This is one of those books that is exactly its description and I feel like you know going in if this will be for you or not. It's a collection of 12 articles Krakauer wrote about mountain climbing (or related topics) in the 80s. I like journalism and I like Krakauer's writing style, so I quite enjoyed this book.

I will admit that mountain climbing is not a particular interest of mine, but I have already read Into Thin Air which piqued my curiosity in the topic. If you're a bit hesitant because of the mountain climbing, I definitely recommend getting through Into Thin Air first. It helps to read this as a follow up, even though it was published nearly a decade earlier.

I don't think this book has a whole lot of staying power for me. I read it over the course of a month (which is normally how I get through collections) and the articles themselves faded pretty fast from my mind. The only ones I can strongly remember details from were the last, about Krakauer's personal experience soloing a peak in Alaska, and my least favorite about being stuck in your tent for days/weeks during bad weather. Everything else started blurring together as soon as I finished each individual piece.

I don't have a whole lot to say about this book. I really enjoyed it while reading it. Krakauer's writing is great and the topics were varied and interesting, mostly. Even when they weren't, one of the great things about journalism collections is that the pieces aren't ever much more than 20 pages so you move on pretty fast. It was great to have a little taste of different people and events and histories of mountain climbing.

I'd definitely recommend if it sounds like your kind of thing. It was a very worthwhile read and he has another book that I believe is similar in nature (Classic Krakauer) that I plan on reading soon.