Several years ago, on a casual clear-my-head walk around my neighborhood, I noticed a crow watching me. I paused. I looked more closely. Something in her shiny black eye revealed an intelligence I had never really noticed before. I wondered if she knew a lot more about me than I knew about her. What could I learn from her? And how many times had I passed by wildlife in my neighborhood, on trails and by lakeshores, and not really paid attention?

An idea was born. What if we viewed animals as our teachers instead of objects or simply extras in the movie-set backdrop of our lives? I started to observe my surroundings more closely. Over many months, I interviewed more than 50 biologists, researchers, educators, and advocates about the superpowers of animals and what we can learn from them for our own lives. I cased research papers and firsthand accounts about cultural relationships to wildlife across the planet.

The result, , arrives in the world today, October 21. In this nonfiction book for all ages, but especially children, I homed in on 44 animals from across the globe (as well as our own backyards) that can show us how to live more beautifully.

In these condensed excerpts, tap into that youthful, open-minded part of yourself鈥攖he part that knows it still has a lot to learn. These species can inspire us and the young people around us to reflect and remember the strengths that live within us too.

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I’ve had the pleasure of editing Blair’s column鈥攁nd much of her other work 蹿辞谤听国产吃瓜黑料鈥攆or many years. Over that time, we’ve gotten to know each other well, and she’s become a common name in my household. She sent cozy slippers to my son when he was born (we still have them and are waiting for my new baby to grow into them); my stepdaughter reads her books and articles religiously; I often describe Blair’s wild wellness experiments to my husband over dinner; and Blair and I text regularly about our adventures in motherhood.

But one thing Blair might not know is that ten years ago, not too long after I started working for 国产吃瓜黑料, I read her first book,听.听It’s a coming-of-age memoir about learning to survive and thrive in the harsh North, and it became one of my favorite books. At the time, I was going on mini climbing trips every weekend, sleeping out of my tent and eventually the back of my Tacoma, following adventure wherever I could. In that memoir, which focused heavily on dogsledding and remote environments, I saw in Blair a kindred spirit, someone who was also chasing her own thrills and discovering herself along the way.

As I read an early version of her new children’s book, The Day Leap Soared, to my three-year-old and six-month-old nearly a decade later, I imagined Blair reading the same words, pausing on the same pictures, with her two kids. I felt that old flash of recognition: here we were, Blair and I, once again traveling parallel paths through similar life stages.

Ahead of the release of聽,听which goes on sale on October 21, 2025, I interviewed Blair about what inspired her new book and what she hopes readers will take away from it.

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鈥淚鈥檇 feel a lot more comfortable on top of a mountain than here right now,鈥� Yvon Chouinard once told President Bill Clinton while participating in a conference on corporate responsibility.

That鈥檚 because Chouinard is a reluctant corporate leader. His biggest accident was no blunder in the mountains, but becoming a billionaire. And his greatest legacy is not one of his or gear innovations, but giving his billions away to help save the planet he loves exploring. In short, this is the narrative arc of the life of Chouinard, a humble descendant of French-Canadian fur trappers. It鈥檚 also the story told in the new biography by New York Times correspondent .

Chouinard may not have intended to become the founder of two companies. But, as an avid adventurer, he couldn鈥檛 help but try to improve upon the mediocre outdoor gear available at the time. His innovations in layers and synthetic apparel officially became Patagonia in 1973. Sixteen years later, he sold the hard goods arm of his operation that made nuts, ice axes, and more equipment to employee Peter Metcalf, who incorporated his new business as Black Diamond. Today, both companies are among the most recognizable brands in the outdoors.

But in 2022, Chouinard did something arguably even more memorable (in the long run). He established the , ensuring that all profits not reinvested into the company would forever go toward the company鈥檚 mission of 鈥渟aving our home planet.鈥� Patagonia has long donated one percent of its profits to fight climate change and support other environmental causes. But this restructuring significantly increased annual giving to an estimated $100 million. Chouinard also transferred all of his family shares to the trust.

While Dirtbag Billionaire is worth a read for its concrete ideas on how capitalism can do better, for climbers, it holds no shortage of colorful outtakes from Chouinard鈥檚 early days as a gritty Yosemite Stonemaster.

To record these stories鈥攁nd render a portrait of the world鈥檚 wealthiest dirtbag鈥擥elles retraced Chouinard鈥檚 many journeys across his 86 years. This included fishing trips in Argentina, and a that inspired the Patagonia logo.

The vignettes in Dirtbag Billionaire unequivocally show that Chouinard was once the dirtbag to end all dirtbags鈥攁nd remains so at heart. Yet at the same time, he was steadily building a brilliant career, even as he subsisted off wild squirrels or celebrated his 30th birthday stranded in an ice cave. Check out some of our favorite tales from Chouinard鈥檚 dirtbag days below.

