What books trigger the adventure in you? The best Mount Everest books are extreme forms of adventures. They are exploratory, offering you not only the thrills but also its history and a better understanding of climbing Everest.

These books also help readers to understand the Sherpas, the mountain heroes, and the challenges of mountaineering.

Here are the top books and articles about Mt. Everest.

Into Thin Air, by Jon Krakauer (1997)

“Among my five teammates who reached the top, four, including Hall, perished in a rogue storm that blew in without warning while we were still high on the peak. By the time I’d descended to Base Camp, nine climbers from four expeditions were dead, and three more lives would be lost before the month was out.”

“Into Thin Air ranks among the great adventure books of all time.” — The Wall Street Journal

Into Thin Air is a bestselling nonfiction book based on the personal experiences of the Mt. Everest Disaster. Jon Krakauer expounds on the challenges of climbing Mt. Everest with emotional clarity.

In his book about Mount Everest, he warms people about the wind, not thinking of their loved ones, and accepting every risk, hardship, and expense that comes along the journey.

Based on the eyewitness of what comes along the journey to the roof of the world, it’s a finely written philosophical examination of the self.

Touching My Father’s Soul, by Jamling Tenzing Norgay (2001)

“Rimpoche bunched his mala rosary into his cupped hands and blew on it sharply. He withdrew it slowly and inspected it, turning his head slightly and squinting, as if trying to peer inside each bead. He looked up at me.”

“Conditions do not look favorable. There is something malevolent about the mountain this coming season.” I felt as if I had been punched in the stomach.”

Touching My Father’s Soul is a classic piece among all the best mount Everest books. Written by Jamling Tenzing Norgay, it’s about the son’s quest to walk in the footprints of his father. Unlike other stories, here he realizes his desire to stand on Everest’s summit alongside his father’s soul as an understanding of his family history.

His father, Tenzing Norgay Sherpa, is a legendary mountaineer and the first person to summit Mt. Everest along with Sir Edmund Hillary. In his book, he interweaves the story of the Everest Disaster of 1996 with the story of his father, the life of Sherpa and a philosophical world very few have seen.

Overall, it is an inspirational piece of mountaineering literature about adventure, wisdom, and spiritual enlightenment.

It was also short-listed for the Boardman Tasker Award.

The Third Pole: Mystery, Obsession, and Death on Mount Everest, by Mark Synnott (2021)

“A hundred-year mystery lured veteran climber Mark Synnott into an unlikely expedition up Mount Everest during the spring 2019 season that came to be known as” the Year Everest Broke.

“What he found was a gripping human story of impassioned characters from around the globe and a mountain that will consume your soul—and your life—if you let it.”

This new Everest book shows the mystery of the mountain and the horror of the human obsession with limitless joy. It helps the reader to understand the mountain, climbing history, and the journey of Mark Synnot via the infamous north face.

“If you’re only going to read one Everest book this decade, make it The Third Pole. A riveting adventure.”—Outside.

Read the review of The Third Pole on Newyork Times.

The Moth and the Mountain, by Ed Caesar (2020)

“An outstanding book” — The Wall Street Journal

“Gripping at every turn,” — Outside

“A gem of a book,”—The Guardian

“A hell of a ride” — The Times (London)

Regarded as Ed Caesar’s one of the finest work, it is an extraordinary true story of an adventurer. This book portrays to the reader the life of a war hero, Maurice Wilson, who joined the extreme adventure to salve the wounds of war.

So, if you are looking to read about a complete package of thrilling mental and physical adventures, this is a book to read among all books about Mount Everest.

The Disposable Man: A Western history of Sherpas on Everest (2013)

“It’s the guilt of hiring somebody to work for me who had no choice,’ Arnot told me last October in Nepal, where I’d joined her on her second annual trek to visit Chhewang’s widow. ‘My passion created an industry that fosters people’s dying. It supports humans as disposable, as usable, and that is the hardest thing to come to terms with.”

Grayson Schaffer helps the readers to understand the challenges faced by a Nepalese Sherpa. He also outlines the differences between western mountain guides and local guides on Everest.

This is one of the good Mount Everest articles that explains the life of a Sherpa who is being used to drag millionaires to the Everest Summit and is often paid a little.

Read it here at Outside online.

