《极限登山》是由美国著名登山家Mark F.Twight和James Martin合著的对极限登山运动现状的一份报告，内容包括四个部分。通过讲述作者对登山运动危险性的切实理解，探讨了攀登者的性格和态度，描述了综合、力量、耐力训练的方法，训练营养学，装备等，并对攀登技术进行总结。书中从头到尾穿插了大量真实的攀登故事，其中许多都是Mark的亲身经历，另一些则是根据熟人和朋友的讲述整理而成。这些故事为《极限登山》增添了报告文学的色彩，引人入胜。 《极限登山》可作为户外攀登运动员的学习指南，也可供其他户外运动爱好者参考阅读。

Was it fate that put Krakauer—at once a crack climber, a seasoned journalist, and a sensitive conscience—on the world's highest mountain during that notorious 1996 season? Unpredictable weather, human folly, and a mind-set committed to client satisfaction killed 12 people on Everest that year, while the whole world watched. Krakauer showed us what it really meant: the traffic jams on the summit ridge; guides bending their own rules to get exhausted clients to the top. He showed us the consequences of disrespect for this formidable goddess, Chomolungma, as the Sherpas call her. And Krakauer is as hard on himself as he is on the rest. Whereas Annapurna is the record of a triumph, Into Thin Air is the postmortem of a debacle—less inspiring, but no less powerful. As the most widely read mountaineering work in recent history, it has profoundly shaped our idea of extreme adventure and who and what it is for.