"S.O.S. I need your help. I am injured, near death, and too weak to hike out of here. I am all alone, this is no joke. In the name of God, please remain to save me. I am out collecting berries and shall return this evening. Thank you, Chris McCandless. August ?" Chapter 2, pg. 12

"'You could tell right away that Alex was intelligent,' Westerberg reflects, draining his third drink. 'He read a lot. Used a lot of big words. I think maybe part of what got him into trouble was that he did too much thinking. Sometimes he tried too hard to make sense of the world, to figure out why people were bad to each other so often."' Chapter 3, pg. 18

"He buried his Winchester deer-hunting rifle and a few other possessions that he might one day want to recover. Then, in a gesture that...