I just read this book by Jon Krakauer and I found it absolutely fascinating. It is soon to be made into a movie so I’d read it before then if you have the chance.

It tells the story of a guy named Chris McCandless whose body is found dead in an abandoned bus in a remote part of Alaska (I’m not giving anything away here, it says this on the cover of the book.) It is the story of the last few years of his life as he hitchhikes across the US and Mexico and eventually into Alaska. What is so great about the book is that it’s a collection of people’s first hand experiences with him, exerpts from his own diary, and quotes from books that he highlighted that were found with his body. It speaks volumes into the idea of adventure and community, or lack thereof.

I don’t agree with his stance on everything, but I’ve learned a lot of insights from his perspective. Here is part of a letter that he wrote to someone:

“So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiaitive to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.”