Summary of Into the Wild

Into the Wild was written by John Krakauer and was published in 1996. This story is about a man's, named Christopher McCandless, journey when he was missing for two years. All of his steps through the wild are retraced as the story goes on. Christopher McCandless traveled through many different places and met different people. He went to Carthage, South Dakota and met a man named Wayne Westerburg. Throughout his journey, Christopher McCandless compared himself to other adventurers and how he relates to them. During his journey, he started to keep a journal of how far he was and how he felt. One of the last places that Christopher visited was Alaska. In Alaska, he had very little to eat, only edible roots and berries and caribou that he shot. Christopher McCandless wanted to hike the coast in the summer, but it was too difficult for him. Instead, he camped in a bus. It is unknown how Christopher died, but there are many theories. One theory is that when Christopher was trying to eat the roots of a potato called Hedysarum alpinum, he accidentally ate the seeds. The seeds had a poison in them that was possibly swansonine, which is a toxic chemical in locoweed. This poison caused weakness, lack of coordination, and starvation. Since the author found out that there were no toxins in the Hedysarum alpinum, he hypothesized that Rhizoctonia leguminicola, a digestive problem, killed Christopher McCandless. Christopher McCandless had a diet of rice, lean meat, and wild plants. When he died, he only had 10% of fat on him. By the time Christopher was found, he was only 67 pounds.

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Biography of Jon Krakauer

Jon Krakauer was born in 1954 and grew up in Corvallis, Oregon. When Jon was 8 years old, his father introduced him to mountaineering. Krakauer went to Hampshire College, and graduated in 1976. After graduating, he spent his time in Colorado, Alaska, and the Pacific Northwest. During this time, Krakaeur made a living by carpentry and as a commercial salmon fisherman. He spent most of his free time in the mountains. In 1977, Jon Krakaeur traveled alone to the Stikine Icecap in southeast Alaska and climbed a peak called Devils Thumb. In 1992, he climbed the West Face of Cerro Torre in the Patagonian Andes. This mountain was once considered the most difficult mountains on earth. In May 1996, Krakauer reached the top of Mount Everest. He then wrote a book based on his journey climbing Mount Everest, called Into Thin Air. This book became the #1 New York Times best seller and has been translated into 24 languages. It was also honored as the “Book of the Year” by Time Magazine and one of the best books of the year by the New York Times Book Review. This book also was a finalist for a 1997 National Book Critics Circle Award, and was a finalist for the 1998 Pulitzer Prize in General Non-Fiction. In 1997, an article that Krakauer wrote for Smithsonian volcanism received an Award for Excellence in Science Journalism from the American Geophysical Union. Another book that he wrote, Into the Wild, spent more than two years on the New York Times best seller list. After this, a collection of his mountaineering essays and a book of his mountaineering photos were published. In 1998, Jon Krakaeur established the Everest ’96 Memorial Fund at the Boulder Community Foundation as a tribute to his acquaintances that were lost on the mountain. He also serves on the boards of the American Himalayan Foundation and the Alex Lowe Charitable Foundation. In 1999, Krakaeur received an Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

"A Story of Violent Faith." Jon Krakaeur. Random House. Web. http://www.randomhouse.com/features/krakauer/index.html.

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