10 Vignettes From Yvon Chouinard鈥檚 Life As a Climber

Will Climb for Birds of Prey

The unlikely reason Chouinard first got into climbing? Falcons. Before he sent El Cap, surfed Pacific waves, or fished the rivers of Wyoming, his first passion was falconry, the ancient tradition of training and flying falcons. It all started when he was around 15 years old and attended his first meeting of the Southern California Falconry Club.

In his ensuing pursuit of nests near Los Angeles where he could find falcons, Chouinard 鈥渓earned to scamper down sheer walls 鈥� keeping his toes perched on inch-wide ledges,鈥� as Gelles writes. As Chouinard sought out steeper walls, he started using ropes. He even served as a volunteer in the effort to save the endangered . This involved breeding the birds in captivity and placing their eggs in wild nests.

Novice Climbers, Circa Mid-1950s

After a member of the falconry club began teaching Chouinard about climbing, he tried rappelling for the first time. Due to a lack of gear like ATCs, harnesses, or even Swami belts (primitive and early iterations of harnesses fashioned from webbing), his rap setup was beyond sketchy. Gelles describes Chouinard鈥檚 rappel system as follows: 鈥渨rapping the rope around his waist and over his shoulder.鈥� He loved the 鈥渇eeling of dangling from a rope, bouncing off the face of a cliff, feeling like a Slinky flipping down a set of stairs.鈥�

Shortly thereafter, Chouinard took his first-ever climbing trip to Wyoming鈥檚 Wind River Range. Still very much a novice, he decided to attempt a summit of Gannett Peak, Wyoming鈥檚 highest mountain. He reached the summit despite his decidedly non-technical Sears Roebuck work boots and outran a storm on the descent. From there, he headed to the Tetons. Luckily, old pros like Royal Robbins and Tom Frost took him on as a mentee.

Trappings of a Dirtbag

Forget the sleep setup in the trunk of your Honda Civic or cans of beans for dinner. Without a real tent, Chouinard improvised his sleep setup with 鈥渁n old shower curtain,鈥� writes Gelles. Homeless in the Tetons, he seasonally took up residence 鈥渋n an abandoned incinerator on the banks of Jenny Lake.鈥� His diet often consisted of 鈥減orcupines, grouse, and squirrels,鈥� plus any fish he could catch. And as the story goes, he also ate cat food straight from the can. Along with dirtbag buddy Ken Weeks, Chouinard purchased a case of dented cat food at the price of five cents a can. They ate the cat food 鈥渙ver the course of a summer,鈥� according to Gelles. 鈥淚 was a dirtbag climber,鈥� Chouinard told Gelles, 鈥淚 had no money whatsoever.鈥�

Chouinard also enjoyed van life far before it was cool. In 1968, he and his adventure buddy Doug Tompkins outfitted a 1965 Ford Econoline van with a sleeping platform and shelves to stash all their climb, ski, surf, and fishing gear. Declaring themselves the 鈥淔un Hogs鈥� (their goal was to 鈥渉og fun鈥�), they booked it south from California to Patagonia. It took them four months to reach their destination, but they weren鈥檛 in a hurry.

Scares

Like many bold climbers of his era, Chouinard was no stranger to scares. Chalk it up to a combination of pushing the sport鈥檚 limits and inadequate gear. In the Tetons, for example, Chouinard tried for a first ascent of the Crooked Thumb. Run-out and tired, Chouinard reached for a hold that broke. He fell 160 feet before the rope caught his fall, leaving him with a bone-deep cut to his leg.

On that fateful Patagonia road trip in 1968, Chouinard, Tompkins, Chris Jones, and Dick Dorworth spent 31 days stuck in an ice cave on Cerro Chalt茅n (you can read a firsthand account of that frigid month ). Chouinard slashed his knee open while chopping ice and celebrated his 30th birthday nursing it in the cave. To pass the time, he read Joseph Campbell鈥檚 The Hero With a Thousand Faces. After a month of suffering, they finally got a weather window and summited Cerro Chalt茅n on December 20, 1968, making the third successful ascent.

Over a decade later, in 1980, Chouinard participated in an expedition to summit Minya Konka (24,800 feet) in the Himalaya. While glissading down from Camp II, an avalanche struck, sending Chouinard, Rick Ridgeway, Jonathan Wright, and Kim Schmitz on a quarter-mile ride over a 30-foot cliff. Schmitz got tangled in the rope and broke his back, while Wright broke his neck and died moments later. The incident complicated Chouinard鈥檚 perspective on alpine objectives 鈥渇or years,鈥� according to Gelles. 鈥淔uck these mountains,鈥� he said to Ridgeway on the hike out.

