By Jon Krakauer. Villard Books, 293 pp., $24.95.

In the shadow of Nepal's Annapurna range, perched on an edge of a Himalayan meadow, lies the tiny village of Gundruk. Thirty years ago, I sat cross-legged beside a fire in Gundruk and talked with a Nepalese family late into the night. I was a Peace Corps volunteer. My hosts, cordial mountain people, were a retired Nepalese soldier and his family.

I distinctly remember two questions asked of me that evening. Someone tossed an ...