Into The Wild

Jon Krakauer (1996)

THE A5 BOOK REVIEW

Into the Wild is a book by Jon Krakauer about a young college graduate named Christopher McCandless who in 1990, donated his $25,000 in savings and started traveling west, ultimately breaking off communication with his family and abandoning his car, in search of a new way of life devoid of material possessions.  Inspired by writers like Jack London, Jon Muir and Henry David Thoreau, McCandless hitchhiked to Alaska in 1992 and entered the wilderness with a rifle, 10 pounds of rice, and a field guide to edible plants in the area, free to find his own way in the wild.  It was an uncompromising and risky venture, and McCandless ultimately perished several months later, presumably from some sort of poisoning from the food he was eating.  Krakauer’s story-telling powers are superb, and his book provides a powerful and heartbreaking window into the sometimes obsessive allure of the wilderness and to the longing for a more pure society.
Click here to see reviews and prices for this book on Amazon.

OTHER A5 RECOMMENDATIONS - JON KRAKAUER

photo of Jon Krakauer
Best known for his experience on Mount Everest in his book Into Thin Air, Jon Krakauer remains as one of the most renowned adventure travel journalists.  His recent work includes an examination on Mormonism, a biography on Pat Tillman, and a book exploring how colleges handle sexual assault.  Click here to learn more about Jon Krakauer.

GREAT QUOTES:

"So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more dangerous to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.”
- Chris McCandless, from Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild

INTERESTING LINKS:

  • Read the New York Times 1996 book review on Into the Wild  by Christopher Lehmann-Haupt.
  • McCandless' sister alleges that one of the reasons he left home was to escape his abusive parents.  Read more here, at the Colorado Public Radio news website.  
  • There is a website dedicated to Christopher McCandless and a charitable memorial foundation in his memory.  Click here to learn more.
  • Krakauer's book was adapted to a movie in 2007, written and directed by Sean Penn and starring Emile Hirsch.  The movie was nominated for two Academy Awards.

OFFICIAL MOVIE TRAILER - INTO THE WILD