Chris and the magic bus

I've been thinking about what I've seen and read with Into The Wild, the story of Chris McCandless' ill-fated trip into the Alaskan wilderness.
Assessing Chris is a difficult task but it is helped by reading Jon Krakauer's account of his short life which ended in 1992 in tragic circumstances (you don't realise how tragic until you read the book).
I have got to say that I recommend seeing the movie first. Having read the book later I find that it fleshes out the movie very nicely, making me appreciate the movie more and understand Chris that little bit better.
Personally I don't understand the urge to abandon society and the trappings of the wealth we experience in western society. But that's just me.
From a young age it seems Chris disliked being priveliged and comes across as a shade self-centred. This is explained a bit by his relationship with his father who led a life of bigamy for a period before settling with Chris' mother.
He was a smart young man, there's no doubt.
He was also somewhat of a paradox. On one hand he comes across as righteous yet is emotionally detatched from most things. He's single minded yet clearly has a big heart. He leaves to be on his own but makes friends so easily and seemingly craves the company when he comes across it. He seeks advice yet disgregards any kind of warning about what he's getting himself into.
It's like he's having a midlife crisis at 24.
What struck me about Chris while reading the book, and this doesn't come across so much in the film, is that I found him to be a shade crazy. A nutcase almost.
But on closer inspection he isn't, though it is very disconcerting that much of the diary entries in the book are in the third person. Clearly he didn't want to be Chris while in the wilderness, he wanted to be Alex.
I could go on for ages. He was a fascinating person and it is a huge shame he didn't survive to be able to tell his tale in person. It's clear he was planning to return to the world not long before he succumbed to posioning and malnutrition in the magic bus. Perhaps the story wouldn't have been as poignant but there would be fewer questions about why he acted as he did.
If you haven't read the book or seen the film yet, it's riveting but do the film first.