Into the Wild by Jon Krakuer

Into the Wild is the true story of Chris McCandless, a young Emory graduate who is found dead in the Alaskan wilderness in September 1992, when he is twenty-four. McCandless grows up in a wealthy family in Washington, D.C., and is a very gifted athlete and scholar. After graduating from high school, McCandless discovers that his father secretly had a second family during Chris’s childhood. His anger over this betrayal and his parents’ keeping it from him grows worse over time.

By the time that McCandless is a senior at Emory, he has driven away most of his friends, and barely keeps in touch with his parents. After graduating from university, he gets in his car, and drives away without telling anyone where he is going. He does not use his real name along the way. He never contacts his parents or sister, Carine, again.

Not too long after leaving Atlanta, McCandless deserts his car in the desert, and from then on, he hitchhikes around the Northwest. He gets jobs here and there but does not stay anywhere for long. He often lives on the streets, and keeps as little money and as few possessions as he can. During this time he gets to know only a few people closely, and these people admire his strong personality.

After about two years, McCandless plans to go to Alaska and live in the wilderness, completely alone, and with very few supplies. He wants to see if he can do it. He spends a few months preparing, learning about hunting, edible plants, etc, and then he leaves South Dakota and hitchhikes to Fairbanks. Everyone around him warns him that he needs to be better prepared, or should wait until later in the spring, but he is stubborn.

In April of 1992, McCandless hikes into the wilderness near Mt. McKinley. He spends the next sixteen weeks hunting small game, reading, and living in a deserted bus made to be a shelter for hunters, not seeing a single human the entire time. He is successful for the most part, although he loses a lot of weight. In late July, however, McCandless probably eats some mouldy seeds, and the mould contains a poison that causes him to die. Realizing he is going to die, he writes a goodbye message, and a few weeks later some hunters find his body in the bus.