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Into the Wild | 
 enlarge | Author: Jon Krakauer
Publisher: Anchor
Category: Book
List Price: $13.95
Buy New: $5.00
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Avg. Customer Rating:  1140 reviews
Sales Rank: 102
Media: Paperback
Edition: Reissue
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 224
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5.1 x 0.8
ISBN: 0307387178
Dewey Decimal Number: 917.98045
EAN: 9780307387172
ASIN: 0307387178
Publication Date: August 21, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com
What would possess a gifted young man recently graduated from college to literally walk away from his life? Noted outdoor writer and mountaineer Jon Krakauer tackles that question in his reporting on Chris McCandless, whose emaciated body was found in an abandoned bus in the Alaskan wilderness in 1992. Described by friends and relatives as smart, literate, compassionate, and funny, did McCandless simply read too much Thoreau and Jack London and lose sight of the dangers of heading into the wilderness alone? Krakauer, whose own adventures have taken him to the perilous heights of Everest, provides some answers by exploring the pull the outdoors, seductive yet often dangerous, has had on his own life.
Product Description
In April 1992 a young man from a well-to-do family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. His name was Christopher Johnson McCandless. He had given $25,000 in savings to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his wallet, and invented a new life for himself. Four months later, his decomposed body was found by a moose hunter....
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1135 more reviews...
Classic Krakauer May 16, 2008
Into the Wild is classic Krakauer - reads much like Into Thin Air. Brilliant, heart-breaking and lovely all at the same time.
 Excellent May 15, 2008
I ordewr the book after seeing the movie. It arrived in perfect condition and I enjoyed the book as much as the movie.
 Good When It Focuses On McCandless May 14, 2008
Though this Jon Krakauer effort is not as thrilling as INTO THIN AIR, it had its moments. Nature lovers and literature lovers alike will find something to admire in the restless young soul of Chris McCandless. There's plenty of description of God's Country (Alaska, to us) and of Chris's tastes in authors (Thoreau and Tolstoy figure prominently). The problem is, at times we lose track of McCandless as Kraukauer gets sidetracked with storylines about other restless seekers from history who misjudged the wild and either lived to regret it or regretted to die because of it. While somewhat interesting, these chapters break the narrative arc as well as the interest built in McCandless as a protagonist.
The story of McCandless was originally an article Krakauer penned for OUTSIDE MAGAZINE. Transforming it into a full-fledged book required not only the historical asides mentioned above, but even an autobiographical chapter about Krakauer himself (the author justifying it by a similar experience he had while climbing a mountain in his rash youth). If you read the magazine article and craved more details, you'll be treated to some updated theories on McCandless's demise. If the "padding" distracts you, however, skip those chapters that experience their own "wanderlust" and stick to the chapters about the protagonist.
Controversial May 13, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This was my first book by Krakauer. We were assigned to read it in highschool as a sort of "american dream" type novel. I heard a lot of bad press about it. I was not expecting to fall completley in love with this book. Many people say that Chris was dumb and should not have done what he had done but for people like myself who have always had that "live in the wild" call inside them for years this book is wonderful. He has done everything I have wished I could do (other than the dying part). The movie also does justice to the book, very well actually.
Its a wonerful story- very touching and heartfelt. I have read it around 8 or 9 times.
Heroic or suicidal? May 12, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
John Krakauer's book got over 1,100 comments at Amazon.com and was made into a recent movie, so the story of Chris McCandless' death in the Alaska wilderness interests many.
I connect with the story in several ways, as follows:
1) A difficult father/son and inter-family dynamic can propel a young man on an outward "heroic journey." After college I moved 1500 miles from home partly from this desire to find an independent place apart from my extended family.
2) Young people often desire a taxing travel journey as a means to self discovery. I've known many young people who took extended solo trips and my own cross-country journey from after college was this kind of journey that included the desire for new experiences and risks.
3) The long-distance runner is accustomed to enduring pain in pursuit of victory. McCandless was a hard-core competitive runner who relished the challenge of enduring the accompanying pain in cross-country running. He refused to accept necessary survival equipment people offered him partly because he wanted to do things the hard way. Having run cross-country and track, I can relate to this "no pain, no gain" impulse.
4) The individual who confronts wild natural beauty in solitude can secure deep inner rewards. Many of my pivotal memories involve solitary experiences with nature, so I understand the draw of the solitary encounter with the wild.
5) Being destitute and at the mercy of circumstances allows us to connect with exhilarating experience - this weird juxtaposition of self-reliance and dependence on the kindness of strangers. I've experienced this several times when our car broke down far from civilization and people "miraculously" came along to help us.
6) Some kids are just wired differently than "normal." McCandless was strong-willed and refused to let anyone tell him what to do, especially his parents. He also thought he was smarter than others. Some people just make up their mind what they're going to do and nothing can deter them.
7) Some young people, for whatever reasons, reject societal values and mores. History reveals examples of people who share this solitary inclination: highly intelligent, injured by others, idealistic, on a mission. Krakauer mentions medeival Irish monks as fitting this category.
8. It is a quality of youth to think nothing is impossible and to be willing to take risks. Later in life after some risks have caused painful damage, we become more cautious and self-protective.
9. People who are intelligent and capable often find that success comes easy. They get used to having confidence that they can overcome any obstacle. The harder the challenge, the more they relish the opportunity.
So, I think McCandless had a mix of these qualities and characteristics, some positive and some detrimental. It's great to have confidence, so seek solitary connection with nature, to be willing to suffer pain and discomfort in the heroic journey. However, it is detrimental to be over-confident in refusing wise counsel.
Sometimes these qualities can become a dangerous mix - the ignorance of youth mixed with the over-confidence of youth often leads to trouble. It is the fortunate young man who makes it through to his 30's without suffering damage. But when the dangerous qualities are present in extremes, it is usually a prescription for disaster, as was the case for McCandless.
He was extreme in his cut-off from his family and from his past identity as an educated, comfortable, upper-middle-class person. He was extreme in his desire to do things the hard way, such as eating only rice for weeks at a time. He was extreme in refusing help or advice from people. His desire for solitary connection with the wild was extreme.
Apart from these extremes, he might have survived as a rugged outdoorsman like many rock climbers, skiers and mountaineers. However, his extremes led him to tackle an Alaska survival project that included no safety net. The result was almost predictable. Was McCandless' journey heroic or suicidal? I don't think it was intentionally suicidal, because I think he realized he was placing himself in a risky situation. He knew enough to know he could die if things went wrong.
He was smart enough to research hunting skills, but not smart enough or patient enough to gain actual hunting experience before placing his life at the mercy of his hunting abilities. He knew enough to take a gun, but not enough to know what kind of a gun was needed, much less how to be proficient in using a gun for survival.
I've seen profiles of survival fanatics in Alaska who actually do what McCandless attempted to do - they live alone by their wits in wild Alaska. But to succeed, these people first gain years of wide experience in all manner of survival skills. They learn what it takes to survive an Alaska winter before they launch out to attempt it. This preparation and survival seasoning us what McCandless lacked and thought he could do without. His hubris cost him his life.
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