Rating: 
Summary: Tragic, not Foolhardy
Review: Truly a modern Greek tragedy that will puzzle many forever. Good parallel by the author in trying to show that each generation produces a fair number of free spirits that refuse to conform with the majority. A very good read.
Rating: 
Summary: Reminds me of a friend of mine who lives in Alaska
Review: There seems to be an irresistable force that compels people to live up there in the wild and I don't know what it is. Maybe it is Jack London? The only complaint I have about the book is that it is hard to follow at the beginning but gels rapidly towards the close. Think about it! How many of your friends who seemed to have normal existences during high school somehow took a strange path. Weird, huh?
Rating:
Summary: a compelling, rivoting book that you can not put down
Review: This book is one of the best books that an adventurer like myself could read. This gripping true story is easy to relate to if you have ever wondered your role in society. This book has made a deep impact on my life and and allowed me to search my own mind to decide my own life. The author himself has been through his own tragedies in life which in return allowed him to write this compelling story so that the truth be known to the family and freinds that the individual in the book touched with his unconditional freindship and love.
Rating: 
Summary: I never really got it.
Review: I very much enjoyed Into Thin Air and I recommend Krakauer, but I never really got an understanding of what he was getting at. I think it was a very personal thing. He saw something of himself in this kid. The best part was Krakauer's own recollections of going to Alaska to climb a pinacle alone. I felt that part redeemed the whole book.
Rating:
Summary: Senseless death of seemingly bright person.
Review: I don't know what to make of this story other than to say that Chris died a senseless death.Chris broke all the rules in his relentless search for peace. Was he looking for peace and quiet,or peace within his soul? Sadly this book leaves many unanswered questions. While Krakauer does a respectable job of telling this story, in the end we are still left with a mystery. Did Chris go to the Alaska wilderness to die,or was his death a result of his severe naivete about being prepared? I can understand wanting to get away from a hurried, chaotic life; running off unprepared to Alaska shows a lack of common sense. I also have left the masses in favor of the spritual release only wide open spaces provides. However, I would never go unprepared. Chris played risk to an extreme and it tragically caught up with him. We can learn a lot from Chris about ourselves.The fact that we don't know everything leads to some very philosophical thoughts on life,death, humanity,and the power of the wilderness and its proponent authors to capture our minds. This book is great for helping to understand ourselves even though we don't quite understand its main character.
Rating:
Summary: Lotta hype, lame book
Review: This is a lame book. You can condense the whole thing into this: A nut of a guy, travels around like a hobo; there are descriptions of other nuts cases; and the author tells a few of his climbing stories. This is a short story that has been hyped into a book. Waste of time.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing, Touching, Thrilling
Review: Wow, this book was incredible. Jon Krakauer did an amazing job of re-telling Christopher Johnson McCandless's life and adventures. There were fanominal descriptions about his family and other people who have attempted to live thier own life to the fullest. The description was excellent, you could imagine exactly what Chris or "Alex" was doing at any moment, and what he was thinking. Being so ill-prepared did cost him his life but I believe that Chris lived his dreams, something many people never do. Now Jon Krakauer is telling the world about it in this amazing book
Rating:
Summary: A kick ass character study!!
Review: The best character study I have ever read. Period
Rating:
Summary: Mesmerizing
Review: I picked this up at a book sale over my lunch hour and was hooked after reading the introduction. I shut my office door, turned off the phone, and spent the rest of the afternoon immersed in the story. Whatever your reaction to Chris McCandless' story, it is a poignant reminder of the need to balance our own selfish desire for independence and autonomy against the responsibility we owe to those careless or compassionate enough to truly love us. . .
Rating:
Summary: get out your highlighter pen for this one , you'll need it.
Review: This book is for anyone with an ounce of adventure in their blood. Not everyone is willing to forgo the comforts of their favorite armchair to brave their own neighborhood streets , let alone burn their money and stick out their thumb! I was mostly impressed with the passages quoted from such infamous writers as Muir, Tolstoy, London, and Thoreau. These are the books that spured McCandless' imagination and gave him the fortitude to pursue his dreams, no matter how wild or dangerous. After I read this book I sent passages to a couple of friends that seemed in a rut. I made sure to highlight those parts that I thought applied to them. Then they went out and bought the book for themselves.
| 
