|
4ac750a
|
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. A couple of times I tried to tell him it was a mistake to get too deep into that kind of stuff, but Alex ..
|
|
|
Jon Krakauer |
|
d8ce4ab
|
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 damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future.
|
|
|
Jon Krakauer |
|
31945b6
|
McCandless read and reread The Call of the Wild, White Fang, "To Build a Fire," "An Odyssey of the North," "The Wit of Porportuk." He was so enthralled by these tales, however, that he seemed to forget they were works of fiction, constructions of the imagination that had more to do with London's romantic sensibilities than with the actualities of life in the subarctic wilderness. McCandless conveniently overlooked the fact that London himse..
|
|
|
Jon Krakauer |
|
702ceb5
|
Once Everest was determined to be the highest summit on earth, it was only a matter of time before people decided that Everest needed to be climbed.
|
|
|
Jon Krakauer |
|
a17d138
|
You are wrong if you think Joy emanates only or principally from human relationships.
|
|
|
Jon Krakauer |
|
3b9f197
|
I was stirred by the dark mystery of mortality. I couldn't resist stealing up to the edge of doom and peering over the brink (...) That was a very different thing from wanting to die.
|
|
freedom
life
wild
wilderness
|
Jon Krakauer |
|
6aa19a4
|
It may, after all, be the bad habit of creative talents to invest themselves in pathological extremes that yield remarkable insights but no durable way of life for those who cannot translate their psychic wounds into significant art or thought. THEODORE ROSZAK, "IN SEARCH OF THE MIRACULOUS"
|
|
|
Jon Krakauer |
|
cd373b8
|
There is a dark side to religious devotion that is too often ignored or denied. As a means of motivating people to be cruel or inhumane -- as a means of inciting evil, to borrow the vocabulary of the devout -- there may be no more potent force than religion. When the subject of religiously inspired bloodshed comes up, many Americans immediately think of Islamic fundamentalism, which is to be expected in the wake of the September 11 attacks ..
|
|
|
Jon Krakauer |
|
89d95ee
|
Alleging that the Mormons had committed a long list of treasonous acts, in May 1857 Buchanan dispatched a contingent of federal officials to restore the rule of law in Utah, including a new territorial governor to replace Brigham Young. More ominously, the new president ordered twenty-five hundred heavily armed soldiers to escort these officials into Salt Lake City and subdue the Saints if necessary. For all intents and purposes, the United..
|
|
|
Jon Krakauer |
|
9327e94
|
My hunger to climb had been blunted, in short, by a bunch of small satisfactions that added up to something like happiness.
|
|
|
Jon Krakauer |
|
7af3209
|
It is the experiences, the memories, the great triumphant joy of living to the fullest extent in which real meaning is found.
|
|
|
Jon Krakauer |
|
0a0d6ae
|
Lisak and Miller examined a random sample of 1,882 men, all of whom were students at the University of Massachusetts Boston between 1991 and 1998. Their average age was twenty-four. Of these 1,882 students, 120 individuals--6.4 percent of the sample--were identified as rapists, which wasn't a surprising proportion. But 76 of the 120--63 percent of the undetected student rapists, amounting to 4 percent of the overall sample--turned out to be..
|
|
|
Jon Krakauer |
|
995ce4e
|
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. A couple of times I tried to tell him it was a mistake to get too deep into that kind of stuff, but Alex got stuck on things. He always had to know the absolute right answer before he could go on to the next thing.
|
|
|
Jon Krakauer |
|
7da880c
|
He'd just nod politely and then do exactly what he wanted,
|
|
|
Jon Krakauer |
|
b3e54e6
|
pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack of empathy . . . , indicated by five (or more) of the following: 1. An exaggerated sense of self-importance . . . 2. Preoccupation with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love 3. Believes that he or she is "special" and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people . . . 4. Requ..
|
|
|
Jon Krakauer |
|
13c0cd7
|
The religious literature handed out by the earnest young missionaries in Temple Square makes no mention of the fact that Joseph Smith--still the religion's focal personage-- married at least thirty-three women and probably as many as forty-eight. Nor does it mention that the youngest of these wives was just fourteen years old when Joseph explained to her that God had commanded that she marry him or face eternal damnation.
