How to build a fire

I think that I have to side with Professor Urrea's wife on McCandless in that I found it really hard to like this guy, or sympathize with what happened to him. I do get the romanticism of going into the wild and battling nature; of men being men; of retro-evolution and becoming a hunter-gatherer. I can see how someone could fall in love with nature to the point where they would risk their lives to be in it. I am sure that there are people enduring the rat-race that is life that yearn to trade the urban jungle for the real one. But come on. Let's use our common sense here. It is alleged that McCandless was a big fan of Jack London. Well, Jack London knew a thing or two about nature, and he knew that you do not mess with it. One of his famous stories is called "To Build a Fire". The whole thing was pretty much a warning about how you do not go and battle nature unprepared. And if you are dumb enough to do that, well you die. And that is exactly what happened to McCandless. I do not know what he was thinking. He was obviously unprepared, and this was evinced by the fact that his death was completely unavoidable if he knew what he was doing. If I were to go to Alaska, I would not last more than 5 minutes before I would be malled by a bear or something. This is perhaps why I did not like the book very much. While I was reading it, all I kept thinking about is how stupid this kid was. That brought the enjoyment level way down.