Into the Wild

Rating:
Summary: This guy did what most of us only daydream about!
Review: When is the last time you abandoned all of your "worldly possessions" and took to the road? To me, the most tragic element of the story was how close he actually was to civilization during his trip into the "wild." While I enjoyed the premise of this book, it's (somewhat) lack of focus was annoying, switching back and forth from similar adventures of others, including the author's own experiences. Anyone who has thought of really living life should give this one a try. It is very clear to me that, as a civilization, we have progressed to the point where, if faced with the similar rural environmental challanges as our ancestors, we'd be exinct in no time at all.

Rating:
Summary: Sympathetic or just Pathetic?
Review: There are two ways to read this book. The first is CARPE DIEM!!! The second is "What an idiot!" One can relish the adventurers spirit and moxy that Chris displayed. The Carpe Diem crowd will admire his travels and be touched by his death. Hey, who needs that savings account anyway? Chris has a great deal of appeal in that all of us go into the wild at some point in our lives. those experiences give us character and mark our passage thru life. BUT - - The pragmatist will hate Chris and find him childish and stupid. I'm an outdoors fan myself so I thought chris was an idiot for having a small bore rifle and no field dressing skills. If you're going to survive, you have to plan a little bit. Get a good map - maybe use that savings to buy some good boots and warm coat. In the end, the reader gets to pick which emotion fits the best. krakauer tips his hand toward being sympathetic towards chris but does cast a critical eye on Chris's technical failures.

Rating:
Summary: Unforgettable
Review: I picked up this book on a whim as I was browsing through a book sale at work and saw it just laying there as if waiting for me. I normally don't read non-fiction preferring to escape from reality into the world of fiction....I don't know what compelled me, but as I started reading the cover I knew I had to read this story. I've now read it three times over and each time it has the same effect on me... ...I end up crying uncontrollably for the loss of such a bright, and intelligent young man whose life was just beginning.. How many of us would have the courage to follow our dreams no matter what the consequences... Chris was someone very special, not perfect by any means but he was looking for the reason for his existence. He needed this trip, and he fulfilled his destiny.....I will never forget Chris McCandless

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Summary: IT WAS GREAT
Review: I LOVED THE BOOK AND COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN UNTILL I WAS DONE WITH IT. LET ME KNOW WHEN YOU COME OUT WITH ANOTHER ONE LIKE THIS ONE. MICHELLE

Rating:
Summary: Interesting and mind boggling
Review: Reading "Into The Wild" is one book that I found interesting because I could not believe that a college graduate, like that of Chris McCandless, would go to Alaska and end his life there.

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Summary: A book about a kid with a lot of guts.
Review: This book really moved me. I think Chris McCandless displayed a lot of heroic decisions in order to get what he wanted on his epic journey throughout the country. This book literally made me want to just drop everything and head into the mountains. I recommend this book to anyone who has ever thought of going on a personal journey to wherever it may lead you.

Rating:
Summary: captivating, sad, inspiring, revealing, awesome
Review: quite haunting about the reaction from this book from the alaskan region. you would think that folks would respect someone for wanting to live off the land and make a life for him/herself. chris was young and very mislead to believe alaska was something spectacular and welcoming. i have been quite inspired by krakauers writing about this young man. i feel it to be a shame that the only thing people can grasp from his experience is that he wasn't prepared to survive. unfortunately, we can only learn and grow from chris's experience and for the next individual to brave the last frontier, maybe guide him/her and help. chris as was intelligent, maybe not so logical and i believe there is a piece of him in each and every one of us who wants to travel and explore and be one with themself, learn and live with no cares in the world except to keep moving on and have a good experience upon experience along the way. he died and it is a shame....we can only say "if only he'd had or he'd done this or that"....a good book and will help me to see that what i have i am greatful.

Rating:
Summary: Boring
Review: I found the book and the person about whom the book is written to be moderately interesting some of the time and totally uninteresting most of the time. Apparently, the writer agrees with me since he dedicated eleven pages (pp. 134-144) in Chapter Thirteen to himself. The book is a magazine article that should have remained a magazine article. The story may have had enough "stuff" for an article but not for a book. The writer attempted, valiantly but unsuccessfully, to add substance to a story that is neither meaningful nor significant. Save the money. Don't purchase the book. Just read the dust jacket. Like some movie previews, it is more interesting than the complete story for which you are asked to pay.

Rating:
Summary: A soul-searching journey
Review: Being caught up in the day to day intricacies of society and concerned about trivialities, having the chance to read this book was a welcomed surreal escape. Agree or not with McCandless' philosophy of life, the book is a testament of courage and dreams. To have the courage to live and follow your dreams in spite of any obstacle is truly an inspirational and educational tribute worthy of anyone who feels they are missing out on the real pleasures of life.

Rating:
Summary: The book annoyed me; it is smarmy and self-satisfied.
Review: I picked up a copy of _Into the Wild_ with high hopes; I've spent a good deal of time in Alaska, am always happy to read a bit of Alaskana and am usually a gentle critic. Nonetheless, Krakauer's book left me cold. Actually, the book simply annoyed me. While certainly well-written, I found Krakauer's inflation of the wanderer adolescent in its narrowness. Scant attention is directly paid to the boy's self-absorption or the pain he clearly caused his family. Krakauer seems to want to defend McCandless against those who would scorn him. To my mind, however, he failed. While the author analogizes the privileged youth--who decides to leave conformity and a monied life behind--to Thoreau and other naturalist philophers, he ignores one critical feature of McCandless' "Alaskan Odyssey": it served no purpose but to satisfy the boy's overly grand sense of himself. Moreover, virtually to a one, the adventurers, philosophers and naturalists to whom Krakauer analogizes McCandless had an appreciation for and humility before nature; its power and uncertainty. McCandless demonstrated none. As such, it was exceedingly difficult to empathize with the ersatz protagonist. Frankly, my dear, I just didn't give a damn. And for that, I was disappointed I'd paid for the book.