Book tip

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

Michael Finkel

Christopher Knight lived alone in the woods of Maine for 27 years, stealing from seasonal cabins to get what he needed in food, clothes, books and batteries. That Knight survived some brutal Maine winters, without ever lighting a fire, seems unfathomable, but no more so than the fact that in nearly three decades he said only one word — “hello” to someone he passed on a trail. After he is caught, Knight, a cross between Thoreau and Christopher McCandless, talks reluctantly to Finkel. In the end, though, we learn less about this guy who walked off the grid and more about what a lack of solitude is doing to all of us. In reentering society, he says: “It’s too loud. Too colorful. The lack of aesthetics. The crudeness. The inanities. The trivia.”