Rating: 
Summary: Into the Wild
Review:
The biography "Into the Wild" is about a young man by the name of Chris McCandless, who tries to live off land and separate himself from civilization. He changed his name, disconnected himself from all government records and went hitchhiking into the wild. "No longer would he answer to Chris McCandless; he was now Alexander Supertramp, master of his own destiny."-(Into the Wild) For Chris, his trip lasted two years but ended fatal up in Alaska Fairbanks.
"Into the Wild" written by Jon Krakauer, a magazine and book author, he researched about McCandless, and then after writing the article on him decided to make it into a biography. This is defiantly a book you should read if you like adventure. I really liked reading "Into the Wild" because it was interesting to see what he did, and how he went about living his life on the road and in the wilderness from 1990-1992. One of the things I thought was really strange, was that it seemed from the very beginning Chris knew he was going to die. Throughout the book he made jesters to his friends and his sister that he might not be coming home. In one instant, Chris wrote a friend telling his friend that if he didn't come home from Alaska, thank for being a great friend.
I love how the book describes little details about what happened to Chris McCandless, because I always have so many questions swirling around in my head when I read story like what Chris went though. In "Into the Wild" there were short biographies about other people to connect what Chris might have been going through to what we do not know from the information gathered about him. Some of the story's were really interesting such as a guy who went to live by himself out in the middle of nowhere but forgot to set a date for the helicopter to pick him back up. Then in the end he died from that careless mistake.
Along with enjoying some of the short non-fiction stories within the book, sometimes it bothered me that Jon Krakauer put so many of them in his book. There were times in the book, I just wanted to read about Chris, not all the other stores. Toward the middle of "Into the Wild" it is kind of slow but altogether the book is worth reading it gives you a different perspective and look to live.
Rating: 
Summary: OK, so I just read the article
Review: ..so I have no right to rate the book. It's probably very well written, since Krakauer's article was.
I guess the one-star rating above is for the subject, Chris McCandless. I'm afraid I sympathize with the native Alaskans on their evaluation of him - another "nut case" trying to prove something. So maybe he wasn't a psychopath, but I'd bet money he was bi-polar. He showed the signs - high intelligence, idealism, self-involvement, and alternating gregariousness and anti-social tendencies. These people can be the life of the party, very successful and charming beyond belief, and then turn around and get angry, moody, contemptuous, and may lapse into a depression so deep you think they'll die in their sleep. They're completely unpredictable. He was heartbroken at killing an animal for food, but ignored his family's understandable desire to have HIM remain alive. I don't fault Krakauer for admiring him - I think Krakauer is just naive as to what made the guy tick. He wasn't "better" than anyone else; he just thought he was. If he had been life-smart as well as book-smart, he'd still be alive today. And his poor family wouldn't be grieving.
I'm afraid I have no sympathy for McCandless. I'd rather read a book about a more sympathetic character. Someone who rescued slaves, maybe, or worked with battered children. Or who discovered fossils somewhere. Someone who really made a positive difference. Not a precocious child of 24.
Rating: 
Summary: FINDING CHRIS MCCANDLESS
Review: As the mother of sons and a writer for whom reading is the greatest pleasure, I found "Into the Wild" to be one of the finest and most unexpectedly beautiful books I have read in a very long time. It is the harrowing story of the death and short life of Chris McCandless, a bright, charming, adventurous young man whose mysterious travels and untimely death left a legacy of heartbreak and confusion to those who loved him. In returning to the scene of his own admittedly incomplete reportage of the story for :"Outside" magazine, Jon Krakauer reveals his own honesty and decency as a writer and a man. The book is as beautifully written as it is fascinating. Krakauer and his readers come to know Chris McCandless as our own youthful hopes made flesh. We also come to know this boy -- and love him -- as everyone's son, perhaps even our own. Late in his troubled adolescence, Chris set out into the American "wilderness" on a journey to adulthood. He did not return. He didn't return, that is, until Krakauer, who recognized in this story aspects of his own difficult youth, embarked on an odyssey of his own in McCandless' footsteps. . With almost unbearable detail he pieces together the last year of this young man's life and derives from it a compelling pilgrim's tale of anger, fear and courage. Through those who knew him during his "lost" days, we move from dissatisfaction and yearning to spiritual rebirth that arrives gratefully, but late and despite terrible twists of fate .Chris McCandless tunneled through Peer Gynt's mountain, punted across the Slough of Despond and into the dark and icy forest. He received boons and encountered spirit guides; listened and learned from scouts and story-tellers All of them later helped the auther piece together the real story, heretofore untold, of a boy who found himself and death in the same process and in the same place. Free at last, he quietly, and even joyously, welcomed the arrival of both with valor and uncommon grace.
Rating: 
Summary: Fascinating story, well-researched, told page-turner style.
