Review: The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit by Michael Finkel

Title: The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit
Author: Michael Finkel
Publisher: Knopf Publishing Group
Publication Date: March 7, 2017
Edition: (Hardcover 224 pages)
Categories:

• Nonfiction
• Adventure
• Biography
• Environment
• Nature

The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit by Michael Finkel

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Christopher Knight was twenty years old when he chose to leave his vehicle parked on an isolated dirt road and disappear into the Maine woods--where he lived for the next twenty-seven years. The author chronicles Mr. Knight's life and time in the woods, as well as what happens after he is forced, due to the legal system, to return to society.

I found this book fascinating on so many levels. Choices that people make and the "why" of those choices has always interested me. Nonconformity also interests me, as does the psychology of life.

I think the author did a commendable job bringing this story to life, considering he did not have much personal material to work from, (journals/diaries). It was an interesting read--one which I shall reflect on more with the passage of time.