Into the Wild
by Jon Krakauer · first published 1996
64% recommend18% neutral18% critical
Why HN recommends it
Gripping nonfiction account of Chris McCandless's solo trip into the Alaskan wilderness, told in vivid detail. Its strong writing makes it well suited to readers drawn to true survival stories.
Common criticism: Some critics find McCandless unsympathetic and question Krakauer's portrayal of him.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
In April 1992 a young man from a well-to-do family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. His name was Christopher Johnson McCandless. He had given $25,000 in savings to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his wallet, and invented a new life for himself. Four months later, his decomposed body was found by a moose hunter. How McCandless came to die is the unforgettable story of I*nto the Wild. Immediately after graduating from college in 1991, McCandless had roamed through the West and Southwest on a visio
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…miles away from a remote forest road in the wrong direction and you might not see any people for years and years. This is essentially what happened to this McCandless guy in Alaska. That book about him -Into The Wild, by Krakauer - is super well written and a very interesting story. The movie based on the book is also quite well produced.
on “The longest straight line in Great Britain (without crossing a public road)” ↗Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
on “Ask HN: What are the books that changed the perspective of your life?” ↗…Vonnegut); “Blood Meridian” (Cormac McCarthy); “The Stand” (Stephen King). > Nonfiction: “The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test” (Tom Wolfe); “Halsey’s Typhoon” (Tom Clavin); “Band of Brothers” (Stephen Ambrose); “Into the Wild” (Jon Krakauer); “Guns of August” (Barbara Tuchman). about 300 titles (not sure what the proportion of navy specific material, public domain and commercially licensed title are). Note the high price…
on “Know your NeRD: What submariners can expect from their new e-readers” ↗I highly recommend reading Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild if this story interests you - it's the story of McCandless in all its gory detail.
on “How Chris McCandless Died” ↗Krakauer's books "Eiger Dreams" and "Into The Wild" (the latter also a good movie) are worth a read as well. And I've listened several times to his audiobook versions of all three. More than anyone else I've read, he captures the compulsion and the…
on “Sherpas, Death, and Anger on Everest ” ↗"...if I were you, I’d hitchike to Alaska this summer instead." Read this book first though: "Into the Wild", a 1996 non-fiction book written by Jon Krakauer.
on “Pretty good career and life advice” ↗…contrast, I'm now reading a book about AI spaceships... lol. Not exactly Pulitzer material, but a fun read.) There are other nature-adventure writers with different writing styles, like Jon Krakauer (Into the Wild, Into Thin Air, etc.), who uses grade-school language to rapidly advance the plot page by page. Where setup is important, he centers nature scenes from the perspective of a person experiencing it, instead…
on “Cormac McCarthy's Sideline: Freelance copy editor” ↗Outside has been popular for decades. They published the articles that led to Krakauer's books Into Thin Air and Into the Wild.
on “Why Billings, Montana, Is the Best Town of 2016 [video]” ↗Sure. <Intrepidly goes off-topic> .. Into The Wild was just the guy being a spoiled ignorant delusional dick, I thought, really not impressive. Jungle was far better. You almost persuaded me the guy in 127 Hours ate his arm off the first time I read that…
on “Is-Vegan – Helps you to find out which food ingredients are vegan” ↗…story that would sell." Well, if there's one thing I'm sure about, it's that selling books wasn't why Krakauer was compelled to tell that story. Reading Krakauer's accounts of his own life, in both Into The Wild and in Eiger Dreams, it's pretty clear he felt the same urge to challenge himself with the wilderness that McCandless did, and that the books are Krakauer's attempts to understand that drive. Those books…
on “How Chris McCandless Died” ↗This is incorrect. Jon Krakauer who wrote Into the Wild pulled this out of his ass. The dude just starved cuz he had no idea what he was doing. He was a pretty shitty person all around.
on “Another death on trail to 'Magic Bus' from Into The Wild won't stop adventurers” ↗…Deida The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey Dressing the Man by Alan Flusser The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss The Art Of War by Sun Tzu Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer Don Quixote by Miguel De Cervantes Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien East of Eden by John Steinbeck The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman Think…
on “Show HN: I've compiled a list of the top books for men according to 56 blogs” ↗