Review: At first blush, I couldn't describe why I was attracted to this story. But author Krakauer's staccato rhythym is hard to resist. The story draws you in from the first few pages. Faint curiosity turns to torrid interest before you even consider setting this book aside. Although he never subjects the reader to pure speculation, Krakauer carefully researched and reconstructed Chris McCandless's wanderings from Atlanta, across the West, to Mexico, and finally, Alaska, in great detail. Conversations with some of the people Chris knew during his sojurn add a crucial layer of interest and emotion to the story. Through interviews with friends and family, Krakauer composed a pyschological profile of this young man. Even as a young boy, he marched to a different beat. But the author lets us all know - that as different from Chris as we may be, as much as we may like creature comforts, the reassurance of our family, friends, and a familiar landscape, there is a little bit of the adventurer, of Chris McCandless, in all of us. For myself, the attraction to the story was both difficult to reconcile and its most compelling puzzle. I'm about as different from Chris McCandless as one can be. And that connection is Krakauer's genius. Anyone could tell a story, but few can make us feel as vulnerable, indeed as lonely and scared, as a young man alone in the wilderness.
Rating:
Summary: Another Krakauer piece of gold!
Review: Having read "Into Thin Air" last year, I was eager to embark on another journey from Jon Krakauer. His recounting of an adverturer's ill-fated Alaskan quest is well-researched and beautifully written. Krakauer is captivating in the way he describes every aspect of McCanless' travels, mindset, and survival through journals and conversations with his family and travel counterparts. One easily experiences the physical and emotional ebbs and flows he must have encountered along the way. This book properly unfolds the story and thoughtfully weaves together the many facets of this young man's life.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting
Review: How does a young man leave a comfortable life with an education and well to do parents and just wander into the wild? This is one of the questions that Jon Krakauer tries to answer. At first the reader is given the idea that Chris McCandless read one too many books like "On the Road" or "White Fang", but as the story develops, he becomes more complex a character. This young man was looking for adventure and decided to leave "normal" life behind. Unfortanuatly for him. it cost him his life. Krakauer does an amazing job of bringing McCandless back to life by trying to show what he was thinking. Krakauer used personal notes, interviews with family and friends and historical experiences to flesh out this person. When the personal notes run out and speculation starts, Krakauer gives a personal tale to explain why McCandless was not an idiot and just had some bad luck. This book is a very good read and is time well spent.
Rating:
Summary: Krakauer's version of the McCandless story (Into the Wild)
Review: I found Krakauer's Into the Wild mildly exciting and fairly interesting. I think that he does a good job of telling readers about the life of Chris McCandless and others like him. When you read this book keep in mind when you reach the point where Krakauer tells about other such persons that he's most likely trying to give other perspectives and insights to McCandless's fatal expedition to Alaska and he shouldn't be condsidered as trying to "fill up space". As for McCandless I think Krakauer hits it pretty close except for a few things. While it's true McCandless was fairly intelligent and resourceful I don't belive that McCandless's death was based on not having the proper grasp of nature, but more that he didn't prepare for the dangers he would face. More specificly what little he brought with him. Krakauer also makes a point against those of you who think McCandless had a death wish because if he did he wouldn't have tried to get out. I'd suggest this book to anyone who likes the outdoors. (Joseph D. W.)
Rating: 
Summary: "Into Thin Air" this is not
Review: I picked up this quick read hoping to re-capture some of the excitement and suspense that Krakauer so masterfully created in "Into the Wild", but was pretty disappointed almost immediately. I can't be sure whether it was the story or the writing that was lacking, or just a combination of the two, but "Into The Wild" was overall a disappointing read. At least it was quick.
Rating:
Summary: A subtle mystery, wonderfully pieced together
Review: In August 1992, a lone, unidentified man was found starved to death inside an abandoned bus, miles from the nearest road, deep in the Alaskan bush. This spawned a small media blitz that eventually identified the man as Christopher McCandless. However this left a bigger mystery of who Christopher McCandless was.
For those who are familiar with Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air, this is a different book from the start. Into Thin Air was a white-knuckled ride with Krakauer as he attempts to survive Everest. This book is more of a subtle mystery as Krakauer tries to piece together the evidence of the months that led up to the discovery of McCandless' body. The tragedy of his death is established but the suspense is in discovering who Christopher was.
What Krakauer does in this book is fill in the picture by talking to the people who encountered Christopher in his last months. The image that comes out is not a genius or a messiah, but an intelligent young man who is at odds with the society he was raised in. And at the same time Krakauer describes a tribe of men who just don't seem to fit into our society and look for life on the fringes and beyond. The book is brilliant in capturing this spirit, I'm sure in large part because this spirit is shared by the author.
It's not an action adventure like Into Thin Air, but it is just as hard to put down. If you haven't read this one, do yourself and favor and get a copy. Mine is well dog-eared from being passed around.
Rating:
Summary: Novel of a Young Man's Search for Himself
Review: Into the Wild is a compelling novel of a young man and his quest to find himself in the Alaska wilderness. This book is thoroughly researched and accurately recounts the last two years of Chris McCandless' life as he travels through the southwest and then finally embarks on his "Alaskan Odyssey." As Chris tries to escape the ideals and problems of modern society and his family he finds himself forging new friendships and beginning to discover who he really is. In this book Krakauer offers rare insights into why McCandless is compelled to leave his family, his money and his education to tramp around the Alaskan frontier. He adds depth to Chris' character and although the reader cannot necessarily relate to McCandless he/she can begin to understand why he left. In the end my view of Chris McCandless was that he was crazy, selfish and unrealistic. He did not appear to care about his family and friends and he had an intricate set of morals and ideals that only seemed to apply to certain people. Despite all of these things I think Krakauer did a wonderful job explaining this young man and by the end the reader truly can, if only slightly, understand Chris McCandless.
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