An excellent book on the Everest climbing experience is "Into Thin Air". After reading the book, my vague romantic notions of climbing Everest were blown away. The climb is near-suicidal, grueling, life-threatening, and apparently not even all that 'scenic'! The detritus of earlier climbs litters the trails; including empty oxygen bottles, camp gear, and the occasional frozen body. It is a testament to the power of human will, madness, and obsession about those who climb Everest.
That was a great book.
I read that great book and one thing Krakauer writes about that has stuck with me is the ever-increasing number of wealthy "adventurers" with little mountaineering experience who pay huge sums of money to guides to take them to the top. All to often, these adventures have no comprehension (or are simply in denial) about how perilous an Everest summit is.
Interestingly, as far as "climbing" goes, Everest doesn't have that much - it may be the highest mountain, but not the toughest. This is why so many non-climbers can pony up the cash to have guides literally haul them up to the top. Just not possible with harder mountains.