"Into Thin Air" inspiring journey/section #1

     Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer has spiked my interest in creative non-fiction. This novel, written in the perspective of Jon Krakauer, so far has described his life journey from a kid inspired by mountaineering to being a casual mountaineer himself through his earlier years. Although he never had the funds to afford to climb mount.Everest he found himself getting the opportunity as a magazine journalist to climb one of the seven natural wonders of the world. The most liked aspect of this specific creative non-fiction novel is that it gives me very descriptive imagery and emotions to make the me have a feel for the atmosphere in specific moments.

      At the first few chapters of this section the story was hard to follow yet entertaining. It began in the middle of the story at the summit of mount.Everest, Krakauer describes the top of the world as a spectacular site, having one foot in China and the other in Nepal, as well as being so exhausted that he couldn't summon up the energy to care(7). He then, in the following chapter(s), goes off track into the history of mountaineering and Everest. This is another aspect I didn't mind about this creative non-fiction, although these "informative sections" came without warning at time, I found it interesting and educational. Here's something i learned: mount.Everest, known by peak XV (fifteen) in 1852, was discovered to be the tallest mountain in the world in 1852 by a computer, a job description at that time, named Radhanath Sikhdar using trigonometry to measure its height(15).

     In the later chapters of this section Krakauer started using chronological order to tell his story. He summarises his childhood as being inspired by mountaineering, which was very close to his family, to his inspiration leading him to mountaineering as an adult. In the rest of the chapters he talks more about the journey to the Himalayas and to mount.Everest, As well as going off track to talk about in details of Sherpas (who are the people that have lived on the Himalayas at high altitudes, giving them the dangerous job as guides), the commercialisation of mount.Everest (which is connected with the  sherpas topic) and the climbers within his team. Krakauer describes the Himalayas as his flight passes by them and recognises other mountains besides Everest like the third highest mountain Kanchenjunga and fifth highest Makalu(32). He goes on descriptively about where he stays, the villages, and the journey just to get to the base of the mountain, as well as the acclimatising that all the climbers need to do.

     The feeling that this novel give me is a mix of adventure at times but more of an educational book about mountain climbing. Although it is interesting, there is only so much of one topic I can take before I lose interest. I can tell by the way Krakauer wrote this novel that he's quite passionate about mountain climbing, simply how detailed it is as well as the extra information to inform the reader more about the topic of mountain climbing tells me this how passionate he is.                            

Here's a question, should grade 12 University level English be a requirement for entry into all university programs?

Well in my opinion I don't see why all university programs would need a grade 12 university level English if the career that the program might lead to wouldn't require such a high level of English skills. Some might probable say that, "well it is university" and that in the general spectrum it requires a higher level of education compared to collage, and yes that is true, but for example, some one taking  programs that mostly consist of high level mathematical education, all of a sudden requires to also have a grade 12 university level English might not get in the program that once again "consist of mostly high level mathematical education" sole based on that