Into the Wild

Rating:
Summary: Clearly described thoughts
Review: I picked this bo ok because I had just read another book from this same author called "Into thin Air" about a tragedy in the Everest Mountain. I liked this other book from him, although I do not understand his critics to the Russian climber, whom to me was a hero in the hole tragedy.
Anyways,in this book I clearly got the feeling of what might have happened to Chris McCandless,as well as to other characters on this book.
I think sometimes people overvalue superficial things. I personally love to get disconected from the city.
I've seen many people looking for an answer, a reason to exist, a diferent way of living. Some find it in religion, others travelling constantly. However, the tipical critisism to them will be to catalog them as disfunctional for not accepting the typical american values as their own. Please let live!! (but carefully)
I agree with Chris McCandless in that if you do not accept and don't want to live under so many rules and laws you don't necessarly have to. But then find a way of life that suts you and don't fight the system hiding and living irresponsably.
I guess my only critic to this book is the personal story on the autor 's climb to mount McKinley in Alaska. As this book was not about him, this story turned out to be extremly long and detailed.

Rating:
Summary: Imaginative and compelling story
Review: This is a fascinating tale of an ill fated young man, and how his thirst for adventure and a different life in the wilderness led to his untimely demise. It is a scholarly piece, well researched with gentle sensitivity, and all in all paints an evokative picture of Chris McCandless and his days travelling the vast north American continent.

Of equal interest are the other tales of equally ill fated young men who have chosen similar lives, and the author's own hair-raising adventures, which put an interesting perspective on the topic.

It is really an engtossing tale, which reminds me in many ways of "A Perfect Storm". It's well written, a fascinating topic, and an interesting insight into those people who will always live in the fringes of our society.

Rating:
Summary: Journey for risk takers
Review: I would have never picked up this book just by looking at the cover. Two people recommended it to me while I was in Alaska last week, and because of their advice, I read it. It was fantastic! I could relate to Chris, because of my own searchings and even "escaped" to Alaska in 1985 when I was first married. I, too, have recommended this book to everyone I know. Be prepared to have this book haunt you into a better person.

Rating:
Summary: controversial, thought provoking, but overall compelling
Review: I first read Into the Wild when I was 13. I could still recall (well, 2 years ago, lol) vividly on grumbling with a dictionary in hand, checking unfamiliar words one after another. I also remember how I felt after the last page, with my dictionary abandoned somewhere, my eyes unfocused, and my brain a clatter. Thus the after effect of the book.

Into the Wild illustrates a story of Christopher McCandless, who had everything in the world going for him (intelligence, affable, wealthy parents, a possible great career), but abandons all to chase his 'idealistic' dream, to 'live in the wild' and ended up dead. His journey is packed with adventure, so if you are one that's fond of nature but never had the guts to go out and 'just' survive, you may enjoy Chris' adventure vicariously.

The overall impact of the book will be on the conclusion of this tale. The fact that McCandless didn't survive raised much controversy and I too, found myself thinking on the why's and what if's. This is a very contemplative book, and the literature is very well done also. Meanwhile, can I just say I loved the closing conclusion? I could still see the disappearing bus, the fading trees and the vanishing forest. ^__^ Very simply, it's a must read.

Rating:
Summary: A compelling, tragic tale
Review: I gravitate toward non-fiction--memoirs, bios, history, literary journalism. I suppose the reason is because I've always felt that true life is stranger than fiction. That said, I could not put this book down.

As someone who was just starting to enter my teens during the turbulent late 60's, and was consequently impacted by what I saw all around me, I can definitely relate to this youth's inner urgings to try and find himself, as misguided as it turned out to be. Back then, taking off, hitchhiking around, squatting somewhere and "living off the land" was much more common among youths seeking a rite of passage than it is today. The young man came around in the wrong decade.

These days his behavior would be deemed aberrent by many and this is reflected in some of the attitudes of the people in the book, (mostly by Alaskans) plus in some of the reviews I've read here. I cannot understand why any person's reaction to this story would be disgust or anger at the young man's unwise choices or apparent incompetence. How many of us have done remarkably stupid things in our youths, and had to learn things the hard way? Fortunately many of us didn't have to lose our lives in the process.

Maybe it's because I too like Thoreau and Tolstoy; I just wouldn't go about trying to find myself in the manner he chose. Also since I don't have any children, I'm not reading the story from that perspective. I just wince when I read of people's reactions that McCandless was an insufferable idiot. The kid paid the ultimate price for his mistakes, he should not be scorned, but pitied.

Rating:
Summary: Journey many contemplete, few ever take....
Review: A great biography of a young man living his life in the mirror of his beliefs. Fueled by the need to become his own man and by works of earthly-existential writers such as Tolstoy and Thoreau (to name a few), McCandless is poetry in motion. I think that what we see is a rare human being with his sights set far beyond where many will dare to explore. Any critical stance against McCandless' decision to live his life in the way in which he chose to live is, in actuality, jealous of an achievement that most fall short of... self-actualization. I would have been proud to known and walked with such a man. My regards to those left behind, but we all must admire the light in which he shed upon not only those who knew him, but those who will read of his life.

Peace!

Rating:
Summary: Give Often As A Gift
Review: Admittedly, Krakauer is best known for the also-excellent book, 'Into Thin Air'..detailing a particularly tragic Mt. Everest expedition..but this, in my humble o, is the finer work. Krakauer writes with fondness and forgiveness for his subject, a young man who goes in to the wilds of Alaska..whose body was eventually to be found in an abandoned bus and dead of hunger. Originally this piece was printed in Outside magazine and contained some information that (he(the author) later believed) falsely depicted the circumstances of the death of Chris McCandless..so in this book, he seeks to rectify the mistakes and sets forth to invoke feelings in the reader of sorrow, sympathy (and probably for many people) rememberance of what it is/was like to be in your 20's and on a quest. Krakauer makes good use of comparisons between events in his own life and those in the life of McCandless to create passages that write of McCandless's wanderlust and determination..Krakauer goes into detailed (and awed) description of the miles and upkeep efforts McCandless puts on his 80's-era car during his travels. An amazing look into a tragic event. Sold me on Krakauer as more than just a nature/uber adventurer - he's a writer.

Rating:
Summary: Great Read!
Review: Excellent book on a unique young man who let his idealism kill him.

Rating:
Summary: From the heart and mind of Alex Macandless to our hearts
Review: This has to be one of the most touching books I have ever read. For a whole month at work, whenever I could spare a moment I read this book with fascination, the words brought to life the mind of one who died in remote Alaskan wilderness. At twenty-three Alex Mcandless walked away from the Campus of Emory university with a 4.0 GPA and took to the road. To learn what no book could teach and what no one could show you, the frailty of human life and how truly valuable it is. In his death we have been given a glimpse into a world most of us never see, a real world not dominated by television and commercialism. Any person with an adventurous spirit or an open mind would love this book.

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining Non-Fiction
Review: Krakauer is an excellent author. He takes non-fiction and makes it readable and entertaining. I became as enthralled with his real life story and information as in any fiction book. I rarely read non-fiction, but just ate this book up. A rich account of a fascinating young man and his attempt to live in the wild, including some of his history and motivations. The combination of events that occur on his adventure and the culmination of those events is fascinating.