Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer (1996)

This is a simple story, young man goes out to live alone in the wild, and found dead some time later. Of course discovering why makes this into a story. What sort of idealism drives an exemplary student young person to denounce and not contact his family, change his name and go on this adventure to never return from? Chris McCandless' travels across America, Mexico and Canada/Alaska are retraced, many people, friends, rubber tramps (the ones with vehicles) and leather tramps (the ones on foot) met were interviewed, and his dream to live alone (and self-sufficient/off-the-land) detailed. Was he mentally unbalanced or "just" an extreme idealist? The author tends to vote on the idealist side, but unfortunately Alexander Supertramp's (his chosen name) preparations didn't succeed, and likely a simple mistake of eating the wrong berries cost him his life. The wilderness is an unforgiving place. What makes this book even more intriguing, is the author's own young reckless adventure solo climbing the Devil's Thumb (also in Alaska), from which he barely made it out alive.