Learning To Read Books: Alaska's Ugly Side
7/20/2007 at 4:17 PM
Tags: Recommended Travel Books, Alaska Travel, Jon Krakauer (all tags)
Let's face it, there are times when you just can't travel -- or don't want to. Vicarious web travel can be a great supplement to boots-on-the-ground journeys, and we should know, right? However, our wise elders keep talking about these things called "books", so we decided to check out these paper dinosaurs a bit, and guess what, they aren't all a waste of time. Some of them are quite good.
We decided that if our members, editors, or both deem a travel book worthy we will give it our own little seal of Oprahooval and tell you about it here.
Our recommended travel books series won't give you the "Hairspray" song'n'dance, but it may point you in the direction of a worthy travel book or two.
Have a travel book you want our editors to check out? Send it our way.
THIS WEEK'S TRAVEL BOOK
Journalist Jon Krakauer is best known for his own disastrous trip up Mt. Everest, which became the book (and IMAX film) Into Thin Air. His earlier book tackles another disaster, but this one -- which he originally covered as a journalist for Outside magazine -- was set much closer to home in the back woods of Alaska, and in its own quiet way just as terrifying.
You may be looking for a summer vacation with an edge, but Christopher McCandless intended something much greater when he gave his savings to charity and started hitchhiking across America. Influenced by London and Thoreau, McCandless hitched to Fairbanks, Alaska and set off along the miner-blazed Stampede Trail, intending to meditate, hunt game and find himself. The driver who dropped him off turned out to be the last person who saw him; four months after he arrived, his body was found in an abandoned bus, dead of starvation.
What's so glamorous about the woods? Why do we glorify the lone wolves who inspire some people, like McCandless, to set off apparently without maps or proper gear? Where does adventure coincide with safety? As a hiker and a climber himself, Krakauer's biography of McCandless and exploration of his death, Into the Wild, finds a remarkable amount of sympathy within himself for this young man. That element isn't always present in stories of his life, and as irrational and seemingly self-destructive as his actions may seem, it's easy to forget how close we, the travelers, are to the dangers of "the wild." (If you're too impatient to do the reading, there's also a movie on the way directed by Sean Penn.)
Related Stories:
·Read Krakauer's original article about McCandless [Outside.Away.COM]
·Jaunted Recommended Travel Books [Jaunted]
·Alaska Hotels [HotelChatter]
[Photo: Longitude Books]
Leave a Comment
Not yet a member? Click here to become a member.
Already a member? Login below: