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I'm bad when it comes to advanced selections, but I will list here the NF books read in 2022.

1. The Climb: Tragic Ambitions on Everest 4*
2. American Wolf: A True Story of Survival and Obsession in the West 3*
3. Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family 4*
4. Blowout: Corrupted Democracy, Rogue State Russia, and the Richest, Most Destructive Industry on Earth 4.5*
5. A House in the Sky 4.5*
6. Jailbreak at Alcatraz 4*
7. Escape at 10,000 Feet: D.B. Cooper and the Missing Money 4*
8. Strength in What Remains: A Journey of Remembrance and Forgiveness 3*
9. While the City Slept: A Love Lost to Violence and a Young Man's Descent into Madness 3*
10. The Babysitter: My Summers with a Serial Killer 3*
11. Victim F: From Crime Victims to Suspects to Survivors 4.5*

Ioana wrote: "I'm bad when it comes to advanced selections, but I will list here the NF books read in 2022.

1."

I'm the same. I will use my thread exactly as you are, to keep track of the non-fiction books I choose throughout the course of 2022. Good luck

Bill wrote: "Ioana wrote: "I'm bad when it comes to advanced selections, but I will list here the NF books read in 2022.

1."

I'm the same. I will use my thread exactly as you are, to keep track of the non-fic..."

Thanks, Bill. Can't wait to see that you and everybody else will read in 2022.

The Climb: Tragic Ambitions on Everest I wanted to read this book ever since I've read Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster in 2010. This is Anatoli Boukreev's book on the same events.

There is no way an outsider can tell who's story is closer to the truth, this is one case of "he said / he said".

But I can say this: I enjoyed Krakauer's book more. It gives a lot more background about all participants, guides and clients, it explains climbing and its dangers, it talks about Everest and other high mountains, altitude sickness, and from his perspective what everyone did and when, what went wrong, how this could've been maybe prevented. Plus, he's a good writer and the story flows beautifully.

Boukreev does not waste time with anything else but the events themselves, and the book sounds more like a way to justify his actions and assign blame; to clients who did not do the hard work to acclimatize (you need to climb up, spend 1 night up, go back to rest, repeat; multiple times, at increasing altitudes); to sherpas, who did not properly fix all the ropes they were supposed to. These are accurate facts and contributing factors, nobody contests them, and the blame he assigns is warranted.

Boukreev lacks Krakauer's gift as a writer and so the book lacks the nice flow. Plus, the narration of the audiobook is poor, the narrator stops for 10 seconds between every single paragraph. It's very annoying.

In the end, I'm glad I've read both books. Boukreev was a great climber (he died in 1997 in an avalanche, 1 year after this Everest climb, during a winter ascent of Annapurna in Nepal) and saved 3 people during this Everest expedition. On his own, with no help from anyone else, after climbing the Everest without the help of oxygen. When everyone else (guides, clients and Sherpas) was too spent, too tired or too afraid to get lost in the white storm, he went out and managed to bring the lost climbers back to camp.

Sounds like a basically good guy and a basically so-so book. (I haven't read Krakauer's yet either: it's on my TBR somewhere, but when I do I think I'll stop at that one.)

Jennifer wrote: "Sounds like a basically good guy and a basically so-so book. (I haven't read Krakauer's yet either: it's on my TBR somewhere, but when I do I think I'll stop at that one.)"

Pretty much so. For the reading experience, yes, Krakauer's book was better for me. For figuring out who's right, who's wrong, I think you need to read both perspectives and draw your own conclusions. The world seems very divided on this.

American Wolf: A True Story of Survival and Obsession in the West If you want to know about how the wolf was reintroduced in Yellowstone, the pro and con arguments of various interested parties (wildlife conservationists, hunters, cattle ranchers, and everybody in between), the politics surrounding the wolves, the lives and habits of the wolf packs in Yellowstone, and a lot more....then this book is for you. And it's fascinating. 3 stars.

Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster was not my first book on this topic, so I knew a lot about the events. I was living back in Romania back then and I remember "hearing" on forbidden channels (Free Europe, Voice of America) that something happened, but of course, we didn't know details or the extent of the actual accident.
We were told not to eat any of the new, long awaited green lettuce, radishes or other delicious spring vegetables, but not why.
It was interesting to read the details, and sadly, even the people living right next to the rector weren't told much more else; and their lives were in real danger. The effort for the cleanup was enormous...but the book a little too long.
Fascinating, but probably more enjoyable if some of the details were skipped.

Ioana wrote: "Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster was not my first book on this topic, so I knew a lot about the events. I was living back in Romania ..."

