Into Thin Air: Book Review

In the book Into thin air by Jon Krakauer, there is a constant theme of survival and danger, however, I cannot agree with the statement ‘To survive is to encounter one’s true identity,’ as during survival, our brain activates what psychologists call the ‘monkey mode’ where the brain just focuses on the survival in a ‘fight or flight’ manner. This mode basically limits the human brain down to it’s natural instincts which was used hundreds of thousands of years ago when humans had to survival in the wild. I do not believe that this mode of the brain is the true identity for one’s true identity. In this essay we will be analysing in detail at body paragraphs from chapters 11 and 12.

From pages 155 to page 159 in chapter 11, there are themes such as survival/danger, individualism and wilderness that are active in this paragraph. The group arrives at Camp Two on May 7, and Hall proclaims a day of rest. Krakauer sees Fischer at Camp Two, looking bad-tempered. Since he gave his customers a higher level of independence than Hall, Fischer had to make various crisis outings back to Base Camp, generally because of his customers’ unforeseen issues. Presently, Fischer was being compelled to surge from Camp Two to Base Camp to support a customer, Dale Kruse, who has HACE. Fischer had as of now to come back to Base Camp since one of his aides, Anatoli Boukreev, rested late and overlooked the customers, rather than giving close consideration to them as Fischer had requested. Kruse discloses to Krakauer that he saw Fischer hollering at Boukreev for evading his obligations. Kruse likewise takes note of that Boukreev, despite his huge mountaineering abilities, isn’t great at helping other people. Fischer has been stirring twice as difficult to compensate for Boukreev, and thus he is dozing severely and getting more fit. Later on, Boukreev claims, ‘If the customer can’t climb Everest without enormous assistance from the guide, this customer should not be on Everest.’ In this chapter, we start to get a sense for the character of Anatoli Boukreev, one of the most skilled climbers on Everest in 1996. Boukreev is one of a kind among aides since he doesn’t hang back to help the flimsier, less experienced climbers—he feels that it is their obligation to jump individually. Subsequently, however, Fischer needs to stir twice as difficult to compensate for Boukreev. Boukreev’s directing way of thinking may appear to be unfeeling and mean, however, all things being equal, it uncovered one of the essential issues with composed endeavours to the summit of Everest—as Boukreev says, if a customer needs that much help to ascend the mountain, they truly shouldn’t ascend Everest in any case.

In chapter 12 from pages 178 to the top left hand corner of 179-180, there were reoccurring themes of survival or danger and Individualism and the group. At the start of the expedition, Rob Hall gave his group a speech about the importance of complying with his instructions on summit day. On the off chance that Hall chose that conditions were excessively risky, he demanded, the group would need to pivot immediately. On the morning of May 10, Hall and his group are moving toward the summit of Mount Everest gradually—since Hall requested everybody to remain nearby together. As the group draws nearer to the summit, Krakauer sees colleagues the Taiwanese group drawing nearer together. hall keeps on stressing the significance of method and efficiency even as his very own techniques become progressively complicated. as well see hall stresses on the significance of a turn back time however never formally declares what this time is. while Krakauer has a great deal of adoration for hall unmistakably hall settled on a progression of terrible choices that may have added to the May 10 calamity.

The statement ‘To survive is to encounter one’s true identity,” is not true as the only identity you will be encountering through the gruesome conditions of survival is the instinct of ‘Fight or flight.” The book Into thin air by Jon Krakauer embarks on many interesting themes