Nicole Jacobs - Outside Reading #1

Recently I have had the pleasure of reading Into the Wild again. This book has received a great deal of positive and negative views, but personally, I would have to amend this author for his accomplishments, as short lived as they were. This man put his life on hold and passed up an ordinary middle-class lifestyle to live his life adapting to the wilderness in Alaska. This landscape presents a pure untouched element, an exhilarating experience he had dreamed for months. What this man did would be difficult for anyone, dropping everything to live alone is a feat by itself. Being alone in a new wilderness though, that is a challenging mental and physical pilgrimage as well. Finally, in Alaska Alex survived off berries and game if he could find it. This book is often given a negative review because individuals believe he took an idiotic action by traveling inexperienced to terrain such as Alaska, however, if I applied the same actions to myself, I would have had a completely different experience. First off, experiencing complete isolation can be a frightening yet eye opening event. by completely removing oneself from the clutter of society, an individual can properly view a landscape and see its spiritual aspects. Overall, the authors intentions were in the right place, he wanted to live off the land as our ancestors had, why would civilization prevent him from basic survival instincts? and also, by venturing into the wild he had an uplifting experience he never would have experienced living in the city, giving him a peaceful death.