First Ascents in South Korea

Chouinard reportedly drank an entire bottle of soy sauce in an effort to spike his blood pressure and evade a draft for the Korean War. It didn鈥檛 work, so he begrudgingly deployed to Seoul in 1962. According to Chouinard himself, he was such a pain in the ass in the service that his sole job became to power off and on a generator. By day, Gelle writes that he 鈥渨andered off base and found granite walls to climb around Seoul,鈥� where he made a number of first ascents.

DIY Before YouTube

Chouinard embarked on his gear career, with no engineering degree, no apprenticeships, and zero formal education in product design. Instead, he checked out a book on blacksmithing from his local library and got to work on his first project: improving the piton.

Over time, he became proficient enough in forging steel to produce two pitons per hour. He sold his pitons for $1.50 a pop, considerably more than the going price in Europe of 15 to 30 cents per piton. But the Europeans were forging their pitons from iron, which was softer and therefore less durable than Chouinard鈥檚 steel variety. With the harder metal, Chouinard鈥檚 pitons could be removed from a placement in rock 鈥渨ithout getting deformed,鈥� writes Gelles. Chouinard argued that their reusability made them worth the higher rate.

Misadventures in Fixed Gear

When Chouinard went climbing and his handmade pitons wouldn鈥檛 fit in the cracks, he came home and tinkered with them. This didn鈥檛 always work out. For example, to attempt a finger crack on Yosemite鈥檚 Kat Pinnacle, he broke the end off a power hacksaw blade and threaded a sling through the blade鈥檚 hole. On a 1960 attempt on Kat Pinnacle with Tom Frost鈥攚ho later became his business partener鈥攖hey tried hammering this improvised gear into a crack, but 鈥渋t shattered into pieces,鈥� according to Gelles. After bailing, Chouinard set about inventing the razor-thin, steel-fashioned RURP: the Realized Ultimate Reality Piton.

In the mid 鈥�60s, The North Face was one of the first brick-and-mortar spots where Chouinard鈥檚 pitons, carabiners, and other gear could be purchased. Founded by Chouinard鈥檚 adventure buddy Doug Tompkins, The North Face was an eclectic retailer of 鈥渙utdoor gear and knickknacks,鈥� as Gelles describes it.

Right Brain Tinkerer

Despite the technical nature of his products, Chouinard is more of an artist than an engineer, according to his contemporary, Royal Robbins. To this end, Gelles includes a beautiful quote from Robbins about Chouinard: 鈥淎 poetic soul, Chouinard really rather disdains the analytical mind, for he hates to see beautiful things ripped and torn. He has the kind of mind which would make a good artist but a poor chess player. Maddeningly creative, Chouinard has invented more techniques and devices in climbing than anyone I know.鈥�

Together, Robbins and Chouinard, along with Tom Frost and Chuck Pratt, made the in 1964, topping out on the day before Halloween.

Crusty at Heart

For all his generosity and vision, Chouinard is not always portrayed by Gelles as a warm or welcoming soul when it comes to other humans. He notes that some climbers characterize Chouinard as 鈥渆litist.鈥� With his dedication to the preservation of Yosemite and other wild landscapes, 鈥渉e at one point proposed limiting climbing in the Valley to only the best, creating an invitation-only Yosemite Climbing Club,鈥� says Gelles. Though he鈥檇 been mentored himself, he 鈥渉ad little patience for neophytes or weak athletes, and at times equated physical fitness with moral superiority.鈥�

Whether you think that鈥檚 completely cringe or just Stonemaster-style crustiness typical of the era, Dirtbag Billionaire doesn鈥檛 shy away from Chouinard鈥檚 flaws. Gelles avoids lionizing Patagonia鈥檚 leader, describing Chouinard鈥檚 mercurial leadership style that often bewildered his staff at Patagonia.

The Invention of 鈥淐lean Climbing鈥�

In keeping with his environmental ethos, Chouinard set his sights on optimizing an even more reusable piece of gear than the piton: the chock, now known as the nut. To precipitate the shift from pitons to chocks, Chouinard coined the phrase 鈥渃lean climbing.鈥� In a catalog peddling his chocks, Chouinard published an essay by California mountaineer Doug Robinson. 鈥淐limbing with only nuts and runners for protection is clean climbing. Clean because the rock is left unaltered by the passing climber,鈥� Robinson wrote.

In the intro to that catalogue, Chouinard and Frost promoted the paramount importance of style. 鈥淚t is the style of the climb, not the attainment of the summit, which is the measure of personal success,鈥� they wrote.

was published on September 2 by Simon & Schuster. It鈥檚 available wherever books are sold.听

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In his new book for kids, , Offerman Woodshop鈥檚 Guide to Tools and Tomfoolery (out October 14 from ), actor, humorist, woodworker, and 国产吃瓜黑料 contributor Nick Offerman neatly balances two goals: teaching children to craft things with their 鈥済rubby little hands,鈥� and subtly nudging them toward mischief. The first of 12 projects outlined in the book is a literal slapstick, the classic vaudeville tool used to imitate the sound of smacking someone with a stick. Offerman advises his young readers that they can remove the elastic from an adult鈥檚 undergarment to create the device鈥檚 rubber band and butt hinge, which leads to the first of oh-so-many butt jokes. We called him up to ask why kids need more wood in their lives.

