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Chris McCandless's story is one of intrigue. referring to Krakauer's own climbing adventure - while interesting, I didn't feel it belonged). It filled me with a desire to meet this enchanting kid and to plan a solo survival adventure of my own. Krakauer did a magnificent job of telling chris's story. nature, and man v. It seems as though chris's adventure was researched with great care. McCandless was a fearless, searching, hopeful young man who took off after college with little money to his name, and who eventually embarked on a wilderness survival adventure that cost him his life. Overall, the McCandless story was presented in a way that was truly inspiring.
The quotes cited from all of Chris's reads give more depth to Chris's character. The only thing that somewhat took away from the McCandless story was a little too much personal commentary from Krakauer (I am esp. I highly reccommend this book if you are interested in wilderness survival, man v. society.
It's a very easy, very fast read. As my sister said "If you talk the talk, you better be prepared to walk the walk." And this young man's own father did not do that, and left his child very disappointed in him.My sister is also the mother of a boy with Asperger's, and she said she recognized some traits of this boy, including his not being bothered by being alone as similar to Asperger's. So I took it home. I'm late in reading this book, but then I never read things just because they are popular. Krakauer's writing is good, the quotes interesting, the other stories of mistakes made in the wilderness applicable. And they also tend to hold adults to what they say literally.
Yes he made some obvious errors, but I know from teaching young adults that they don't think anything can hurt them.
I was skeptical about it for two reasons.not enamored with the author because of another book he wrote, and also, my husband is a scoutmaster and on search and rescue, and we all figured that a young man who goes into the wilderness without enough preparation is not real intelligent.
This book should be read in high school I think, with an emphasis on preparation and letting people know where you are going to be.
I've known about this story for a while, but my sister read the book and said it was really good.
Maybe he was just a shade of this.so many are, and so many are not diagnosed.
I have to admit I held onto the train of thought for most of the book.
But much of what the author said about this young man, and his reasons for doing what he did rang true.
And also, it's a reminder to us to let our families and especially our children, know that we love them.
This is not lighthearted reading, and leaves you pondering 'what if.'
Jon Krakauer's books are well written and researched. In Into the Wild, he has taken a complex true journey and handled it in a straight forward, thoughtful way. One is drawn into the story and held by suspense and a need to determine the psychological make-up and motivation of the subject. In the end, we are enriched by practical information and the sense that we too have made a journey of sorts.
Chris "Alex" McCandless was a smart, athletic, and musically talented son of a NASA engineer. But those reasons don't diminish the power of his story for me. He starved to death. Eventually, he got it into his head to live in the Alaskan wilderness for a few months. I'd probably have been impressed with his skills and his energy, but I'd want to convince him to direct his energy towards something productive. Few of us will ever step off the well-trod path in any aspect of our lives, but Alex did it to the ultimate degree.
And he uncovers some possible motivations for Alex's restless pursuit of his own form of a nomadic, monastic existence. He camped out in the desert, paddled a second-hand canoe into Mexico, slept under overpasses, and scrounged meals at missions. Author Jon Krakauer meticulously tracked down people who met Chris (who renamed himself "Alex" McCandless) during his sojouns. The story of "Into the Wild" is well-known by now. over a period of months. First, Krakauer deserves huge credit for revisiting his original story about Chris McCandless and explaining what he got wrong in that piece, and the impact that those errors had on Chris' reputation after death. Mostly, he hitchhiked or rode the rails. Since those people live well outside the mainstream, Krakauer's investigation brings to light fascinating asides about the underbelly of our urbanized country.
He didn't think very clearly about how to get back to civilization (which was less than 20 miles away), nor, apparently, did he explore any alternate means than hiking out on the exact route he took to come in. I recently reread "Into the Wild," and it's as good the second time as it was the first. It's one thing to do research; it's another thing entirely to present it efficiently and with deep emotion.Ultimately, I don't think I would have liked Alex McCandless, the subject of the book. He was basically a tramp.
As a world-class climber and hiker, Krakauer understands both the things that motivate people to challenge the elements and the skills that are necessary to come back alive. He embarked on two years of wandering around the U.S. He chafed against authority and structure throughout his childhood, but he graduated from Emory University and seemed on his way to a career as some type of environmentalist or environmental lawyer. Second, some people have suggested that the book praises Alex too much.
Instead, he dropped out of society, never to communicate again with his parents or sister. Second, he thoughtfully put together the elements of psychology, family history, natural history, and literature into this unforgettable book. Then, when he tried to leave, he realized he was trapped -- or, rather, he thought he was trapped. First, he did exhaustive research on an elusive person by literally tracing his path across the U.S. Yet, Krakauer does not romanticize Alex. West and Northern Plains.
On the contrary, I think it downplays his courage and strength. Alex inspires because he pursues a dream, because he seeks truth, because he feels pain and joy to the maximum, and because he is not afraid to be afraid. Author Jon Krakauer deserves accolades for doing two difficult things. In this way, the book serves as both an inspiration and a cautionary tale. He has empathy with Alex's motives (which are not unlike Krakauer's), but he lays out in stark detail why Alex's lack of knowledge led to his horrific death. He got to the wilderness and did reasonably well for three months.
Think about it: Could you hitchhike for months on end, scrounge food and live off the land, and then muck-out grain silos for a little cash, while charming every person you meet. This would be his greatest challenge, and one that he hoped would bring him spiritual strength and show him the "truth" he'd read in Tolstoy, Thoreau, Pasternak, and others. Though I have an independent streak, I'm not a dreamer, and I don't have a lot of patience for dreamers. In an era when many reporters have been shown to lie, it's extraordinary to find a reporter who seeks to declare the truth, even when it puts him in a bad light. He worked at hard minimum-wage jobs. His plan was to get as far from modern society as possible.
Yet, the book is obviously also about mistakes, and what it means to be so full of our vision that we don't see the real world that is around us, too.A couple of other thoughts. All in a search for truth.
This book wasn't horrible, but it wasn't brilliant either. I wouldnt necessarily go tell anyone to read this one, but if you've got some time to kill you might as well. It was pretty interesting but because of the format of the book, there was no suspense.
Into the Wild was, overall, a good story line and written well, but wasn't really my type of book and failed to keep me interested throughout.It is about a boy named Chris McCandless who decides to ditch the average american lifestyle and take to the road. He had never even met Chris McCandless, he doesn't know what words he would say, or his reasonings behind what he did. I read it because i've read Into thin Air by Jon Krakauer and loved that book.
I did not like how Jon Krakauer acted as if he knew all these details and facts for sure. He gives away his savings to charity and ventures out to the wild. The book takes you through the places he traveld, the things he does, and the people he meets.
Sure he can guess, but his voice throughout the book became cocky, as if he knew exactly what happened when in reality, there are plenty of arguements circulating about how Chris really died. It's not horrible, but not the grasping story I thought it'd be either.
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