Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild

Chris McCandless, a recent college graduate, gives away all of his money and heads off to start a new life. He wanders around the United States for awhile, hitchhiking and working at odd jobs. His journey ends in the Alaskan wilderness with, after several months of living off the land, his death.

Jon Krakauer (author of Into Thin Air about his Mt. Everest climb, also an excellent read) researched the last years of McCandless' life and pieces it together for us. He weaves in interviews with McCandless' family and friends in an attempt to understand what prompted McCandless to leave his old life behind and walk "into the wild." Of course, only McCandless has an answer for that, but Krakauer puts together a fascinating narrative of the last few years of Chris' life. A little spooky and disturbing, but it's a page-turner.