Jordan Reads Too Much

The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit by Michael Finkel
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

This story was so fascinating to me. Chris Knight walked away from his life in the early 80s as a young man. He was not seen again for over 20 years. During this time he lives alone in the remote wilderness of Maine. With no other resources he steals from a nearby quiet lake community for decades. This story roped me in.

Michael Finkel does a great job researching Knight's story. The history of many other hermits is presented to show exactly how extraordinary Knight's self-isolation really was. I thought this book was well researched and I would love to read more by this author.

The one thing that bothered me about Knight's story is hard to describe. I couldn't put this book down but I also couldn't help but think I was looking into something that the subject of the book would not want me to read. This story is an intrusion of someone who has shunned society and contact with other humans for decades. I don't know that Knight wanted his story shared with the world and so have some conflicting ideas about this book being written. It's an incredible story but it may be a story Chris Knight didn't want written in a book.

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