The Stranger in the Woods
2017 • 224 pages
Ratings32
Average rating4.1
15
Ratings32
Average rating4.1
"For readers of Jon Krakauer and The Lost City of Z, a remarkable tale of survival and solitude--the true story of a man who lived alone in a tent in the Maine woods, never talking to another person and surviving by stealing supplies from nearby cabins for twenty-seven years. In 1986, twenty-year-old Christopher Knight left his home in Massachusetts, drove to Maine, and disappeared into the woods. He would not have a conversation with another human being until nearly three decades later when he was arrested for stealing food. Living in a tent even in winter, he had survived by his wits and courage, developing ingenious ways to store food and water, to avoid freezing to death. He broke into nearby cottages for food, clothes, reading material, and other provisions, taking only what he needed, but terrifying a community never able to solve the mysterious burglaries. Based on extensive interviews with Knight himself, this is a vividly detailed account of the why and how of his secluded life--as well as the challenges he has faced returning to the world. A riveting story of survival that asks fundamental questions about solitude, community, and what makes a good life, and a deeply moving portrait of a man who was determined to live his own way, and succeeded"--Publisher description.
Reviews with the most likes.
As a fan of post-apocalyptic sci-fi I had my eyes on this story for quite a while. Though it is a non-fiction tale, i felt like this would fit right in that alley - and it did.
How long would you last in the wilderness alone, while about 5 minutes away from your camp, society presses on. 27 Years? How do you reintegrate with society after something like that?
I really enjoyed this book. After the EMP hits and wipes everything out, we'll all be on the same level as Christopher Knight.
“Solitude is the profoundest fact of the human condition,” wrote the Mexican poet and Nobel laureate Octavio Paz.
“Ultimately, and precisely in the deepest and most important matters, we are unspeakably alone,” wrote the Austro-German poet Rainer Maria Rilke.
Entertaining in the beginning but also full of hermit history, meditative thoughts, and the philosophical aspects of going back to nature. Instead, of asking why leave society, a hermit asks why stay.
“Thoreau was an amateur” says Christopher Knight, who lived alone in the forests of Maine for 27 years, and I must agree. To remove yourself so thoroughly from society is a strange achievement, and it's more real for all that the world that Knight shunned is so much more like my own than that of Walden. Very well researched and thoughtful book about a true stoic.