|
|
|
Jon Krakauer |
|
1be339f
|
Everett was strange,' Sleight concedes. 'Kind of different. But him and McCandless, at least they tried to follow their dream. That's what was great about them. They tried. Not many do.' (pg. 96)
|
|
|
Jon Krakauer |
|
f0ce109
|
In reality, the [American legal] system promotes chicanery, outright deceit, and other egregious conduct by trial lawyers.
|
|
|
Jon Krakauer |
|
f78f3f5
|
One man's faith is another man's delusion. . . .
|
|
|
Jon Krakauer |
|
5ff0ea4
|
I [Lorna Craig] would say that teaching a girl that her salvation depends on her having sexual relations with a married man is inherently destructive." Such relationships, Craig argues bitterly, should be considered "a crime, not a religion."
|
|
rape
religion
polygamy
|
Jon Krakauer |
|
f2ccca6
|
Asked to elaborate, Lisak explained, "One of the things that is difficult for most of us, frankly, to understand about a rape, is that there doesn't have to be a gun to the head, there doesn't have to be a knife present, there doesn't have to be a verbalized threat for the act itself to be enormously terrifying and threatening....There is a difference between sexual violence and other forms of assault. Sexual violence is so intimate." When ..
|
|
|
Jon Krakauer |
|
82f49ca
|
When cops and prosecutors fail to aggressively pursue sexual-assault cases, Kevin argued, it sends a message to sexual predators that women are fair game and can be raped with impunity.
|
|
|
Jon Krakauer |
|
8b682ac
|
buffeted by the passions and longings of youth.
|
|
|
Jon Krakauer |
|
d15574a
|
La mia opinione e che non hai bisogno ne di me ne di nessun altro per portare questa gioia nella tua vita. E semplicemente li che ti aspetta, che aspetta di essere afferrata, e tutto quello che devi fare e tendere la mano per prenderla. L'unica persona con cui combatti e te stesso e la tua testardaggine a non lanciarti in nuove esperienze.
|
|
esperienze
libertà
gioia
vita
|
Jon Krakauer |
|
1f51588
|
Alex here. (...) Ron, I really enjoy all the help you have given me and the times we spent together. I hope that you will not be too depressed by our parting. It may be a very long time before we see each other again. But providing that I get through the Alaskan Deal in one piece you will be hearing form me again in the future. I'd like to repeat the advice I gave you before, in that I think you really should make a radical change in your ..
|
|
courage
nature
joy
life
inspirational
new-experiences
into-the-wild
changes
|
Jon Krakauer |
|
68fe119
|
My ignorance was inexcusable, and it made me ashamed.
|
|
|
Jon Krakauer |
|
06270b5
|
At such moments something resembling happiness actually stirs in your chest, but it isn't the sort of emotion you want to lean on very hard.
|
|
|
Jon Krakauer |
|
99cfc0c
|
When I rest I feel utterly lifeless except that my throat burns when I draw breath.... I can scarcely go on. No despair, no happiness, no anxiety. I have not lost the mastery of my feelings, there are actually no more feelings. I consist only of will. After each few metres this too fizzles out in unending tiredness. Then I think nothing. I let myself fall, just lie there. For an indefinite time I remain completely irresolute. Then I make a ..
|
|
|
Jon Krakauer |
|
ced7810
|
I have some good friends here, but no one really understands why I am here or what I do. I don't know of anyone, though, who would have more than a partial understanding; I have gone too far alone.
|
|
|
Jon Krakauer |
|
5b496ae
|
But then I'm not easily shocked. I've had several friends who drowned or got murdered or died in weird accidents. In Alaska you get used to strange stuff happening.
|
|
|
Jon Krakauer |
|
42cbcf5
|
Oh, how one wishes sometimes to escape from the meaningless dullness of human eloquence, from all those sublime phrases, to take refuge in nature, apparently so inarticulate, or in the wordlessness of long , grinding labor, of sound sleep, of true music, or of a human understanding rendered speechless by emotion!
