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Comment by bambax | Hacker News Reader

"Into Thin Air" (1996) from the author of this article is one of the greatest books I've ever read; I highly recommend it for its great storytelling and its description of the Everest microsociety.

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"The Climb"[0] is a must if you read this, since "Into Thin Air" has some thin air in places, especially putting blame on the guide from the other team.

[0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Climb_%28book%29

I much prefer "Abstieg zum Erfolg", "Bergsüchtig" (Hans Kammerlander) and "Der nackte Berg: Nanga Parbat" (Reinhold Messner). They explain very well what you have to go through and what they did to climb in alpine style. Though, they're in German and I don't think there is an English translation form them. (Looks like Messner has some in English like "All Fourteen 8,000ers")

Best of them was probably "Abstieg zum Erfolg".

Many of Messner's books are in English. http://www.amazon.com/Reinhold-Messner/e/B000APEVL4/

Krakauer's books "Eiger Dreams" and "Into The Wild" (the latter also a good movie) are worth a read as well. And I've listened several times to his audiobook versions of all three.

More than anyone else I've read, he captures the compulsion and the self-doubt of people compelled to pursue such ventures. My highest "climb" is Mt. Shasta, which is nothing in comparison to anything he's done. But I so understand that urge to go and get into the wilderness. It's a compulsion for some, and he documents it, and the vulnerabilities it implies, so very well.

http://amzn.com/B000FC1ITK - Into Thin Air

http://amzn.com/0312206372 - The Climb

http://amzn.com/B00368CAVU - Eiger Dreams

http://amzn.com/B000SEFNMS - Into the Wild

http://amzn.com/B007TKATSM - Surviving K2

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