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Classic Krakauer

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Member Reviews

This collection was a bit of a mixed bag for me, as most essay collections are. There is not denying that Krakauer is a talented author and I have loved some of his full length books. I could actually see some of these articles being expanded upon and turned into books. I wanted to know more! That said, nothing about this felt fresh. I would have loved hearing his opinion on things all these years later.

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What can I say? This is Classic Krakauer, a non-fiction writer who writes about adventure stories as well as compelling other true stories. If you enjoyed Into the Wild, Into Thin Air, Missoula, or any of his other books, you will thoroughly enjoy Classic Krakauer!,

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I enjoyed this collection of Krakauer's writing, and was a huge fan of Into Thin air. This collection has a range of his articles, which we enjoyable, but I think what would have made the collection a bit more relevant would have been some kind of update on what happened after the articles, as some of the articles are from the 90s. Anyone who is a fan of Krakauer's writing would enjoy this.

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Wonderful compilation of magazine articles published over the past 20 or 25 years. The variety of subjects are strung together by the taut and yes, almost lyrical writing of Krakauer, although some also share a tragedy, as you'd expect of him. The book is a wonderful example of his clear and pristine writing.

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This was a collection of magazine articles that Jon Krakauer wrote and published in the 80s and 90s. Some of them are now a little dated (or at least require an update). I didn't love all of them, but there were a few that I would have loved to see being developed into a book: about surfer Mark Foo (which actually shocked me since I have never had any interest whatsoever in surfing), about the cave in New Mexico, and about the wilderness surviving course as a form of "treatment" for delinquent youth.

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Krakauer goes back to his older stories never published them and unleashed here in a spellbinding set of short essays as always expertly written. If you are a fan you’ll be a fan of this collection. Great reading.

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Wow, what an amazing book this was. Jon Krakauer keeps you engaged and occasionally on the edge of your seat throughout the book. The stories range from a surfer at Mavericks to climbing Mt. Everest. and every story was a winner. I highly recommend this book.

Thanks to Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group and NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

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I will read anything that Jon Krakauer writes. He is amazing! This collection of essays is a fantastic look at the range of his talent.

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4.5 stars

Please amuse me for a moment as I thrust a non-fiction read under your nose. I have been and still am to some extent, an avid reader of climbing, mountaineering and expedition non-fiction. With a love of the mountains myself and some amateur climbing in my back pocket, I do love to read about the big, adrenaline-edge climbs. Jon Kraukauer has journaled and recorded his way through some amazing experiences, and his INTO THIN AIR is one of my favourite books.

This collection of his articles and essays on wilderness and risk were a great read and my favourites were those that featured mountain peaks and extreme conditions. However, these essays feature extreme surfing, predicting eruptions and lahars with a doomsday feel, the ethics and liability of high alititude climbing, caving and much more. Those I favoured include: Living Under the Volcano, After the Fall, Loving them to Death

Krakauer narrates this stories with balance and seeming accuracy but there is also a thread of challenge and investigation through many of these stories which I really appreciated. He had a way of drawing you into these stories, bringing a human lens to extreme achievements, disasters and tragedy. His narrative was always engaging. Some stories made me feel a rightful anger such as Loving Them to Death, told with factual narrative of bullying and gaslighting a young person to their demise, elicting such emotion in this reader.

If you’ve never read Jon Krakauer, this is a good starting place to dip your toe into. There are such a range of topics to these essays that some and probably most will appeal to you, as they did to me. If you’re a fan already, you’ll love this.

Many thanks to Knopf Doubleday for this early review copy.

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This collection of classic essays is so much of what is amazing about Jon Krakauer's writing: totally engaging, slightly macabre, and so well researched. My own personal interests meant that I found some of the essays, like After the Fall, Mark Foo's Last Ride, and Loving Them to Death, more exciting than others, but they were all fascinating.

And like so much of Krakauer's writing, each essay was planted squarely at the point where the will of nature meets the will (and foley) of man--which also, for essays that were up to 30+ years old, became their downfall.

