"Jon Krakauer is a mountaineer and the author of Eiger Dreams, Into the Wild (which was on the New York Times bestseller list for over a year and was made into a film starring Emile Hirsch and Kristen Stewart), Into Thin Air, Iceland, Under the Banner of Heaven and Where Men Win Glory. He is also the editor of the Modern Library Exploration series. He has received an Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. According to the award citation, ""Krakauer combines the tenacity and courage of the finest tradition of investigative journalism with the stylish subtlety and profound insight of the born writer."""
[Krakauer] has produced a narrative that is both meticulously researched and deftly constructed. -- Alastair Scott * The New York Times Book Review * This is a great book, among the best ever on mountaineering. Gracefully and efficiently written, carefully researched, and actually lived by its narrator. * The Washington Post * Into Thin Air ranks among the great adventure books of all time. * The Wall Street Journal * A harrowing tale of the perils of high-altitude climbing, a story of bad luck and worse judgment and of heartbreaking heroism. * People * Krakauer is an extremely gifted storyteller as well as a relentlessly honest and even-handed journalist, the story is riveting and wonderfully complex in its own right . . .To call the book an adventure saga seems not to recognize that it is also a deeply thoughtful and finely wrought philosophical examination of the self. * Elle *