Rising: Becoming the First North American Woman on Everest by Sharon Wood (2019)

“More than a superb, nail-biting account of her ascent of Mt. Everest, Rising is Sharon Wood’s deeply personal reflection on loyalty, gratitude, and the unbreakable bonds formed on the mountain.” -Bernadette McDonald, award-winning author of Art of Freedom

Sharon Wood’s book “Rising” is an authentic story of her 1986 ascent of Chomolungma (Everest).

It’s not just another Everest book. Its story of revelations of mental and physical challenges faced by the great mountaineer is genuinely enlightening.

The book is magical and inspiring about how a girl raised high from the limitations set by a male-dominated culture then and now.

Also, it’s a dramatic story that has twists and turns, many characters, dialogues, and real-world emotional conflicts. This book is truly a high-altitude drama set to be the first North American Woman on Everest.

Dark Summit, by Nick Heil (2009)

“On May 15, 2006, a young British climber named David Sharp lay dying near the top of Mount Everest, while forty other climbers walked past him on their way to the summit.”

“A week later, Lincoln Hall, a seasoned Australian climber, was left for dead near the same spot. Hall’s death was reported worldwide, but the next day he was found alive after spending the night on the upper mountain with no food and shelter.”

Dark Summit offers readers the taste of the climbing season, pursuing mountaineering prizes, and the troubling investigation involved in the journey.

The climbers that walked past the David Sharp had to decide to try for the summit or to save a man’s life. This book about Mount Everest explains why it is difficult to make a choice when you are a few meters far from the mountaineering prize.

The Climb: Tragic Ambitions on Everest by Anatoli Boukreev (1997)

“Mountains have the power to call us into their realms, and there, left forever, are our friends whose great souls are longing for the heights.” Do not forget the mountaineers who have not returned from the summits.”

It is a revised version of “The Climb,” which was published in 1997. The book contains the thrills of rescuing certain deaths.

Besides, it also covers the interviews with most of the surviving climbers, other climbing staff, Sherpa, and their families.

High Adventure: The True Story of the First Ascent of Everest by Edmund Hillary

“You don’t have to be a hero to accomplish great things—to compete. You can just be an ordinary chap, sufficiently motivated to achieve challenging goals.”

Although the book is Edmund Hillary’s memoir on reaching the Everest summit, the author offers an inspiring story of courage and endurance.

The Summit of the Gods by Baku Yumemakura

“The Summit of the Gods snakes deep within you grips your heart’s heart and ignites your very soul.” For the space of my involvement within the pages of Baku and Taniguchi’s mountain-climbing epic, I am wholly theirs—and deeply enamored with Everest and K2 and whatever other peaks they want to throw at me. ” –Seth T. Hahne.

The Summit of the Gods is a fiction series about Mount Everest written by a popular Japanese writer who has sold over 20 million copies of his books.

This is a 5-volume Japanese manga series based on the story of the Kotak camera that George Mallory and Irvine had while climbing Mt. Everest from the north ridge in 1924.

The story questions whether they made it to the summit. It also follows the camera that might contain photos and videos of the summit. But it was never found.

If you are a fan of mysteries, then this is one of the most interesting Mount Everest books to read.

In the end,

These best Mount Everest books about climbing the top of the world reflect how bad and good a mountain can be. Apart from the above list, many great mountaineers and authors have written about the Mt Everest Tours’ journey.

Here are some other popular reads on climbing Everest:

• Left for Dead: My Journey Home from Everest by Beck Weathers,
• High Crimes: The Fate of Everest in an Age of Greed by Michael Kodas
• Into the Silence: The Great War, Mallory, and the Conquest of Everest by Wade Davis
• The Lost Explorer: Finding Mallory on Mount Everest by Conrad Anker,
• Everest The Hard Way by Chris Bonnington,
• Tiger of the Snows by Tenzing Norgay,
• The Crystal Horizon by Reinhold Messner,
• Everest, Kangshung Face by Stephen Venables,
• Snow in the Kingdom by Ed Webster,
• Everest West Ridge by Tom Hornbein
• Fearless on Everest: The Quest for Sandy Irvine by Julie Summers
• Four Against Everest by W.W.Sayre

Everest is a popular destination for adventures, whether it is a trek to the base camp, climbing the summit, or any other tour to Mt. Everest.

If you have been to the mountain or read any of the above books, let us know in the comments how did it impress you.