Jon Krakauer wrote a memorable story of his encounter with nature and man on Mt. Everest with 'Into Thin Air'.
With 'Under the Banner of Heaven', his account of the history and the people of fundamentalist Mormonism, Krakauer has given us an insight into religion and God and man of great significance.
He begins the book with graphic detail of a murder akin to that of Truman Capote's 'In Cold Blood'.
Then, he gives us, the readers, the history of Mormonism and the split into fundamentalism.
For our age, and for the edification of all, this is a profound piece of writing.
More on this to come ....
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One of the best parts of "Into Thin Air" is when Krakauer details how Mount Everest got its name: The Nepal country called the mountain "Sagarmatha - goddess of the sky". On the other side of the mountain, the Tibet people lovingly called the mountain Jomulunga - Goddess of the Earth. Then, hundreds of years later, the British came to measure it. The engineer who cranked the numbers found out it was the highest mountain in the world.... and promptly named it after his boss, Everest.
Makes me wonder.
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