Into the Wild

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Cover of paperback, depicting the bus McCandless stayed at before his death.

Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer is a best-selling non-fiction book about the life and the death of Christopher McCandless. The book was published in 1996. Krakauer intersperses McCandless's story with a discussion of the wilderness experiences of people such as John Muir and John Menlove Edwards, as well as some of his own experience.

The boo has been optioned for a movie to be made by Sean Penn and will star Emile Hirsch as Chris McCandless & released sometime in 2007 or 2008.

[edit] Synopsis

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Into the Wild is the story of Christopher McCandless who attended Emory University, one of America's best schools. After graduating from Emory, McCandless gave away his savings of $24,000 to OXFAM and disappeared, eventually abandoning his car and burning all of his money in the desert, only to be found two years later by moose hunters, dead in the Alaskan wilderness. A man named Jim Gallien dropped McCandless off at Stampede Trail in Alaska. There McCandless headed down the trail to begin his Alaskan odyssey with only 10 lbs. of rice, a .22 caliber rifle, a camera, and some rifle rounds. The book begins with Christopher's body being found near an abandoned bus and retraces where he traveled during the two years he was missing, including time he spent in Carthage, South Dakota, with a man named Wayne Westerberg and in California under the name Alexander Supertramp. He also meets up with a "rubber tramp" named Jan Burres and her boyfriend Bob. Krakauer relates McCandless' intense personality as possibly influenced by the writings of Leo Tolstoy, Thoreau, and Jack London - his favorite writer. In addition, the author explores the similarities between McCandless's experiences and motivations and his own as a young man. Krakauer describes, in fairly great detail, his attempt to climb Devils Thumb in Alaska. He also recounts the stories of other young men who disappeared in the wilderness, such as Everett Ruess, an artist and wanderer who disappeared in the Utah desert in 1934 at age 20.

McCandless died after 112 days in the Alaskan wilderness, apparently after having eaten wild potato seeds. As Krakauer describes it, McCandless had been eating the roots of the plant, which are harmless. The seeds, however, can contain toxic chemicals at certain times of the year. The toxins act as a defense mechanism to deter animals from eating the seeds and preventing the survival of the plant. In short, these seeds prevent the absorption of glucose into the body, causing starvation. In other words, someone who consumes these seeds could eat 10,000 calories every day and still starve. The author also points out that it is possible for someone to consume the seeds and live. This can happen when the body already has enough stored glucose to essentially ride it out. However, in McCandless case, this was not possible, given his rather poor diet at the time.