Into the Wild | 
|  | | | Title: | Into the Wild | | Author: | Jon Krakauer | | Publisher: | Anchor | | Type: | Book / Paperback | | Publication Date: | 20 January, 1997 | | ISBN / ISBN-13: | 0385486804 / 9780385486804 | | List Price: | $13.95 | | You Save: | $2.79 | | Amazon Price: | $11.16 | |
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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.  How McCandless came to die is the unforgettable story of Into the Wild.
Immediately after graduating from college in 1991, McCandless had roamed through the West and Southwest on a vision quest like those made by his heroes Jack London and John Muir.  In the Mojave Desert he abandoned his car, stripped it of its license plates, and burned all of his  cash.  He would give himself a new name, Alexander Supertramp, and , unencumbered by money and belongings, he would be free to wallow in the raw, unfiltered experiences that nature presented.  Craving a blank spot on the map, McCandless simply threw the maps away.  Leaving behind his desperate parents and sister, he vanished into the wild.
Jon Krakauer constructs a clarifying prism through which he reassembles the disquieting facts of McCandless's short life.  Admitting an interst that borders on obsession, he searches for the clues to the dries and desires that propelled McCandless.  Digging deeply, he takes an inherently compelling mystery and unravels the larger riddles it holds: the profound pull of the American wilderness on our imagination; the allure of high-risk activities to young men of a certain cast of mind; the complex, charged bond between fathers and sons.
When McCandless's innocent mistakes turn out to be irreversible and fatal, he becomes the stuff of tabloid headlines and is dismissed for his naiveté, pretensions, and hubris.  He is said  to have had a death wish but wanting to die is a very different thing from being compelled to look over the edge. Krakauer brings McCandless's uncompromising pilgrimage out of the shadows, and the peril, adversity , and renunciation sought by this enigmatic young man are illuminated with a rare understanding--and not an ounce of sentimentality. Mesmerizing, heartbreaking, Into the Wild is a tour de force. The power and luminosity of Jon Krakauer's stoytelling blaze through every page.
Amazon.com
"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.
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Customer Reviews:
• Excellent Story With One Irritating Quirk. 22 June, 2008
I loved this story, and finished it in one sitting. How many of us ever dream of just dropping everything and going off, exploring nature and taking in the landscape around us, instead of the steady day to day rat race of life? I grew up into the area that Chris did, and can understand the pressures of competition, the hassle, and the need to just crawl inside yourself for awhile and be alone.
My only irritation with this story was the fact that the author cut in with his own. I see the author trying to compare his experiences in understanding Chris's thought process, but it was a deviation most distracting. It made things feel out of order and even took some of the punch out of the ending. I didn't feel the need of the authors interruptions and musings.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A1Y2O8U024QM6G
• Absoultly Amazing 02 July, 2008
This book was awsome. Chris McCandless is one of my true heroes and i was pleased to see this book came out after the small article about in in outdoor magazine. For anyone who like the movie, the book is 10 times better and more informative. i loved every minute i read of this book. GET IT.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A2PQ4GNK34Q0OM
• Into The Wild 02 July, 2008
Into the Wild Great Book! It helped to understand why a person would want to do this. Very interesting. Also didnt know about the rest of them...............
- Reviewed by customer ID: A2JRKNYJ777BWB
• It Makes You Look Inside Yourself 21 June, 2008
I first picked up this book because of all the hype around the movie. I had not seen the movie and decided that I really wanted to check out the book before hand. All I needed to do was read the author's notes in the front to know that I had to read it.
Jon Krakauer's words stopped me from putting it down until the book was finished. I enjoyed how the book was woven together for good and bad on Chris Mc Candless's relationships. It made me appreciate my own experiences with people and helped me to understand how our approach to life has influences on those around us. Even when relationships are brief the outcome can be life altering.
Into the Wild is a great read. I could not put it down and I was happy that I read the book before seeing the movie.
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- Reviewed by customer ID: A13DYO53P24BF7
• Provoking 22 June, 2008
This story shares a tale about life and death--real life and real death. Make no mistake, you know how this ends. But it's not the ending--it's the journey. It's about the people left behind, and the effect one soul can have when paths cross on the street called life.
I read few non-fiction books like this. I recommend fewer. But I humbly request you read this one.
Listen, learn, and live what Into the Wild tells you. It'll change the way you look at life.
Wolfe
- Reviewed by customer ID: A1VHV5D1MGDLWH
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