Into The Wild

This is a non-fiction account of Chris McCandless, how he ventured into the Alaskan wilderness and eventually died. But it’s an account of his life, first and foremost. A man of strong ethics and ideals, trying to do what he wanted, what he thought mattered. A top scorer in college, he left lucrative job offers to set out–quite literally–into the wild.

It’s a story of perseverance, of being true to yourself, of holding yourself to the highest possible standards. It’s not easy to pursue a life such as this; it takes a lot of effort. To have an ambition for nature and life, that’s not common. For instance, when he read botany in a university library before departing for his Alaskan adventure, he aimed to understand what kind of plants he could and could not eat. And in another instance, he straight up refused to carry a map of the area he was to travel to, presumably to truly live in the nature unhindered by inventions of mankind. He was heavily inspired by the writings of Henry David Thoreau(Walden), and Leo Tolstoy, and that’s evident in some of his life decisions, not least of which is to live out in the wild. It’s a great reminder of the vastness of what’s out there, a very engaging and inspiring read.

Krakauer, a mountaineer himself, also briefly discusses his adventure, which was almost deadly, and thus could relate very well to what McCandless had set out to achieve. His writing style is engaging, and although the timelines were a bit hard to catch up to–because of the Audiobook format?– I soon found myself following everything quite smoothly.