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Into Thin Air cover art

Into Thin Air

By: Jon Krakauer
Narrated by: Philip Franklin
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Publisher's Summary

One of the inspirations for the major motion picture Everest, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Keira Knightley.

This is the true story of a 24-hour period on Everest when members of three separate expeditions were caught in a storm and faced a battle against hurricane-force winds, exposure, and the effects of altitude, which ended the worst single-season death toll in the peak's history.

In March 1996, Outside magazine sent veteran journalist and seasoned climber Jon Krakauer on an expedition led by celebrated Everest guide Rob Hall. Despite the expertise of Hall and the other leaders, by the end of summit day eight people were dead.

Krakauer's audiobook is at once the story of the ill-fated adventure and an analysis of the factors leading up to its tragic end. Written within months of the events it chronicles, Into Thin Air clearly evokes the majestic Everest landscape. As the journey up the mountain progresses, Krakauer puts it in context by recalling the triumphs and perils of other Everest trips throughout history. The author's own anguish over what happened on the mountain is palpable as he leads his listeners to ponder timeless questions.

©2011 Jon Krakauer (P)2016 Audible, Ltd

What listeners say about Into Thin Air

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    5 out of 5 stars

ENOUGH with the haphazard switch into terrible accent

This is the first time I’ve experienced this with an audible and I don’t know who’s idea it was to have the narrator break into accents for every single character. I thought this was a reading not a voice reenactment! I’m wondering why the narrator didn’t effeminate his voice when reading a female characters speech or that of a child? Seems so random and inconsistent.

The real problem is that the accents are terrible! As an Australian person, to hear him butcher the Australian and Kiwi accents (especially of Hall) is painful to sit through. Also it is inconsistent (starts with accent, doesn’t finish the second sentence in the same quote with that accent even though it one speech by the same character), which is soo distracting.

I have to stop the audible to write this review as it is so distracting every time it comes on which is every few minutes.

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7 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Accents

The narrator should not try to replicate the accents of the characters. They were amateur and detracted from the impact.

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4 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Awesome book, very harrowing story - could improve

Only complaint was the accents were terrible, mainly the South African and New Zealand accents which sounded more like a botched Aussie accent than anything. Would have preferred no accents at all as it does distract from the story . Overall read very well and highly recommend this book !

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3 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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I feel like I have just climbed Everest!

I enjoyed the narration and historical detail. also loved the retrospective analysis of events. a great read!

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3 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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Fantastic book, terrible accents by the narrator

This was a fantastic book, and certainly deserves the accolade it has received. I had put it reading it for a little while, as it’s easy to read large excerpts or access most of the information on the 96 disaster
online now. It was still absolutely a fantastic “read,” and I binge listened to it every free moment I had.

As an audiobook, those accents were simply horrendous and actually made it hard to focus at times (during some very somber moments in the book). If only he never bothered with the accents, the narration would have been fine. They were so noticeably bad, that I paused listening to see if other reviewers had also found them terrible- and they had. I do think it is relevant to mention the narration in a review, as this format is an audiobook, not a hard copy of the novel.

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2 people found this helpful

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Riveting!

A hugely absorbing book! really enjoyed it. Terrible kiwi accent was funny but otherwise a great book

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1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Wow, Such a Tragedy Told Though the Eyes of Climber.

I learned a lot about the devastating 1996 climbing season on Everest. The narration was great and the account of the events that involved were surreal as I have been to Everest Base Camp.
RIP to all the climbers and Sherpas that were lost.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

the really poor accents, which should not be the thing that stands out the most!

I dont know why the narrator had the need to speak in bad accents, the story would have been fine without the failed attempts, it just detracted from the narrative.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent story and easy to listen to

Great narrator (the accents are fine and barely even noticed the switch back and forth) gripping story that is well written

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A true page turner

I couldn't put this book down, it's a true page turner and left me on the edge of my seat. Highly recommend!

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