World Hum’s Most Read: May 10-16

What We Loved This Week: ‘The Zen of Bobby V,’ ‘When the Levees Broke’ and Arriving With Our Baggage

How Bad is the Violence in Mexico?

Tony Horwitz Blogs From the Road

Tony Horwitz: Rediscovering the New World

Ben Keene talks to the author of the new book “A Voyage Long and Strange” about travel, American myths and the importance of visiting places where “history happened”

In Patagonia, In Patagonia

Tim Patterson packs his fleece and long underwear, and enters the Twilight Zone where corporate branding meets the multilayered reality of place. 

Should I Quit Law School so I can Travel the World?

Vagabonding traveler Rolf Potts answers your questions about travel

‘The Worst Guidebook Writer Ever’?

Lonely Planet author Robert Reid reviews Thomas Kohnstamm’s “Do Travel Writers Go to Hell?” and weighs in on the controversy surrounding it

Have a Hockey Night in Canada

From Montreal to Sault Ste. Marie, the sport is the country’s greatest passion. Eva Holland explains where to go to indulge—and who you need to know.

Promised Land Closed

And other odd and unlikely signs from around the world. Aficionado Doug Lansky, editor of the book “Signspotting,” recounts his 10 favorites.

10 Sizzling Hot Travel Tips From Sir Francis Bacon

Rolf Potts repackages the 17th century philosopher’s ‘Of Travel’ essay in the manner of a 21st century magazine feature

‘Into the Wild’: Has the Truth About Christopher McCandless Been Lost?

Looks like I’ll be buying a Men’s Journal this month. 

I read the book and remembering thinking, “that dude ain’t right.” I guess I was never much in the McCandless-as-hero camp.  I was more in the let’s-not-glorify stupidity camp.

I’ve got the same beef with Aron Ralston.

It’s amazing how someone who stumbled into Alaska without bothering to learn the basic skills required for survival ends up being a hero. Read the PDF at the end of this URL.

Here it is:

http://tinyurl.com/2rgxhw

I think he’s a hero because he dared to take a different path, he wanted so desperately just to be free from it all.  He was obviously intelligent, but at age 23 of course he didn’t know everything.  He was stubborn and over-confident. And he sure didn’t know what it would really take to live and survive in the wild.  It’s obvious he starved to death. 

By the third month, the beginning of July actually, he was ready to leave - probably because he could see that he was starving.  I think he went back to the bus, after not being able to cross the river, in a deteriorating condition.  He wasn’t thinking clearly anymore, his strength was dissipating - he lost it - and died a slow death from starvation. 

I don’t think it is represented clearly enough in the movie how his father’s bigamy really affected him - but it was good that the movie showed that his parents did realize how their actions may have troubled the kid. 

I find myself connecting with “Alex” and with the parents.  My deepest sympathy to the family.

no, what is amazing is the fact thAT Somebody could be so close minded that whoever says that he was unprepared and foolish obviously does not see the beauty of his story. i didnt know him personally but i would have given anything to. to him it was an adventure. and it is very heartrending that his wonderful journey ended so tragically, for what he went through was beautiful until the end.

I have yet to see the Hollywood version of McAllister’s life and death, but I’m guessing that in the real life version, without a film score, in the silence of the Wild, starving to death is far less poetic.

Is his life and death more or less heroic, more or less foolish than Timothy Treadwell’s (aka The Grizzly Man)? 

We all take risks doing the things we love to do, getting closer to nature.  Our thresholds vary depending on our training, experience, and skill level.  If we get in over our heads and something bad happens, we were foolish.  Over confidence kills.  To me Chris was lazy.  A fella can learn to live in the wild, even the harsh Alaskan wild, if he takes the time.

I still remain in the let’s-not-glorify-stupidity camp.  I’ve nearly died doing something stupid—solo SCUBA dive to 170’ where narcosis played with my mind and told me that surfacing was overrated—and I’m embarrassed by it. I wonder if Chris would be embarrassed by his death?

I belive we should not glorify him and I bet his spirit feels raped, I belive chris himself would never let all of this hollywood hype even take place. For what Ive taken in from him is that he was an observer of souls and he found the people who wandered like himself more appealing than people with privalage, He looked for kindness in strangers and found it, but most of all he was in search for his inner self and his meaning of life. And for the people that called him lazy, pull your head out, the guy walked all over the place and lived in the wild off the land for 114 days sick. You wouldnt make it 2 weeks.

I can appreciate the idea of going into the wild, with all of it’s dangers and harsh environment. McCandless was unprepared. But it is still the beauty of the journey that strikes me. He was an intelligent, hard headed young man who wanted to push himself to the extremes. He did was so many people would love to do, but in today’s society don’t know how. He abandoned a typical consumer lifestyle and proceeded to live off the land. Granted, he probably should have planned out the details better, but if you look at the other activities he pursued (rafting down a river without any previous know how for one) But I also don’t think that he never expected to make it out again. He made mistakes. But he dared to take that first step, which so many people are afraid to do today. So, I think that MCCandless’ journey should been valued at what it was meant to be for him. A spiritual journey. An attempt to get back to whence we came. I don’t think that his journey to Alaska should be recreated as such, but perhaps could be an indicator of what is missing from today’s society; a closer connection with the world around us.

What amazes me is that most articles on other websites and magazines I have read with regard to McCandless’s journey completely miss the point.  Any true adventurer and free-spirited individual can truly appreciate what it was Chris was trying to do. Yes, we all know he made mistakes and so many seem to want to focus on that. - Not surprising that so many do. 

I believe Chris was on a spiritual journey and had very little fear in trying to obtain what he needed.  The following quote from Chris pretty much says it all.

“So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative 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 dangerous 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 greather joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.”—Chris McCandless

We are bound to our illusionary comforts and always wondering why we’re unhappy.  Anybody out there see this?

personally i think chris was on a spiritual adventure trying to find his own freedom and truth and a higher ascention than what society had to offer and yes he had such a strong belief in his higher power that he felt his only requirement to survive or to be free was himself and nature naive or stupid is up to the individual to decide ill call it the call of the wild something missing in a comercial and sometimes superficial society may peace be with you christopher mccandless.

I believe that the attraction of Chris McCandless is that his whole story is the story of all of us.  He had high ideals, yet lived in a world that falls far short of them.  He was brave, and foolish, and human like us. I think everyone, at some time or other, thinks about leaving it all behind and going to a quiet place to reflect, meditate and become a better being.  I admire his courage to leave and try and find that place, but in his writings toward the end, I think he realized that we, as human beings, need each other, to live well, and have happy lives.  I hope that people get that.

I’ve read the book, watched the movie, re-read the book and then read mountains of other people’s opinions on websites like this one.  I think Chris’ story is compelling precisely because he is such a contradiction.  In the end, I get both opinions.  He is one man’s fool and another man’s folk hero.  For outdoor enthusiasts who grew up or live out west, he is usually the former.  I have to say that I bring more survival tools on a day hike in Colorado than McCandless brought for a long stay in the Alaskan outback. In my personal opinion, he died indirectly of a combination of overconfidence and naivety. At the same time, to paraphrase someone else, he failed quite brilliantly.