What鈥檚 the biggest upside to giving children sharp knives?

Contrary to intuition, the duller your blade, the more dangerous it actually is. A dull blade requires more force to use and so exponentially increases the likelihood of a slip and an injury. Teaching youngsters to keep their blades sharp brings them into the circle of household responsibility. First pocket knife, then kitchen knife, and hatchet, axe, hoe, shovel鈥攁nd then, one fine day, chainsaw.

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When R.F. Kuang first took up running in college, she was stymied by what it meant to be a “real” runner. “I thought you had to run at least two miles without stopping, and I thought you had to have a seven-minute mile time,” she says. But after several false starts and a couch-to-5K training breakthrough, she realized that “real” runners have just one thing in common: they get out the door and keep moving.

Kuang is the mega-bestselling author of several award-winning novels, including , , and the . Nowadays, she travels the world speaking about her books in far-flung cities鈥攁nd wherever she goes, you’ll find her running along the nearest river first thing in the morning. Currently training for a half marathon, with the goal of working up to a full marathon, her insights from the road always pour onto the page. Her latest novel, , launches on August 26.

When Did You First Become a Runner?

I’ve been trying to become a runner off and on since I was in college, but I wasn’t training the right way, so I would try to run a mile, then get pooped and give up. But about two years ago, I discovered a couch-to-5K training plan and thought, “Maybe this will work.” At the time, a 5K seemed like a Herculean achievement. I was like, “People run for half an hour continuously? That’s crazy.” The day I ran my first 5K, I was ecstatic. It was one of the best running experiences I’ve ever had. I’m very much a late-stage adult runner, but it was cool to see that you can get into it at any point in your life.

How Do Running and Writing Interact for You?

The main thing is a sense of discipline. My thinking on this is inspired by Haruki Murakami, who so famously loves running that he wrote a book called What I Talk About When I Talk About Running. In his essay collection, Novelist as a Vocation, he writes about the physical stamina it requires to sit on your ass and work on a manuscript for hours every day. Writing advice is always very cerebral, but he writes about how you must stay physically fit. There’s a crazy line where he says, “Once a writer puts on fat, it’s all over.” I think that’s a little bit extreme, but I understand the gist. The moment you start getting lazy or taking your foot off the gas, that’s when creatively, it gets dangerous.

The other part of discipline is doing something even when absolutely nobody is forcing me to. If I don’t go out there every morning and run, there will be zero consequences. I think of writing the same way. Nobody is asking me to write books. I’m creating something from nothing, and the only thing propelling me to do that is sheer willpower. So every single morning, I do the enormous task of forcing my body to keep doing something that I don’t want to. And when I sit down to write, I’m forcing my mind to do something that it doesn’t want to, because naturally, you want to be at rest. But the rewards only come when you push yourself into an uncomfortable zone.

How Has Running Shaped Your Approach to Discipline?

Running has been incredible in teaching me that when I wake up in the morning, even if I don’t feel up to doing all the things I need to do, the hardest part is just getting out the door. Then your body takes over from there, and it all gets easier from that point. Similarly, when I don’t want to start a writing session and I’m dragging my feet by doing the laundry or putting away all the dishes, I remember that the worst part of writing is sitting down and opening the file. But then once I’m looking at the words, I forget that I didn’t want to write that day. Then I’m fully immersed in the problem. The run of my creative process has begun, and I’m not stepping off the trail until I’ve written whatever scene I need to.

Do You Think About Writing When You Run?

Running is very good brainstorming time. I used to run to music, podcasts, or audiobooks. Now I prefer to run in total silence, because it’s time to think and the world is quiet. I have to entertain myself somehow when I’m on the road. So I think I do my best writing鈥攐r at least my best brainstorming鈥攚hen I’m bored and I have to generate my own entertainment. If I took an hour off to just brainstorm in my office, I would feel very antsy, because I would think I should be doing something more active. But giving my mind that unhurried time to think in the mornings is wonderful.

Do You Talk About Running with Other Writers?

In my immediate writing circle, nobody else runs, and they think I’m a crazy person for subjecting myself to this. Runners are the most boring people on the planet, because the only thing we want to talk about is running. It feels like this secret brotherhood. I get bored talking to people about writing, but I never get bored talking about running.

Do You Run in Other Cities When You’re on Book Tour?

