Independent Reeding

Now that I have finished reading Into the Wild,  I think that I can make a full, educated decision about my opinion on Christopher McCandless. As I mentioned in the previous microblog, the point of argument about McCandless is: Was McCandless a hero who, through his bravery and ideology about freedom, inspired millions, or was he an ignorant fool who traveled into dangerous territory completely unprepared, this setting himself up for position for failure (his death)? Before revealing my current stance (I say "current stance" because it is very possible that my opinion will change as time goes on), I think that I owe Krakauer some acknowledgment. This book was truly amazing! It's not too often that I find a nonfiction book to be particularly gripping, so I think that is a testament to just how well-written this book is. So Jon Krakauer, well done. My Verdict on McCandless: Coming to my final decision was extremely tough since there were many factors that led to ...

While there are many variations of the cover of Into the Wild, the copy that I have is a photo from the 2007 screenplay adaptation.  The current cover is not necessarily horrible, but I have always had a dislike towards books that advertise their movie counterpart. Below I've compiled the main reasons why I dislike the current cover. The book was released in 1996 but the cover is based on a movie from 2007 If I wanted to watch the movie instead of reading the book, I would. But, I want to read the book, so I don't need a constant advertisement for the movie.  The person on the cover isn't even Christopher McCandless... It's the actor from the movie. You can't have an entire book about one person and then put someone else on the cover. That alone should be grounds for the need to redesign the cover. Although I am only halfway done the book, I think that I have a fairly solid idea of the significant things to be included on the cover, so here is...

Into the Wild- Jon Krakauer Before I began reading Into the Wild, I did some of my own research on Christopher McCandless. It was less about trying to gain a better background knowledge for reading the book and more because I was genuinely interested in knowing more about McCandless. I watched various videos on YouTube and read some articles regarding McCandless' story and experiences. My research gave me varied results. Some articles painted him as a pioneer who was brave and achieved feats that most people only dream of. Other articles focused on McCandless' "inherent ignorance," exhibited by his lack of preparation for his dangerous expedition.  This debate is even highlighted by Krakauer in the Author's Notes section at the beginning of the book when he writes, "My convictions should be apparent soon enough, but I will leave it to the reader to form his or her own opinion of Chris McCandless." It will be interesting to see what my opinio...