Using the true story of a young man, who in 1992 walked deep into the Alaskan wilderness and whose SOS note and emaciated corpse were found four months later, Krakauer explores the obsession which leads some people to explore the outer limits of self, leave civilization behind and seek enlightenment through solitude and contact with nature.
"God, he was a smart kid..." So why did Christopher McCandless trade a bright future--a college education, material comfort, uncommon ability and charm--for death by starvation in an abandoned bus in the woods of Alaska? This is the question that Jon Krakauer's book tries to answer. While it doesn't--cannot--answer the question with certainty, Into the Wild does shed considerable light along the way. Not only about McCandless's "Alaskan odyssey," but also the forces that drive people to drop out of society and test themselves in other ways. Krakauer quotes Wallace Stegner's writing on a young man who similarly disappeared in the Utah desert in the 1930s: "At 18, in a dream, he saw himself ... wandering through the romantic waste places of the world. No man with any of the juices of boyhood in him has forgotten those dreams." Into the Wild shows that McCandless, while extreme, was hardly unique; the author makes the hermit into one of us, something McCandless himself could never pull off. By book's end, McCandless isn't merely a newspaper clipping, but a sympathetic, oddly magnetic personality. Whether he was "a courageous idealist, or a reckless idiot," you won't soon forget Christopher McCandless.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
An interesting approach of adventurers psychology through this tragic story Krakauer, with his experience of extreme adventures and good understanding of psychology, has done an excellent work of investigation. Methodically, he allows the reader to better understand this tragic story, clearing alongside McCandless of foolishness and irresponsibility suspicions. He highlights the intelligence and deep determination of an unusual person. This story just keep triggering questions like "would the kid have been able to clear his psychological issues and find way to better... more info
A tough one to read "What a waste." That's how I must sum up my reaction to the death of Chris McCandless from starvation, after he found himself unable to walk out of the Alaskan bush once he'd decided it was time to return to civilization. McCandless - or "Alexander Supertramp," as he preferred being called - walked into the bush in April, determined to experience living off the land in total isolation. By that time he'd been out of contact with his family for two years. Yet he died inside the sleeping bag his mother made... more info
Fascinating story of a life outdoors Just finished this one. I think there is something in all of us that wants to get in touch with the great big world outside, a hunger, a keening...and it's especially true with US corporate types challenged to find the balance. While Alex McCandless embraced this search early in his life before he had other responsibilities, and he was reckless about it, the picture here is one of a man who - by looking inward - comes to terms with his need for external relationships. The book was recommended to me by my... more info
Good Movie, Great Book I saw the movie before I read the book. Having read "Into Thin Air" before reading "Into the Wild", I was already a big fan of Jon Krakauer. "Into the Wild" did not disappoint. If you have a wandering spirit, this book will inspire you. In our current fallen culture, the fact that there are still those who are willing to venture out on their own personal "vision quests" is reassuring to me. Thank God we still have a few who maintain the warrior spirit in a culture full of couch potatoes and X-Box athletes.
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