That’s a big priority for me. I used to find touring really exhausting, because it was all about being on trains and planes every single day. So it’s a little bit delirious of me to force a run into that schedule, but it’s actually provided some good structure to the day, because I’ll wake up very early just so I can run at least a 5K in a new city before we have to move on. It’s a fantastic way to see a city on foot without it taking hours. My default strategy is to find the river as quick as I can and just follow the river. Another surefire way to find a good running path is to head out in the morning when everybody’s running, find a runner who looks local, and follow them wherever they’re going. I did this in Milan and it led me to a really nice loop around the castle.

What’s Your Advice For a Newbie Runner?

I wish I’d known it’s OK to run slow. Even if you’re running a 12-minute mile and you’re only running one mile, you’re still running. When you do that and do it continuously, you get faster and faster, and you start accumulating a capability for distance. The training plan that finally made running work for me was based on intervals, a lot of breaks, and starting from very short runs. I was dazzled by how quickly my endurance and speed built up.

It’s very similar with writing. You think about writing a novel and it feels like this insurmountable mountain鈥攈ow on earth am I going to write 90,000 words? But you don’t write the entire novel at once. You write it one sentence and one paragraph at a time. You write 500 words a day. Five hundred words is two good paragraphs鈥攁nd anybody can come up with two good paragraphs in one day. If you do that for six months, suddenly you’ll have a novel-length draft. So focus on the very achievable task right in front of you. Don’t focus on the end goal鈥攜ou can’t get there overnight. Just focus on finishing the next mile.

This interview has been lightly edited and condensed.

Buy Kuang’s New Book

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I don’t believe in ghosts, but the campsite where we stood felt heavy with loss. I glanced between the trees, the branches swayed, and a breeze whispered across my cheek. I had come to this remote island by boat with Jerry Schmanda, who had been a member of a search party 28 years before. He stamped a steel-toe rubber boot into the dirt and dragged it. The pine needles parted to either side of his foot to expose the earth underneath. This was what he wanted to show me, a drag mark made by the impression of a body.

We were in a vast wilderness area north of Toronto called Algonquin Park. The browned needles of evergreens lay thick at that time of year. They crunched underfoot. It was early fall and soon the reds, oranges, and yellows would bloom into a riot of color.

Not yet, though. Before the leaves turn, mid-September, there were still hints of a softer season in the land. Sunlight dappled through the trees, water lapped at a thin strip of beach, and the scent of pine hung heavy in the air. Above us, a raven caught a plume and dipped a wing to slice through the sky.

Terror had ripped through this beautiful place.

Jerry put a hand to his chest and shivered. It happened in 1991, but at that moment, the memory came forward to join us. “You OK?” I asked.

“It’s kind of like the blood moves,” he said, describing the surge in his chest. He took a deep breath.

Jerry is fit, lithe, in his fifties, and spry, a body in constant motion. We had only met an hour before, but it felt like longer. He told me about the five winter months he had lived in a cabin in Algonquin Park with four dogs, without a furnace or running water, which he spent chopping firewood endlessly. I could think of nothing better. We had both spent a lot of time in the park. A friendship can be forged by a place.

By the time the search party found them, the couple had been missing for five days.

Algonquin Park is nearly 3,000 square miles, a forest with more than 2,400 lakes and rivers and streams running through it. The borders of the park ring an area the size of Cyprus or Puerto Rico, or about half of New Jersey.

We stood in the middle of the south arm of a large lake called Opeongo. Jerry had brought me here by boat to tell his part of the story. A couple from Toronto went on a camping trip for a long weekend. When they didn’t show up for work on Tuesday, their family and friends called the park office. By the time the search party found them, the couple had been missing for five days.

When Jerry pulled up at the campsite in 1991, it looked as if the couple had just arrived. There were paper bags of groceries left in the boat. The Coleman stove had been lit and gone cold. A tent was set up. There were two camping chairs by the ring of rocks that marked the fire, one chair knocked over, one still upright. A Styrofoam tray of ground beef sat by the fire. It was untouched except for a tiny prick in the plastic. “Like a raven had picked at it or something,” Jerry said.

The search party climbed out of the boats and spread out to do a hasty search, a quick look around for any sign of life. They talked quietly among themselves as they did. None of them knew what to make of what they saw. They speculated about things like suicide, double suicide, or murder-suicide鈥攁ll guesses far more statistically likely than the reality. This was a crime scene of a different kind.

One of the searchers wondered aloud if the couple had been hurt. If either one or both had tried to make it back by land, they would have crossed the water via a short channel. From there, they might have had to climb a hill, but even if disoriented or lost, they would sooner or later run into a road. With hindsight, Jerry said, “It didn’t make sense 鈥� that would be a day or two.” They would have been found already.

Jerry showed me where he’d opened the flap of the tent. He remembered a thin inflatable camping mattress inside with a dusty paw print on it. He didn’t think much of it at the time. With food left around and no people at the site, animals were bound to come through. The sleeping bags were still wrapped up in plastic garbage bags. It looked as though the couple hadn’t even spent the night.

