Into the Wild
by Jon Krakauer
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Book Summary Information
Author: Jon KrakauerReader: Philip Franklin
Edition: Music CD
Format: Audiobook, Unabridged
Published: 2007-08-21
ISBN: 0739358049
Publisher: Random House Audio
Book Reviews of Into the Wild
Book Review: A Great Lesson in What Not to Do and How Not to Live (and Die)
Summary: 4 Stars
I read Into the Wild in conjunction with reading The Final Frontiersman by James Campbell. Into the Wild is the biography of Chris McCandless, a pathetic and self-centered, and self-destructive screw-up who died trying to be a "supertramp" (his term) in Alaska. The Final Frontiersman, on the other hand, is about the life of Heimo Korth, a successful backcountry trapper and survivalist in ANWR (see my Amazon review). I cannot avoid comparing Korth and McCandless. The main difference is that Korth is planfully competent, whereas McCandless seemed incompetent in every way. Study the life of McCandless to learn what not to do, how not to go wrong.
McCandless was a distinct failure as a human being and his life is not worth a biography except as an example of negative teaching. As a valuable negative lesson Into the Wild is a worthy book and I think superior to The Final Frontiersman. Krakauer is able to probe the depths of his subject and inject it with a sense of angst and wonder that is missing from The Final Frontiersman.
Two passages especially in Into the Wild make it a classic of adventure literature. One is the absolutely definitive statement of the adventure mentality of the young male on pages 56-57 of the paperback edition. This passage from a letter written by McCandless to a friend should be read and studied and critiqued by every young man--and every young woman. It contains the clearest, most gripping statement of a view that is at once exhilarating and dangerous. I will only quote two sentences from a much longer passage. "...in reality nothing is more damaging 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." I guess as long as these sentiments lead only to forays into the wild I have no problem with them. It is when they lead to warfare, destruction, rampage, and vandalism, as they most certainly do, that I withdraw assent. I suppose the passion for adventure is selected for by evolution and is thus inevitable. The problem comes when the passion for adventure becomes the passion for violence as it often does; not however with Chris McCandless--except violence towards himself, and perhaps vandalism of cabins in Alaska. Into the Wild is a basic text for studying this most creative, destructive, and seductive "passion for adventure."
The other passage that I especially valued was Krakauer's description of his own attempt at a first ascent of the north face of the Devil's Thumb, a remote peak in Alaska. This also was the result of a young man's "passion for adventure" and Krakauer almost lost his life in the pursuit. Krakauer's lengthy description of his adventure--the dangers, and horrors, and failures--is a brilliant piece of adventure writing. For me, this is the best and most exciting part of the book.
Krakauer also has absorbing discussions of other wilderness adventurers and the entire history of the American "passion for wilderness adventure."
The author of Into the Wild is a more interesting, sensitive, perceptive, and intelligent person than his subject in this biography. I look forward to reading Krakauer's autobiography when he writes it. It will be an even better book than Into the Wild.
Summary of Into the Wild
What would possess a gifted young man recently graduated from college to literally walk away from his life? Noted outdoor writer and mountaineer Jon Krakauer tackles that question in his reporting on Chris McCandless, whose emaciated body was found in an abandoned bus in the Alaskan wilderness in 1992.Described by friends and relatives as smart, literate, compassionate, and funny, did McCandless simply read too much Thoreau and Jack London and lose sight of the dangers of heading into the wilderness alone? Krakauer, whose own adventures have taken him to the perilous heights of Everest, provides some answers by exploring the pull the outdoors, seductive yet often dangerous, has had on his own life.
In April 1992 a young man from a well-to-do family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. His name was Christopher Johnson McCandless. He had given $25,000 in savings to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his wallet, and invented a new life for himself...
"Terrifying...Eloquent...A heart-rending drama wandering of human yearning."--The New York Times
"A narrative of arresting force. Anyone who ever fancied wandering off to face nature on its own harsh terms should give a look. It's gripping stuff."--The Washington Post
From the Audiobook Download edition.
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