I often wonder when an event like this occurs how aware those most directly affected are, and the response.

Kim. E. wrote: "I often wonder when an event like this occurs how aware those most directly affected are, and the response."

I think that nobody realizes the significance of the event, it's all about survival in those moments. I remember 9/11....all we cared about was getting out of the city.

Ioana wrote: "Kim. E. wrote: "I often wonder when an event like this occurs how aware those most directly affected are, and the response."

I think that nobody realizes the significance of the event, it's all ab..."

So true.

Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family is about the Galvin's family tragedy, where 6 boys out of their 12 children (10 boys) are diagnosed with schizophrenia. It's a tragedy for all, parents, sick and healthy children, but different for each category, and at least for a while, none can empathize and understand the others.
And then there is the lack of solutions and support for all involved...

A good read, but very painful. In the news today "multiple health panels are launching bipartisan work to craft legislative packages addressing the nation’s mental health and addiction crises." Let's hope it gets somewhere.

Blowout: Corrupted Democracy, Rogue State Russia, and the Richest, Most Destructive Industry on Earth. This book can be summarized in a few words: oil, money, greed, corruption. At all levels, everywhere. It is a frightening read, with lots of details connecting thousand of dots, and it shows how we got here. Some people really understood Putin and his game, too bad nobody listened. Or if they did, they did not have the power to do anything about it.
The book was published in 2019, but if one had their eyes open, the current events were easy to see coming. 4.5*

Ioana wrote: "Blowout: Corrupted Democracy, Rogue State Russia, and the Richest, Most Destructive Industry on Earth. This book can be summarized in a few words: oil, money, greed, corruption. At ..."

I like Rachel but I've avoided this. Glad you 'enjoyed' it.

Bill wrote: "I like Rachel but I've avoided this. Glad you 'enjoyed' it."

Just curious, Bill, why have you avoided this?

A House in the Sky. I don't remember Amanda's story in the news (captured for ransom in Somalia, held captive in horrible conditions for 15 months), and I blamed her in the beginning. So many bad decisions...but nobody deserves what she went through, and in the end she turned out to be a lot stronger, smarter, more resilient than I originally thought. The writing is beautiful, but this was not an easy read. Considering the nightmare she lived through, there is no "why me" or "poor me" attitude...wow! So glad she got freed...

Ioana wrote: "Bill wrote: "I like Rachel but I've avoided this. Glad you 'enjoyed' it."

Just curious, Bill, why have you avoided this?"

Nothing to do with Rachel because I love her. I was just tired of the whole political situation after 4 years of a certain president and took a bit of a break from it.

Bill wrote: "Nothing to do with Rachel because I love her. I was just tired of the whole political situation after 4 years of a certain president and took a bit of a break from it."

LOL, I guess we all felt that way. This was probably my first book that touched on politics in a very long time. Thankfully, it was a lot more diverse than that. Keep it on your radar for when you're ready for this topic again.

Ioana wrote: "Bill wrote: "Nothing to do with Rachel because I love her. I was just tired of the whole political situation after 4 years of a certain president and took a bit of a break from it."

LOL, I guess w..."

I will indeed.

A few more since my last update:
Jailbreak at Alcatraz and Escape at 10,000 Feet: D.B. Cooper and the Missing Money: short sequential art, that did not tell me anything I did not know, but I enjoyed them nevertheless. There's another one in this series, but my library doesn't have it.

Strength in What Remains: A Journey of Remembrance and Forgiveness; I wanted to like this a lot more than I actually did...The facts on their own, the Burundi history and Deo's journey are interesting, his life and experiences in both Burundi and US are hard to read about (the genocide part is heart wrenching), but overall I was not crazy about the book presentation. It needed to be shorter, and I was not crazy about Tracy Kidder narrating the audiobook.

While the City Slept: A Love Lost to Violence and a Young Man's Descent into Madness. decent true crime story, very well researched. Eli Sanders who covered the story for his newspaper got a Pulitzer Prize for it, but I think I wanted more facts and less "talk" in the book. Sadly, another case where mental health played a role.

The Babysitter: My Summers with a Serial Killer. The summers were not "with" Tony Costa who turned out to be a serial killer...Liza Rodman (the author) knew Tony and they met, a lot of times accidentally, when living in Provincetown. Most of the book was not based on her knowledge or experience, but what she learned later from newspapers or other sources.

Victim F: From Crime Victims to Suspects to Survivors. Note to self: never make judgements and never have a guilty/not guilty opinion after watching the news. This is a horrific story, how was it even possible? Recommended to all my true-crime buddies.