Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild book

[Taltarzac]

I saw the movie Into the Wild at the Oldsmar Theater near Tampa, FL back in late October of 2007 and was interested in finding out more about the man Christopher Johnson McCandless who gradually shed a lot of his identity to go find the wild so to speak in Alaska.

The book Into The Wild is less sympathetic than the movie to Mr. McCandless's desire to devote himself to nature.

Anyone else read this interesting book Into the Wild or see the movie of the same name directed by Sean Penn?

The movie poster for Into the Wild made me really want to see it. This poster http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0758758/ is a picture of an actor who plays Mr. McCandless looking out into the wilderness on top of an abandoned 1940s circa Fairbanks City Transit System bus-- bus # 142. The bus looks like it was abandoned as a hunters' shelter for decades.

The Into the Wild book doesn't treat McCandless as mentally ill just someone who really marched to a different drummer who made several tragically fatal mistakes even if some of the Alaskans thought he was bonkers to attempt something like he did back in 1992.

He starved to death in the 142 bus around August 18, 1992.

[Lil Dancer]

I did read the book and saw the movie and agree that the book was much less sympathetic to McCandless. I found it interesting that when he got to Alaska, he didn't really venture too far out into the wild - just to a point where there was an abandoned bus that might have been used by hunters as a base camp or stopover for longer trips. He really wasn't very far from civilization (which wasn't really clear in the movie). He seemed to want to get away from it all, but he didn't really. Of course, then his survival skills were not what they should have, and he perished. Seeing the movie got me wondering what it would like to be alone for long periods of time as he was. I don't think I could handle it.

[Best Mom]

I read the book and saw the movie. McCandless seemed to realize he needed people after trying to live alone.
There seems to be two schools of thought about the young man. The movie shows him as a kind of idealist. He has become a folk hero. The book shows him as more of a fool. There are many theories as to what really happened.
After saving people getting lost in the woods near my childhood home,
I tend to believe McCandless died needlessly. But the story is fascinating.

[Best Mom]

I love non fiction. I liked both the book and the movie.