|
|
|
Jon Krakauer |
|
f28fd70
|
But it also demonstrates how difficult it is to correct a false belief after people have made an emotional investment in that belief being true. When our heroes turn out to be sleazebags, self-deception is easier than facing the facts.
|
|
|
Jon Krakauer |
|
5c937a5
|
He offered a crystal-clear notion of right and wrong, an unambiguous definition of good and evil. And although his perspective was absolutist and unyielding, it presented a kinder, gentler alternative to Calvinism, which had been the ecclesiastical status quo in the early years of the American republic.
|
|
|
Jon Krakauer |
|
21b303b
|
Walter Mittys with Everest dreams need to bear in mind that when things go wrong up in the Death Zone--and sooner or later they always do--the strongest guides in the world may be powerless to save a client's life; indeed, as the events of 1996 demonstrated, the strongest guides in the world are sometimes powerless to save even their own lives. Four of my teammates died not so much because Rob Hall's systems were faulty--indeed, nobody's we..
|
|
|
Jon Krakauer |
|
6e6ca08
|
Continually question climbing pursuits. Do they draw one back to the climbing community? Or do they lead along the [inner-directed] path? This questioning generates a tension that is heightened by disillusionment. Ultimately, one reaches an emptiness, and this is where our basic spontaneous nature leads to the beginning of the path... Thereafter one can continually stand apart from the outer world of climbing, yet at times be fiercely invol..
|
|
|
Jon Krakauer |
|
7829ce2
|
We were brought up to be very independent. Our parents taught us that we were given certain talents and we needed to pursue them -- that we shouldn't go through life relying on others when we had all these abilities.
|
|
|
Jon Krakauer |
|
dc6f825
|
And although his perspective was absolutist and unyielding, it presented a kinder, gentler alternative to Calvinism, which had been the ecclesiastical status quo in the early years of the American republic.
|
|
|
Jon Krakauer |
|
3b3f913
|
He had spent the previous four years, as he saw it, preparing to fulfill an absurd and onerous duty: to graduate from college. At long last he was unencumbered, emancipated from the stifling world of his parents and peers, a world of abstraction and security and material excess, a world in which he felt grievously cut off from the raw throb of existence.
|
|
|
Jon Krakauer |
|
195be47
|
When our heroes turn out to be sleazebags, self-deception is easier than facing the facts.
|
|
|
Jon Krakauer |
|
f3ee70e
|
But then suddenly there was no place higher to go. I felt my cracked lips stretch into a painful grin. I was on top of the Devil's Thumb. Fittingly, the summit was a surreal, malevolent place, an improbably slender wedge of rock and rime no wider than a file cabinet. It did not encourage loitering. As I straddled the highest point, the south face fell away beneath my right boot for twenty-five hundred feet; beneath my left boot the north fa..
|
|
summit
devil-s-thumb
climbing
|
Jon Krakauer |
|
1401ec5
|
Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot bear the falconer; Things fall apart; the center cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned. William Butler Yeats "The Second Coming" "
|
|
|
Jon Krakauer |
|
3d085f9
|
It is easy, when you are young, to believe that what you desire is no less than what you deserve, to assume that if you want something badly enough, it is your God-given right to have it. When I decided to go to Alaska that April, like Chris McCandless, I was a raw youth who mistook passion for insight and acted according to an obscure, gap-ridden logic. I thought climbing the Devils Thumb would fix all that was wrong with my life. In the e..
|
|
|
Jon Krakauer |
|
ff36d18
|
I have to admit, the terrorists were following their prophet," Dan says. "They were willing to do essentially what I did. I see the parallel. But the difference between those guys and me is, they were following a false prophet, and I'm not. "I believe I'm a good person," Dan insists. "I've never done anything intentionally wrong. I never have."
|
|
|
Jon Krakauer |
|
124ee90
|
On the morning of the July 24, Pioneer Day, Dan got up, prayed, and felt prompted by the Lord to saw the barrel and stock off a 12-gauge, pump-action shotgun that he had been storing at his mother's house.
|
|
|
Jon Krakauer |