Rating: 
Summary: An intriguing story, but is it a tale worth telling?
Review: 'Into the Wild' is the true story of Chris McCandless, a twenty-something kid from a well-to-do family in Virginia who takes off for the wilderness of Alaska on a Dante-esque journey. McCandless's travels make for an intriguing story -- He ventures from the fields of the Dakotas to the deserts of Mexico with almost nothing but his wits. But the question is, and the author touches upon this quandary in the book: Why should we care? McCandless can be seen in one of two ways: One of the last true idealists who rejects society and its conventions; or a mixed up kid with no common sense. However you view McCandless will ultimately define whether or not you enjoy this book.
Rating: 
Summary: A Journey Into a Soul
Review: As a high school classmate of John McCandless I was compelled to read this book as a matter of personal interest. I was completely surprised at how well Jon Krakauer crafted the story of Chris' journey. It's a book that not only appeals to wanderers and travellers and recluses, but to those of us who have journeyed into our own souls, questioned society and our place in it. Chris took this journey to an extreme and unfortunately met his demise before he could reconcile himself with society. I admire Krakauer's depth of understanding of Chris. The author respected the young man despite his many shortcomings. If Krakauer hadn't take on this difficult subject - this complicated person - Chris may have become just another one of those reckless losses of life in Alaska's wild. Instead, Krakauer gave Chris' life meaning in the end. That's all that Chris wanted. How ironic.
Rating: 
Summary: Chris McCandless and the Wilderness
Review: Chris McCandless, who is in his early twenties, loves the outdoors, likes to live off the land, and wants to get away from everything. To do this he goes into the Alaskan Wilderness. After Chris graduated high school he wanted to go exploring, hiking, and go live off the land. He decided to do what his parents had wanted him to do. They wanted him to go to college. So he went to college at Emory. When he graduated he left Atlanta, Georga and disappeared. He didn't say anything to his parents and headed west. He didn't have a great relationship with his father. He drove his yellow Datsun west to the Detrital Wash in Arizona. That is where he had to abandon his car in a flash flood. He then had to hitchhike his way across western and central United States. He met people that helped him in some great ways and gave him jobs on his way or journey to Alaska. He hitched a ride with a truck driver who had a load of sunflower seeds in his truck. The truck driver took him to Liard River Springs where he dropped him off. Two days after arriving in Liard Springs he hitched a ride with a man who was driving a camper to a dealer in Fairbanks. The driver's name was Stucky. The next man Chris hitched a ride with was a man named Jim Gallien who drove him to the Stampede Trail near a city that was named Healy. He then crossed two rivers there which were small and easy to cross. The rivers were the Teklanika and the Sushana. The only thing he didn't know was that they were soon going to flood from the ice melting. He found an abandoned bus on the Stampede Trail and he used it for camp. He picked berries and shot animals for food. One of the seeds he gathered was poison and he ate it. I would recommend this book to people who like adventure stories and stories that have to do with survival. The book had many parts where there was a lot of description but mostly it was an interesting book to read.
Rating:
Summary: A tale of youth, wanderlust and a search for meaning.
Review: I picked up a hardback copy of Into the Wild while browsing the shelves of a local bookstore. After reading the cover, I sat down and began reading the book in the store -- something my hurried shopping style rarely allows. Just a couple pages into the book, I knew I would have to buy it. I dislike purchasing hardbacks of anything except classics, but the subject matter convinced me I would want to keep a copy of this in my collection for years to come.As "extreme" a lifestyle as John McCandless/Alexander Supertramp chose, there are elements of it that reached out and grabbed my heart and mind, pulling me in. As an avid hiker and camper myself, I can relate to feeling more at ease and "more human" outdoors than in a crowded store or suburban park. I was intrigued by the paradoxes of McCandless's life and his mindset -- what made him tick, and others like him... and how, through a twist of fate, many of us as young people could have pursued similar dreams. Had McCandless not met his end in Fairbanks bus 142, I would instead have found myself in that store reading a first-hand, and no less engaging account, of his physical and philosophical journey. Instead, Krakauer expertly reveals to us to the trace elements of modern man -- the need to find truth and honesty, to find what's real. "Into The Wild" retraces the footsteps of McCandless and similar nomads and dreamers such as Edward Ruess and Krakauer himself, as a young mountain climber; the book is an engaging and worthwhile journey and one I will surely read again.