It was nearly impossible to get through any of the essays, so much about nature (and the universe's) glory and fury, without a constant refrain of CLIMATECHANGECLIMATECHANGECLIMATECHANGE running through my head and nearly ruining their impact.

Because as a reader in a world that we are callously and rapidly ruining, it is hard to go back to an essay about the possibility of Mt Rainier's eruption or the impact of humans in a remote Alaskan national park or the need to extract bacteria from a deep cave in Carlsbad without becoming totally depressed about how different our concerns about similar events would be now.

I couldn't suspend my disbelief and or refrain from being completely distracted by the thought that almost everything Krakauer has written about here is in jeopardy.

But maybe that's why this collection is still relevant, at least as a warning if not as entertainment.

Thank you to Net Galley for a free copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

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You can just tell that these pieces were written by a talented writer. Personally I have no interest in surfing or volcanoes or mountain climbing but when I was reading Krakauer's articles on these subjects I found myself fascinated. My favorite articles were definitely After the Fall and Loving Them to Death. After the fall had some interesting commentary on,frankly,people's stupidity and willingness to blame anyone (sue them in court) but themselves. Loving them to death was hard to read at times. It talks about wilderness camps that promise to reform troubled youth and all the horror that goes on in those places. A brutal article, I had to take breaks while reading it because I was fuming with anger.
I only wish there was additional information included about the fate of some of these stories. Most of the pieces were written in the 80-90s,a lot of time has passed since then. I would love to know what happened with the case against some people from the Loving them to death,if they received any punishment for their actions.
Thank you to netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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Krakauer, one of my favorite authors, never disappoints. While each of the several stories in this compilation is excellent, none, to me, stand out as much as "Loving Them to Death," the section dedicated to "wilderness experiences" supposedly designed to rein in and "rehabilitate" problem teens. Absolutely heartbreaking, and I will never forget the author's presentation of this tragedy.

If you like Krakauer, you will not be disappointed in this collection. If you are not yet familiar with his body of work, I hope "Classic Krakauer" will make you a lifelong fan.

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I have previously read several books by the author, Jon Krakauer, Into Thin Air and Into the Wild being my favorites. Although I have quite a few of his books still on my bookshelves that need to be read. This book, Classic Krakauer, is a collection of articles written by the author that span a wide variety of people and places, from Mount Everest to a cave in New Mexico. One of the many things I enjoy about the author's writing is that he can and does write about such a wide variety of topics. I believe most of the essays or articles in this book were originally published in newspapers or magazines. Like some other reviews I have read, the one thing I would change would be to provide a slight background or better dates with each of the essays. Most of these were written in the 1990's so when the author refers to the past in the articles, it is actually much longer than when the article was actually written. I have always enjoyed Krakauer's writing style and look forward to reading the rest of his published works in the future.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for sending me an ARC of this book.

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I wasn't blown away by Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild, which contains as many slow, padded stretches as it does chilling ones. On the other hand, each of the stories in this collection, released last year as an ebook and coming this October in paperback, are lean as can be, whether Krakauer is mourning surfing great Mark Foo, profiling the legendary mountaineer Fred Beckey, or recounting in grim detail the last days of teenager Aaron Bacon, who died as a result of torturous wilderness therapy. In the introduction, Krakauer writes that, following the successes of Into the Wild and Into Thin Air, he was relieved to leave magazine work behind and focus solely on book-length projects. After finishing this book, I was ready for Classic Krakauer Vol. 2.

Thank you to Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for this review and forthcoming blog coverage.

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I'm a big Krakauer fan. Naturally, I jumped at the opportunity to read this new collection of old essays. I've long liked his writing style, and that holds true for this collection. (Not to mention, it kicks off with a hell of a lede.)

The topics here vary, but felt like pretty "classic Krakauer" to me (great title, Knopf Doubleday!). Which is to say: they all involve the outdoors in some way, e.g., the liability of a rock climbing equipment company, Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, the aftermath of an avalanche on Everest, what NASA scientists hope to learn from a cave in New Mexico.

