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Apr. 4th, 2014 06:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skygiantsSo you know how I said in my last post that Heyers are great books to read on planes?
Things that are not great books to read on planes, as it turns out, are Astonishing True Stories Of Normal Expeditions That Went Horribly Wrong, because then you spend the entire ride going "OH MY GOD EVERYTHING CAN GO SO HORRIBLY WRONG SO QUICKLY, WAS THAT TURBULENCE? WAS IT?"
Dead Mountain: The True Story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident is a very fascinating account of a famously weird Russian tragedy: nine experienced student hikers in 1950s Russia decide to go on a group hiking trip a frozen mountain to get their Grade 3 hiking certification. Several months later their bodies are all found scattered in different locations around the mountain, having apparently all fled their tent, heading in different directions, at night, in -30 degree weather, half-dressed and without putting on their shoes.
Avalanche? Secret weapons testing? A BEAR? ALIENS? Soviet authorities kind of squinted at the problem and then threw up their hands and were like "uhhh....OVERWHELMING MYSTERIOUS FORCE," so obviously there are a bazillion conspiracy theories.
For whatever reason there were like four books published about this incident in English over the past year, sixty years after it actually happened; this particular one was recced byvivien and features the actual story of Dyatlov Pass interwoven with the story of Hollywood film producer Donnie Eichar randomly being like "I will go to Russia and conclusively solve the mystery of Dyatlov Pass!"
Spoiler: he does not conclusively solve the mystery of Dyatlov Pass. He does come up with a new theory, which is an interesting theory, and which he is inclined to put his weight behind, so, I mean, if he's happy. Anyway, it's an interesting read and a compelling true-disaster book! If you are looking for true-disaster stuff, I would recommend. Just maybe not on a plane, NOTORIOUS SITE OF TRUE DISASTERS.
Things that are not great books to read on planes, as it turns out, are Astonishing True Stories Of Normal Expeditions That Went Horribly Wrong, because then you spend the entire ride going "OH MY GOD EVERYTHING CAN GO SO HORRIBLY WRONG SO QUICKLY, WAS THAT TURBULENCE? WAS IT?"
Dead Mountain: The True Story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident is a very fascinating account of a famously weird Russian tragedy: nine experienced student hikers in 1950s Russia decide to go on a group hiking trip a frozen mountain to get their Grade 3 hiking certification. Several months later their bodies are all found scattered in different locations around the mountain, having apparently all fled their tent, heading in different directions, at night, in -30 degree weather, half-dressed and without putting on their shoes.
Avalanche? Secret weapons testing? A BEAR? ALIENS? Soviet authorities kind of squinted at the problem and then threw up their hands and were like "uhhh....OVERWHELMING MYSTERIOUS FORCE," so obviously there are a bazillion conspiracy theories.
For whatever reason there were like four books published about this incident in English over the past year, sixty years after it actually happened; this particular one was recced by
vivien and features the actual story of Dyatlov Pass interwoven with the story of Hollywood film producer Donnie Eichar randomly being like "I will go to Russia and conclusively solve the mystery of Dyatlov Pass!" Spoiler: he does not conclusively solve the mystery of Dyatlov Pass. He does come up with a new theory, which is an interesting theory, and which he is inclined to put his weight behind, so, I mean, if he's happy. Anyway, it's an interesting read and a compelling true-disaster book! If you are looking for true-disaster stuff, I would recommend. Just maybe not on a plane, NOTORIOUS SITE OF TRUE DISASTERS.
