Into the Wild
Jon Krakauer, 1996
A young man gives away his money and walks into the Alaska bush; the book follows the dream and the questions it leaves.
Jon Krakauer
Krakauer was twenty-three when he made a solo ascent of Alaska's Devils Thumb, a youthful risk he later measured against McCandless's.
Feels like nature, awe and dread.
The strange peace that arrives after you stop fearing the drop.
Early on a difficult climb, especially a difficult solo climb, you constantly feel the abyss pulling at your back. To resist takes a tremendous conscious effort; you don’t dare let your guard down for an instant. The siren song of the void puts you on edge; it makes your movements tentative, clumsy, herky-jerky. But as the climb goes on, you grow accustomed to the exposure, you get used to rubbing shoulders with doom, you come to believe in the reliability of your hands and feet and head. You learn to trust your self-control. By and by your attention becomes so intensely focused that you no longer notice the raw knuckles, the cramping thighs, the strain of maintaining nonstop concentration. A trancelike state settles over your efforts; the climb becomes a clear-eyed dream. Hours slide by like minutes. Books by Jon Krakauer
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