Rating:
Summary: A devastating book
Review: "Into the Wild" is not so much a book about the wilderness, as it is a book about what happens to mentally ill people. Chris McCandless was a very, very sick man. This was the feeling I had when I first read the article in Outside magazine nearly ten years ago, when I was in the midst of my own psychological turmoil. Now that I can read it with the perspective of a man who has finally settled into the bliss of domesticity and mental health, I see it as one of the 20th century's primary documents about the heartwrenching devastation of mental illness. For that, the book is worth a resounding five stars.
Rating:
Summary: Stick To Krakauer Writing From First Hand Experience
Review: Krakauer is a strong writer when writing from first hand experience, as Into Thin Air and the reflective chapter about his younger years in Into The Wild show. This reflective chapter, though it adds little to the story, is a gripping account of Krakauer's ascent of the Devils Thumb in Alaska, and the writing style is leagues ahead of the rest of the book. But perhaps the subject of Chris McCandless's adventure made writing this book harder. Though interesting, the subject matter is hardly gripping, really just quite a common story of young rebellion going horribly wrong.
The best part of the book is that it does encourage you to reflect on what went wrong; was Chris McCandless trying to push his limits to the edge like many young people do and simply went too far, or was he a naive youngster whose arrogance led to his death? Unfortunately I can't recommend your time in reading this book to answer the question. Read Into Thin Air, it's excellent, but skip this one.
Rating: 
Summary: Into The Wild
Review: Into The wild by Jon Krakauer. A 22 year old man named Christopher Johnson McCandless left society to take a trip into the wilderness to which he would never return. He left his family, money, and most of his possessions to take this fatal adventure. The rest of the book tries to explain how he got this idea and how he persued it.
The book was slow moving and became boring. If you are older and into the reasoning of people you might enjoy the book. The book did have some interesting points like christopher's home life and experiences on the road.
Rating:
Summary: A Wanderer's Tale
Review: Many people may write off the subject of this book, Christopher McCandless, as a crazy, ill-equipped dreamer who got what he deserved, but I think that the kid had a lot of bravery to do what he did---and do it all alone. He followed his dreams which ultimately he paid a price for. He was young, naive and alone in the wilderness, but it was also his choice and his fate. Jon Krakauer did a tremendous job in trying to get inside McCandless' head and show us how and why he wanted to explore nature on his own. Krakauer manages to make his subject accessible and sympathetic, even though in real life it seems he had no use for human interaction. It's an excellent, tragic story.
Rating:
Summary: Fair account of a real tragedy
Review: Chris McCandless set some unusual expectations for himself. Except for some bad luck, he probably would have survived to write his own account of his travels. One telling comment of Krakauer's is (to paraphrase), "for some, a challenge is only worthwhile if the outcome is in doubt". If nothing else, Chris' story is a good seed for debates on the relative merits of freedom and safety. Regardless of one's opinion of Chris and his lifestyle, the book is an interesting read. I look forward to reading Krakauer's other books.
Rating:
Summary: A journey into the wild adventures of Chris McCandless
Review: I thought this story portrayed the emotions and opinions of the main character Christopher McCandless. The author, Jon Krakauer, did a wonderful job showing Chris' frustration with his family and his need to be spontaneous. Krakauer shows how McCandless felt that the typical lifestyle of most of us is just not sufficiently adventurous. Krakauer demonstrated the way these "hitch hikers" or "tramps" feel by interupting McCandless's story with excerpts from other people that did similar things to what McCandless did. The excerpts helped reflect why some people desire to live a life of adventure and nature even if it means an unnecessary, painful death. Jon Krakauer does an excellent job of getting the reader into the mind of Christopher McCandless.
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