We walked up the slight slope toward the back of the campsite. The land climbs toward a ridge that runs the length of the island like a backbone. There the underbrush is thicker with balsams, small spruce, and shrubs. It provides cover. If I crouched down, it would be difficult for someone standing by the campfire to spot me.

Jerry pointed to where the bodies were found. “My dad was a butcher,” he said, explaining why he went to look at them. His fingers didn’t touch me, but he mimed the action of a slice on my shoulder. “The flesh peeled off the bone. You could see the shoulder. A fully intact hand.”

I had only told him part of my story. He didn’t know he was tracing a large scar still raw from the deep cut made ten months earlier. I had three other scars鈥攐ne at the side of my ribs, another at the small of my back, and a short gash at the base of my neck. The wounds were healed but still sensitive to heat and cold and touch. I tried not to flinch.

When the men in the search party found the drag marks, they knew something had gone terribly wrong. Staying close, they walked level with each other in a line to follow the marks up the slope toward the back of the campsite.

Jerry and I retraced their steps.

At first, the trees were spread wide apart and it was easy to walk between them. Mixed in between the sturdy pines were a few birch trees with silvery bark that had been peeled back. The dirt was packed tight around the base of the trees. Their roots wove through the ground like veins under skin. A gentle breeze pushed the canopy back and forth in a sway like it was breathing.

The men had kept moving in the line toward the denser bush at the back of the campsite. An officer with the Ontario Provincial Police, Steve Swerjeski, heard a sound. He told everyone to stand still. They listened. Again they heard a huff, a kind of cough.

There was something on the island with them. It took cover in the brush. It was watching and knew they were approaching. The huff was a warning, they shouldn’t come any closer.

“So then”鈥擩erry pointed up to where the sound came from, his hand touching his chest again鈥�”we said, bear.鈥�

This is an excerpt from Claire Cameron’s book How to Survive a Bear Attack, a memoir in which she investigates a deadly bear attack in Algonquin Park while grappling with her own cancer diagnosis.

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On Kelly Ramsey’s first day with a Californian hotshot crew鈥� an elite team of wildland firefighters鈥�she鈥檚 not only scared she won’t be able to keep up with the intense physical demands of the job, but worried how her fellow firefighters will take to her. She is the only woman in a crew of 20 men, as well as their first female team member in ten years. And at 38, she鈥檚 also among the oldest.

While Ramsey overcomes “the bro show” and her crew鈥檚 skepticism, she finds herself on the front lines of the some of the fiercest wildfires the West has ever seen. Bringing us along with vivid prose, she battles both the megafires and the insidious psychological toll, and ultimately earning her crew鈥檚 respect鈥攁nd even friendship.听

In her intimate and action-packed memoir, Ramsey wrestles with the power of fire to both destroy and renew while confronting her own internal struggles and self-destructive patterns. Asking herself:聽 “Which fires do you fight, and which do you let burn you clean?鈥澛�

Watch Kelley Ramsey talk about her new book in this video below.听

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When Ben Weissenbach first landed in Anchorage in the summer of 2018, he considered himself pretty much invincible. Nothing could touch him; there was no situation he couldn鈥檛 charm, reason, or muscle his way out of. Looking back now, Weissenbach calls that feeling 鈥減ure hubris,鈥� the kind of confidence that shows up in your swagger when you鈥檙e a 20-something kid from Los Angeles for whom everything just seems to go right. That was before Alaska got ahold of him鈥攁nd turned his worldview upside-down.

This odyssey is the subject of Weissenbach鈥檚 new book: . It鈥檚 a spirited adventure tale complete with hair-raising bear encounters, weeks-long expeditions alongside grizzled ecologists, and late nights spent weighing the fate of the world around a guttering fire. But it鈥檚 also a profoundly thoughtful look at the way we all live our day-to-day lives鈥攁nd what our tech-saturated world could leave us missing.

The Allure of Alaska

When Weissenbach first planned his trip to Alaska in 2018, he never intended to get a book deal out of it. Mostly, he was just looking for an excuse to travel.

Like many young people, Weissenbach had been drawn to the far north by the romance of classic adventure tales鈥攕tories by the likes of Jack London, John Krakauer, and John McPhee. And though he鈥檇 only ever spent a handful of days in a tent, he managed to convince his school, Princeton University, to send him to Alaska for a research project on climate change. It was a trip for which he was entirely unprepared.

鈥淚n a lot of ways I had grown up experiencing the world through a screen. I think that鈥檚 true of a lot of kids my age,鈥� Weissenbach told 国产吃瓜黑料. 鈥淚 was part of the first generation to go through adolescence with front-facing cameras and social media. What was going on online often felt as real鈥攊f not more real鈥攖han whatever social interactions we were having in person.鈥� He grew up with the sense that the 鈥渞eal world鈥� was always somewhere else, a glossy, glowing image just out of reach. Weissenbach hopped on that plane to Alaska in part hoping to find it.

