Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2217 in Books
• Published on: 1999-03-12
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
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. --Amazon.com

Synopsis
Using the true story of a young man, who in 1992 walked deep into the Alaskan wilderness and whose SOS note and emaciated corpse were found four months later, Krakauer explores the obsession which leads some people to explore the outer limits of self, leave civilization behind and seek enlightenment through solitude and contact with nature.

Customer Reviews

Starving to death was a small price to pay for such freedom
What might motivate someone to cut all ties with their family, to give away all of their money to charity, dispose of their belongings and adopt a life on the road? In this day and age our possessions and vocations end up owning us, so it comes as somewhat of a shock to the system to see that a young and intelligent man would decide to dispose of the normal trappings of life. McCandless is infamous for having starved to death in the Alaskan wilderness, though the book looks at what brought him there.

In fact McCandless had spent a year or more on the road, moving from place to place throughout western and northern USA, holding down some basic jobs for a short time before moving on, seeming to all as though he were just one more drifter passing through. Though the book delicately looks at the young mans travels and examines the thoughts of McCandless as they are relayed through photographs and the accounts of the people he encountered along the way.

We find it so strange to think that somebody could turn their back on the trapping of society and seek to do nothing more than to travel around without the normal worries we all carry. Whilst I started the book knowing this young man starved to death, I could not help but feel that McCandless was doing something that many people do not have the courage for. A wonderful if somewhat sad read.

Not bad


This is a fascinating story. However the bias which the author shows virtually from page one became a bit irksome. I felt that too often he gave McCandless the benefit of the doubt, and it seemed like an exercise in proving his own theory rather than really examining the facts. And unfortunately there wasn't enough real information to create a book of this length. But worth a read.

Krakauer is a wonderful writer
Krakauer is a wonderful writer - His style is similar to Tino Georgiou. I've just blown through this book as well as The Fates (Tino's novel), and for me - their 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! Also, if you're one of the few who missed Tino's masterpiece, go and get yourself a copy.