Product Description

To live in a pristine land ... to roam the wilderness ... to choose a site, cut trees, and build a home ... Thousands have had such dreams, but Richard Proenneke lived them. Here is a tribute to a man in tune with his surroundings who carved his masterpiece out of the beyond.

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Couldn't put it down        Rating:

I loved traveling in Alaska. I love the mountains and everything else. One Man's Wilderness took me right there with him as he chiseled the logs for his log cabin and picked blueberries for his pancake syrup. Dick describes his daily adventures in a calm, matter of fact way and made me want more. Yes, the book is simple, but, so the premise and plot. Just survive wildness and the brutal cold. And he did, very comfortably and ably. Great testament to this gentle craftsman in the wild. This is my 2nd read and I also saw his film made into DVD titled "Alone in the Wilderness". I marveled at his resourcefulness and strength.

Great Book        Rating:

Bought this book for my oldest son to accompany the video. He loved it.
He is an avid outdoors man and he had trouble laying this book down.

Longing for Alaska        Rating:

The book takes you through a journey, not only of one mans day to day journal, but also of his ingenuity to survive an Alaskan winter. It made me want to follow in his footsteps and experience our last frontier. If I never make it to Alaska at least I can dream about it through these pages.

A great adventure read!        Rating:

As one other reviewer said, "Dick Proenneke is the real deal." Yes he had help living in Alaska via once a month or so resupply via airplane. Yes if we all moved to this lake and cut down the necessary trees to build our own cabin, it would look like Ohio does now. Remember that is exactly what the pioneers did. The reason Alaska still looks the way it does without strip malls everywhere is that the weather and the distances keep things closer to what they were before we all got there.

Anyway on a cold dark winter's day, riding the bus to the cubical world I live in to feed the family and fix the world, this was a great read. To dream of going off and not having to do anything but survive, build my own shelter, hunt and cook and farm. But as a dream it's great, as the reality, nope, it'd be nuts, or rather I'd go nuts. But that's more about me than Dick. Dick's story is that he didn't go nuts, he didn't do stupid things like "Into the Wild." He was physically, and mentally prepared. He had a plan, if it hadn't worked out, he had a back up, Babe could fly him out. He'd live until then in the neighbors cabin. He had food, so that he didn't have to hunt. Ok it's beans, but you can survive on it.

What I loved about this book, was it's not, lets go into the wilderness and kill everything we see, but rather, we take only what is absolutely necessary and leave the rest alone. And that before he leaves, he makes a trip to all the hunting camps and cleans up their trash. Sheesh, you'd think that hunters would not leave beer cans and garbage in such a pristine spot.

What my wife kept asking was how did he manage without his woman at his side? and the book does not really address that.

Anyway highly recommended as a read.

Fascinating Adventure Story        Rating:

I have given and/or recommended this book probably more than any other outdoor adventure. It is the personal story of one man's experience alone in the wilderness of Alaska--a man who built his log cabin with his own hands, harvested his food from the wild country around him, and sustained himself for many years in an environment only the strong can survive. Naturalists, outdoorsman, and adventure seekers will absolutely love this fantastic true story.

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