Books

Ahh books. Books have done a lot for me. I didn't seriously start reading until high school and regret not starting sooner. So much time was and is wasted watching movies or browsing YouTube for hours on end. Books help me to articulate frustrations and address them; to understand why something like college and a nine to five don't sound remotely appealing. They stretch and mold my perceptions and beliefs; pushing me to ask questions and think creatively. They give me the questions to ask; present new ways of asking. They've introduced me to cultures the world over, a variety of people, and novel ideas and concepts that would have been hidden or otherwise unknown. This blog is about the physical manifestation of an ongoing literary exploration.

Into The Wild was a very catalytic book. It's hard to finish that book or movie and not feel the desire to gallop into the remaining wilderness not devoured by industry. Did anyone else think, "Hey, may be I could do that?" or "I want to do that."? I read that book when I was sixteen and I've been asking myself that question for almost three years.

Well, except for the part where he goes up to Alaska and dies.

The adventures of Christopher McCandless sparked a strain of reading that branched into a web of ideas that are deliriously exciting. I am disillusioned and slightly depressed by what it currently means to grow up. Does growing up mean student debt, gaining 50 pounds, 40 hours a week of indentured servitude, shopping for furniture at IKEA, or retirement? People actually believe in this load of crap? That happiness is a career or two story house or nice car? Into The Wild gave me a tangible rope to pull on and understand all this rubbish

John Muir and David Henry Thoreau are awesome. Grandfathers of the environmental movement if there were any. Education of a Wandering Man by Louis La'Amour. Hand to Mouth to India. This guy walked from England to India without any money. Absolute thug. The Walk West by Peter Jenkins. The Last American Man by Elizabeth Gilbert. Chronicles Eustace Conway and his adventures. Vagabonding by Rolf Potts.

Those are the core books involving travel that have helped build a foundational courage. My courage comes from what I have learned and understanding that the things that we most often fear aren't that scary.

Books are the poop. Books save the world. Go read one, or several.