Herbert Otto, an esteemed author, once wrote: “Change and growth occur when a person has risked himself and dares to engage in the experimentation of his own life” (Wilderdom: A Project in Natural Life and Transformation). In essence, Otto is saying that in order to grow as a person and become educated, one must free himself from what gives him comfort, what allows him to be bold and adventurous. Christopher McCandless has a similar view on education, experimentation, or adventure, which can be seen in Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild. Does McCandless believe that once people find a way to break free from the default, comfortable setting in which so many of us function, we will be able to discover our own adventurousness? Krakauer writes that McCandless “consumed fewer calories than he burned” (188). The other possible sequence of events is that McCandless was poisoned through ingestion of potato seeds that contained solanine, "a poison found in plants of the nightshade family, which causes vomiting, diarrhea, headaches and lethargy at short term, and negatively affects heart rate and blood pressure if ingested over a prolonged period” (190). However, the subsequent course of events is highly unlikely given that McCandless would have had to consume an incredibly large amount of said seeds Krakauer, “…given the light weight of his pack when Gallien left him, it is extremely unlikely that he was carrying more than a few grams of potato seeds…” (190) further explanations have emerged, but not There is still conclusive evidence indicating how McCandless actually died. He was found in the abandoned bus by Gordon Samel, an auto body shop employee in Anchorage, on September 6, 1992, two and a half weeks after Christopher McCandless' death. In addition to McCandless' body, an Anchorage, Alaska couple found a "creepy note" taped to the bus door (12). The note read: “SOS, I need your help. I'm injured, close to death and too weak to leave here. I'm all alone, this is no joke. In the name of God, please stay to save me. I'm out picking berries nearby and will be back this evening. Thanks, Chris McCandless. August?”