There are good books, there are bad books, and then there are the books in between. Into Thin Air is one of those. I generally find nonfiction boring, and this was true for most of this book. For the last hundred pages, however, I couldn’t put it down.

Into Thin Air is the story of the 1996 Mt. Everest disaster, told by Jon Krakauer, a reporter who was asked to accompany the expedition to write a magazine article.

For the first half of the book, Krakauer explains how he came to climb Everest and recalls the events that led to this ascent of the highest summit in the world. Along with him were some accomplished climbers and some who probably couldn’t climb Mt. Hood without a guide, which made for an interesting mix. Virtually nothing happened until almost the end, so there is not much to tell without spoiling it.

I think if I hadn’t been reading this book for school, I would have given up after a few chapters. I didn’t really feel like I got to know most of the characters, and there were times when I felt Krakauer was trying to divert blame from himself, instead of just telling the story.

Most of the writing seemed like one huge newspaper article, stretched out and fattened with useless information that I couldn’t remember when I needed it later in the book. There was little dialogue and too many quotes.

As I said, the last hundred pages were a lot less dull. All I can tell you (without giving it all away) is that a lot of people died and the ones who managed to live made some hard choices.

I would recommend this book to avid mountain climbers and people who have more patience than I do when it comes to reading.