renowned mountaineer and was the team leader. Krakauer came off as a person who had a hard time seeing other people's point of view once he had made his mind up about something. A hard head you might say.

I've read Into Thin Air and Anatoli Boukreev's "reply", The Climb, and numerous articles on the 1996 Everest disaster. I haven't seen the recent movie yet, which apparently Krakauer isn't happy with. But I always keep in mind that Krakauer is a professional writer first, amateur mountaineer second.