Two things I'd like to see from the collection that weren't included in the e-arc:
1. Updates. This is the big one. Many of the essays were written decades ago - a worthy addition to this collection would be updates at the close of each one. For instance (being vague so as not to spoil anything), one of the essays involved a court case that had not yet been resolved. I looked it up, and my jaw literally dropped at the outcome. Readers should learn that information without having to look it up themselves.
The same goes for several other essays - where do things stand now? Even footnotes would be valuable. E.g., it was predicted that annual visitors to Gates would increase to 18,000 by 2010. In 2018, that figure was just 9,500 - an increase, to be sure, but far less than what was expected (eight years later).
2. Pictures. He describes things in detail, but it was hard for me to imagine the various surf moves, cave formations, and hiking trails without photos, diagrams, and/or maps.

Overall, this collection felt like time well spent, and I'm grateful to have had some of Krakauer's older essays grouped together in one place.

(Thank you Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group and NetGalley for a free e-arc for review!)

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Jon Krakauer is a lot like the writer John McPhee as they both like writing about man's relationship with nature, and are talented enough they can make any subject interesting. Krakauer started off as magazine journalist, and this book is collection of his articles. I enjoyed them all, and will continue to read everything he writes.

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If you are looking to experience some epic adventure from the comfort of your couch...this is a good book for you! This famous investigative reporter brings you a series of articles, published in an array of publications throughout the years. His stories about survival, hope and courage will hit you hard and have you staying up long into the night! Must read for nonfiction lovers.

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The essays are, classic Krakauer. Nonfiction in nature, they still tell a story and are very readable. They are like little yummy snacks. You grab your snack and you enjoy it in one sitting as you read one essay and you think to yourself both are most delicious.....should I have another?

As some of these essays were originally published well over 20 years ago, it’s important to keep that in mind. For example, climbing Everest has become even more dangerous as was noted in the media this year. Photos show hundreds of people standing below the Hillary step waiting to summit. Also, I wish there was an update on Gates of the Arctic Park. I would imagine the visitorship has climbed. My only criticism of the book is that it is not current, and there is more to write about the individual essays...perhaps a footnote at the end of each essay with an update (more than a single line that Beckey had passed)? Because the material is dated, I can only give it 4 stars.

Thanks to Net Galley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

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Classic Krakauer resurrects short pieces from an author known for his writings about place, survival, and nature. Those skills are on display in these shorter compositions, most of which can be enjoyed in a sitting or two,

Krakauer succeeds in giving us the details (and danger) we need as readers, offering glimpses of new places far and wide.

Recommended reading.

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"Classic Krakauer" by Jon Krakauer is a series of essays and long form articles he wrote for magazines like Outside, Smithsonian, and other publications some as late as the 1980s, years before classics such as "Into the Wild" and "Under the Banner of Heaven."

Krakauer writes stories that are both intriguing and thrilling at the same time. These stories keep you reading and reading and reading. As you lay in bed hoping to get to the end of the page to turn out the light and sleep, you find yourself reading just another page. The stories range from extreme sports like big wave riding in California to backpacking at the Gates of the Arctic National Park in Alaska where you could go days before seeing another living soul. Through the treacherous wilderness you must keep on or else you could miss your flight via a prop plane back to civilization at the far end of the park.

Some of the other stories Krakauer tells in this anthology are about environmental issues, such as when the volcano under Mt. Rainier might shoot off a deadly lahar that could decimate neighborhoods in the near by Puget Sound area. He tells stories of outdoor wilderness groups promising desperate parents with troubled kids to turn their lives around with a "tough love" approach.

Each different essay is compelling, engaging and communicates a valuable lesson about important issues such as human relationships, conservation, social justice. Each a powerful lesson as a force for good.

I received this eBook free of charge from Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group via NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. I did not receive any fiscal compensation from either company for this review and the opinions expressed herein are entirely my own.

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