In the hopeful world of self-help books the reader is drawn into the possibility of changing her life for the better. We could all be thinner, more organized, better read, faster, more calm, more mindful, less wasteful and any number of personal improvements.
Much of the advice is incremental--the steps toward the goal, not the leap. Michael Easter gives the reader the steps toward the leap. The central event of the book is a month-long trek with 80-pound packs through the wilderness of northern Alaska hunting caribou.
On the way he tells us how hunger, boredom, exhaustion, cold, dirt and other forms of discomfort will make our lives happier and better. The book is full of the latest research showing how discomfort makes us stronger, smarter, tougher and happier.
It is also very well written. And if you are the kind of person who exercises a lot, fasts, endures boredom and strives to live better, the book will challenge you to do something even more extreme.
I like this book for the obvious confirmation basis that I get from it. It also added walking with a heavy pack--rucking--to things I want to do more of.
I would love to hear how you strain toward self improvement.
I wrote two other posts responding to the book. They were on boredom and dirt.
