Year in Review Books "Into the Wild," Jon Krakauer

I am going to do a "2011 Year in Review" for the various books I read this year that deserve a honorable mention.

I will begin with the review by breaking the rule as I start...

I first met Jon Krakauer in the book "Into Thin Air" an epic account of the ascent of Mt. Everest in 1996 when several died high on the mountain. Krakauer was on the mountain and wrote an excellent account of the mistakes and successes of the various parties climbing the highest mountain in the world.

After reading that, I picked up and read most of Krakauer's other books, including "Where Men Win Glory," a story of Pat Tillman, the NFL star that joined the Army Rangers after 9/11. He also wrote "Under the Banner of Heaven," a look at a polygamist that wound up giving a decent history of Mormonism in North America.

However, beside "Into Thin Air," the most troubling and heartrending story that he wrote was "Into the Wild," a book written in 1996 about Christopher McCandless. McCandless was a brilliant kid from the Washington, DC area who went on to Emory University and graduated there with honor but decided to give his money away and to live the life of an adventurer/vagabond.

The book gives account of his "adventures" that were designed to make McCandless think on his feet and to rely heavily on his own abilities. He goes on to many treks that probably should have killed him, but with a natural resiliency and a toughness that belied his upbringing, he survives.

His trek down into Mexico on a canoe could fill the pages of a single book....

However, McCandless decides he wants to "test" himself one last time before possibly venturing back into society, so in April of 1992, he hitchhikes up to Denali National Park and with little gear that would help him walks into the National Park to survive the winter.

He was found dead later from a hidden enemy. He made a few mistakes that would not have been fatal on their own, but given the terrain and the nature of what he was attempting, it was the end.

I will not give it away, but suffice it to say that this-the book is FULL of incredible illustrations.

I asked for this book for my personal library and my kids gave it to me for Christmas this year. That is the highest compliment that I can pay any author. Krakauer did an excellent job with this book.



As an addendum, this book has been made into a feature length movie that I have not seen.


I will review another book tomorrow.