Unplugging鈥擝ig Time

What he discovered was a land that鈥檚 at once as raw and wild as it鈥檚 ever been鈥攁nd more impacted by human activity than any other corner of the planet. Despite its remoteness, Alaska faces some of the worst effects of climate change on earth. The experience opened Weissenbach鈥檚 eyes to both the harsh reality of a warming world and the inexorable joy that comes from unplugging, slowing down, and paying attention to the rhythms of the earth.

鈥淚 realized I had let technology invade my life so entirely that I didn鈥檛 know how to experience the world without it,鈥� he says. During his first days off-grid, he felt out of place and disoriented. But as the weeks ticked by, he sank into a deeper presence鈥攁nd discovered he was able to pay attention and see the world in ways he never imagined possible.

鈥淚t鈥檚 really hard to understand how different your mind can be when you鈥檙e off your phone and away from the internet for eleven weeks at a time,鈥� Weissenbach says. 鈥淢ost of us haven鈥檛 experienced that since we were toddlers. I was amazed at how different the texture of my mind was.鈥�

The experience changed the way Weissenbach sees our planet, and the way he sees his own habits. Of course, none of that wisdom was easily won.听

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According to Shakespeare, there are lessons and stories everywhere in nature鈥攐r, as he puts it, books in the running brooks, tongues in trees, and sermons in stones. I鈥檓 down with that idea. But in case the running brooks aren鈥檛 meeting your educational needs this summer, here are some suggestions for actual books to tuck into your backpack. (You can also look for more top picks on my holiday book list and last summer’s book list.)

Water Borne, by Dan Rubinstein

The tale of an epic wilderness voyage to鈥� New York City?! Rubinstein is a longtime outdoors journalist and avid stand-up paddleboarder, and in 2023 he set out to paddleboard from his home in Ottawa on a 1,200-mile loop via Montreal, New York City, and Toronto. His trip ends up being a fascinating tour through the varied waterways and communities of the Great Lakes region, a deep dive (sorry) into the health-promoting powers of being in and around water鈥攁nd also just an enjoyable and often funny read about a quirky and impressive trip.

Pushing the River, by Frank Bures

My own preferred mode of paddling is in a canoe, and Bures鈥檚 book adds to the surprisingly sparse ranks of canoeing literature. (Don鈥檛 @ me, I know there are some great canoeing books out there鈥攆rom Thoreau to Roy MacGregor to Adam Shoalts鈥攂ut not as many as the world deserves.) The central part of this story collection is a historical account of the 450-mile Paul Bunyan Canoe Derby, but for me the most engaging stories are Bures鈥檚 own adventures and the reflections they inspire: a voyage down the Mississippi from Minneapolis to his hometown, Winona; an unexpected dunk in hypothermic waters. Disclosure: I wrote the intro to this one.

How to Fall in Love with Questions, by Elizabeth Weingarten

In times of upheaval, we get a lot of books about how to handle uncertainty鈥攁nd, in many cases, how to embrace uncertainty. Weingarten, a journalist and behavioral scientist, thinks this advice is too pat. After all, being mired in uncertainty about important questions can be miserable. More worryingly, being too eager to resolve uncertainty鈥攚ith instant answers from AI or overly confident advice from wellness gurus, say鈥攃an lead us astray. This is a nuanced look at a complex topic.

Ballistic, by Henry Abbott

I first encountered Marcus Elliott in Charles Bethea鈥檚 epic 国产吃瓜黑料 story about 鈥渕isogis鈥� back in 2014. He sounded like an interesting dude, but I didn鈥檛 realize at the time what a major figure Elliott is in the world of injury prevention for pro athletes. That鈥檚 the topic of Abbott鈥檚 new book, which is part biography and part injury prevention manifesto. Elliott is a big believer in the importance of ballistic movements like jumping and landing, and also in the power of 3D motion analysis to pick up subtle signs of impending injury. My general take is that injury prediction is somewhere between really hard and impossible, but by the end of the book, I couldn鈥檛 help thinking, 鈥淢an, I鈥檇 like this guy to take a look at my running stride.鈥�

Adaptable, by Herman Pontzer

Pontzer is an evolutionary anthropologist at Duke University, and his new book is basically an account of how our bodies work as viewed through the lens of evolution. You might be familiar with his previous book, Burn, which covered the modern science of metabolism and calorie-burning. What makes both books worth reading is that Pontzer is exceptionally good at explaining science in a clear, rigorous, and entertaining way.

