Customer Reviews
Great book for adventurous souls 
2008-10-12
I read this book years ago and picked it up again recently. What a great read! It explores youthful restlessness and a describes very accurately the desire many of us have to break free from the shackles of society and "live" for a little while. This feeling is a yearning for something dangerous and adventurous (whether climbing a glacier-covered mountain peak alone in Alaska or setting off on a cross-country journey with nothing but the clothes on your back), without worrying about the consequences. This sentiment is very common in younger people (e.g., Chris McCandless was about 22 when he began his odyssey). This book is great for anyone looking for a fun book to lose themselves in, and who are either young or young at heart.
I have not seen the movie yet, but the book is great. I'm interested to see just how accurately the movie tracks the book.
Hacia rutas salvajes 
2008-10-11
Este bestseller permitió a Krakauer obtener la reputación de notable escritor de aventuras. Este libro se basa en la historia real de Christopher McCandless, un joven proveniente de una familia acomodada de la Costa Este quien, tras graduarse en la universidad, donó todo su dinero a obras de caridad y se embarcó en un viaje por el oeste americano bajo el nombre de "Alexander Supertramp". Dos años después, McCandless fue encontrado muerto en la desolación de Alaska. En su libro, Krakauer traza paralelismos entre sus propias experiencias y motivaciones y aquellas que guiaron a McCandless a su trágico final. Krakauer también narra la historia de Everett Ruess, un joven artista a que despareció en el desierto de Utah en 1934, cuando tenía solo 20 años.
Nestor Vallester
www.tesmel.com
Enchanting 2008-10-07
This book was amazing. It goes much further into the idealism of "going into the wild" then the story of Alex himself; unlike the movie. Recommend to any person ever willing to pass on the idea of society and return to our roots.
Into the wild review 
2008-10-01
This book was okay it wasn't all that great, but if you like an autobiography then this is the book for you.
Hubristic fool 
2008-09-23
Unfortunately, I find this to be one of the most idiotic stories I have ever read. It is the story of a young man with no respect for the enormity of nature. His story is akin to waiting on a beach to watch a category 5 hurricane make landfall. I feel sorry for Chris' family
I love Krakauer's other books.
Into the Wild 2008-09-10
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. Four months later, his decomposed body was found by a moose hunter....
Evading the threat of human intimacy in immoderation 2008-09-09
After watching and liking Sean Penn's movie version of this story, I didn't think I needed to read the book. My daughter told me otherwise. She said, the book has things that are missing in the film. And the book idolizes the hero less than the film does. She is right.
Krakauer was first hired by an outdoors magazine to write an article about the death of the young man in the Alaskan wilderness. He got hooked by this case, he says. One assumes after reading the book that the main attraction to him was the obvious similarity of Chris McC to himself: he tells us of his own daredevilish solo mountaineering adventure in Alaska, which he survived only by accident. Just as Chris failed to survive by accident.
JK identifies so strongly with Chris that he is sure that there was no death wish, no hidden suicide involved. He digs deep into the person that C. might have been, based on his diaries and on interviews with those who knew him. He tells us of other, similar cases, of survivors and of some who perished. He develops theories about the personalities of the type, without accepting some of the standard pet models, like the Oedipus version. He thinks that C., like not a few of those seduced by the wild, seems to have been driven by a variety of lust that supplanted sexual desire. The man enjoyed his 'suffering', the hardships from surviving in nature, and he did not want to die in the experiment. He even tried to proselytize and told others that joy of life comes from encounter with new experiences. (Which, by the way, I would partly buy into, but I know many many who think that their pleasure comes from avoiding surprises and new things.)
The role of the narrator Krakauer is missing in the film, which takes away the philosophical background and reduces it to a good plain story.
The film gives us Chris as a charmer who does odd things. The book is not quite so enthusiastic about him, shows more of his downsides, his monomania, his self-absorption, his impatience and unforgivingness. In short his overlong adolescence. The man died before he grew up.
Why did he die? Survival in the wilderness is tough, and he probably never believed in the concept of mortality as far as it concerned himself. He was not incompetent, but he made some stupid mistakes and had some bad luck.
And definitely Alaska does not seem to be the best place for eremitic experiments. Good thing to know for Hermits.
I finished Wild quickly. 2008-09-01
and for me - Jon Krakauer's writing is the kind of stuff that makes for late nights and tired workdays. I can't pay him a higher compliment. This one was a bit different than his other efforts in that Krakuer plays more the role of detective/sociologist rather than an an insightful expedition biographer. However, the story was as rivetting and perhaps even more powerful. I'm anxiously awaiting his next one! I'd also recommend reading Georgiou's masterpiece-- THE FATES, Fates (classic) if you haven't yet. I stumbled upon it at a book store and can't stop talking about it. His writing style is very similar to Jon Krakauer
This Book is Awsome 2008-08-31
This book it s really great if have already seen the movie it doesn't metter cause there so much more in this book and if you close your eyes seems to be on the road with Alex.
~Magnificent Book 2008-08-30
I found this book to be highly engrossing and quite frankly hard to put down, I stayed up till 3 a.m. reading it one night. I think everyone can take something away from this book after reading it which is really a true compliment. I have to wonder about the people who gave this book one star reviews and who call Chris stupid, naive and foolish. People like you have no problem with governments drafting young people for "their" wars only to killed for whatever the goverments cause was. Well Chris died for his own cause and I personally can't fault the man for that. Secondly, each of us in the end has a chance to live life the way they choose or at least how they will approach mentally and this was his choice. We must remember that we are reviewing actual books here and how it was written not the actual person in the book. I want to encourage everyone to read this book and then do some serious thinking afterward taking that inward journey which will only make you stronger.
