Title of the Book: Into the Wild

Author: Jon Krakauer

Number of pages: 251

Star Rating: 4 out of 5

Review: Human kind has a true calling. When the human race first was made what was the true calling of its species. To live, survive and thrive in nature, or it it to conform to a society of rules and expectations of living. There are many people that go through life doing things because they are told to do it that way but, there are people that live there lives only to find what makes them happy. In the book Into the wild there is a man by the name of Alex that starts out as a college student that graduates from Emory University in Atlanta. He lives his life “normal” but then makes the decision to leave everything and travel in his bus. Alex McCandless before leaving mails his family his college transcripts and leaves a note saying that he is leaving and will never see them again. Alex takes off to Nevada where he gets his car struck and broken in a flood. He then starts to travel on foot to his next destination with a backpack. Alex then hitchhiked to lake tahoe in California and then continues to the Cascade mountains. Alex moves to the idaho panhandle where he meets two people. Jan Burres and her boyfriends Bob quickly make friends with the couple. Wile Alex is traveling his parents go to Atlanta to find him and then quickly find out he has left and his apartment has been abandoned they shortly find out he donated $24,000 to OXFAM instead of using it for a law degree. They also found Alex’s Car abandoned where it was damaged by the flood. Still walking Alex travels to the Arizona where he buys a canoe. He continues down the Colorado river, Lake Havasu, Bill Williams River, Colorado Indian reservation, two wildlife refuges and the U.S Army Yuma Proving Grounds. Finds big trouble from waterfalls and comes close to dieing. Hunters find him and drive him the the gulf of California. Alex back in the canoe encounters very large winds and almost drowns. After this experience moves back to the US but gets caught and arrested in jail for 1 day. Camps out and buries his backpack in the sand. He then hitchhikes to Las Vegas. Still moving Alex moves to Bullhead City Arizona where he works for McDonalds and lives in a RV a man named Charlie over watched. The rights to Jan Buries from Bullhead about seeing him because they were not far from him in California. Alex quickly hates his job and the people so leaves to surprisingly show up and Jan Buries campsite. Alex then hitchhiked to mean a very nice man named Franz a old veteran. A month later tells Frank that he is living on the streets of San Diego and Franz pick Alex up and drives him to his house. Franz and Alex seem to bond and be good friends. Alex then finds a job at Westerberg’s grain elevator in Carthage. There we was described as not technically smart. A girlfriends described him as intriguing and that he just wanted to be happy and was the only person to chase his dreams. Leaves for Alaska and makes some stops along the way. Buys a gone and finds a truck driver to take him to Alaska. Finds a but to stay at and lives off the land. Rights in his journal weak and hungry but still high spirited. Gets trapped and stays on the bus. Rights a note on the bus “extremely weak, Fault of pot seed. A lot of trouble please help. Alex then dies and is found by hunters. Franz who was awaiting Alex after Alex told him he's living his life not to the fullest and not being free wants to join him when he returns. But finds out he passed away. This was hard on Franz because he lost a son before and wanted to adopt Alex. This devastated Franz. This book in unique because it shows how people have been living sheltered lives and not living to what they truly want to be in life. The writing style in different because it's a man telling what he thinks having researched everything. The most devastating moment for me was when Frank found his friends had died. This made me sad because of the amount of heartache Franz has went threw. Many people will enjoy this book because it has a deeper meaning to it. It also has you questioning different lifestyles and is also just a fun book to read