How Economics Explains the World, by Andrew Leigh

If Pontzer鈥檚 credo in Adaptable is 鈥渆verything makes sense when viewed through the lens of evolution,鈥� Leigh鈥檚 is 鈥渆verything makes sense when viewed through the lens of economics.鈥� Leigh is an Australian politician and government minister, as well as an accomplished ultrarunner and former economics professor. The subtitle of his new book is 鈥淎 Short History of Humanity,鈥� which captures its spirit nicely: it鈥檚 basically a fun and fast-paced history of civilization as seen from the perspective of economists.

Win the Inside Game, by Steve Magness

Longtime science-of-running fans will remember Magness as the author of the encyclopedic tome a decade ago. Before that, he鈥檇 been a 4:01 high-school miler and later a coach of college and professional runners. In recent years, though, Magness鈥檚 focus has broadened to performance in its broadest sense. He wrote a couple of performance-focused books with former 国产吃瓜黑料 columnist Brad Stulberg, and then the 2022 bestseller Do Hard Things. Magness has always been an exceptional synthesizer, drawing connections across an impressively wide range of domains. His new book is more personal than his previous ones, drawing on his experiences as a whistleblower at the Nike Oregon Project, and seeks to guide the reader not just to performance but to fulfillment.

Out and Back, by Hillary Allen

In 2017, Allen fell 150 feet off a ridge during a mountain race in Norway. Her injuries were horrific. This book is her account of what happened after the accident. Spoiler: contrary to all predictions, she managed to return to the top levels of elite ultrarunning, and in fact her career continues to this day. The story itself, as a straightforward narrative, is fascinating. But what takes it up a notch is her attempts to understand what being an endurance athlete means to her鈥攂ecause you don鈥檛 fight back from an accident like that without a clear understanding of your whys.

North, by Scott Jurek

Jurek鈥檚 second book, after his 2012 bestseller Eat and Run, grapples with some of the same questions Hillary Allen鈥檚 book does. But instead of a mountain accident, he鈥檚 facing a more inexorable foe: aging. He was 41 when he set out to attempt to break the Appalachian Trail record, his career as a legendary ultramarathon champ fading out. Like Allen鈥檚 book, Jurek鈥檚 top-level narrative鈥攊n this case, the record attempt鈥攊s a great story on its own, full of improbable twists and impressive feats. But it鈥檚 the existential angst that kept me turning the pages.

Burke & Wills, by Peter FitzSimons

I spent the last five years writing a book about the science of exploring, which meant I read a lot of exploring stories. Among the most epic was the tale of the Burke and Wills expedition, the first to cross the interior of Australia. It鈥檚 by far the most famous Australian exploration tale, but relatively unknown outside the country. That should change: it鈥檚 a wild saga, a mix of adventure, fortitude, comedy (the first time I heard about the expedition was in a Bill Bryson book), and tragedy. For a long time the definitive account was Sarah Murgatroyd鈥檚 2002 book The Dig Tree, but FitzSimons鈥� 2018 book now holds that mantle.

The Explorer鈥檚 Gene, by Alex Hutchinson

You can also find out about Burke and Wills by reading鈥� my new book! They feature in a chapter that compares the exploration of Australia to the strategies mice use to explore water mazes: thigmotaxis, scanning, incursions, and so on. Burke and Wills used a strategy that鈥檚 very effective for crossing large expanses of unknown territory, but not so good for getting back home again. More generally, the book is about why we鈥檙e drawn to explore, how we do it, and what we get out of it鈥攖he perfect accompaniment for whatever adventures you have planned for the summer. Happy reading!

For more Sweat Science, join me on and , sign up for the , and check out my new book .

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Mike de la Rocha is a difficult man to define. He’s an artist and an advocate. He’s the voice of a generation and a bit of a beach bum. He’s an award-winning change-maker and the co-founder of two businesses: a that provides work for formerly incarcerated people, and an internationally renowned that connects celebrities with social change movements. And now, he’s an author, too.

De la Rocha鈥檚 forthcoming book is an ode to his profound and emotionally complicated relationship with his late father. The man, Ismael “Mayo” de la Rocha, could be an enigma. He was at once a professor who mentored thousands of students over the course of his long career, and a closed-off figure who struggled to teach his own sons emotional intimacy. The tale de la Rocha weaves is an intimately vulnerable story about culture, the trappings of masculinity, and the capacity we all have for change. In ,听de la Rocha reflects on the enduring lessons of the ocean and how surfing and the natural world helped him break through the layers of conditioning and forge a deeper relationship with his father鈥攁nd with himself.听聽

In the below excerpt, de la Rocha stands on the beach with his toes in the sand, looking out at the ocean and back into the past. As he reflects, he reveals some of the lessons his father did teach him鈥攅verything from how to whittle down your belongings (including toys) to the bare essentials, to how to withstand the shock of freezing water, even when your body begs you to flee.

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