Every year, PBS plays, Alone in the Wilderness the documentary that it inspired. For some, it has become a Thanksgiving tradition much like watching It’s a Wonderful Life or A Christmas Story is for many families. 50th Anniversary of Dick’s journey in building a cabin chronicled by his journals. Book originally published in 1973. Dreamers who imagine building their own cabin and living off-the-grid, as well as preppers and survivalists, nature lovers from all walks of life and hardcore hunters and fisherman have all found inspiration in this iconic book. Others admire and are inspired by his mission is ‘to do a thing to completion’ – finding his account of following his intentions, and doing so with such patience and care, deeply inspiring. Each year, thousands pilgrimage to his cabin at Lake Clark in Alaska and museum in Iowa. Sam Keith’s only daughter, Laurel Keith Lies along with her husband Brian Lies, found the lost manuscript for First Wilderness ten years after her father passed away. It is a precursor in which Sam meets Dick. They remained good friends, trading hundreds of letters over their lifetimes, and died within a month of each other in 2003.
Over 450,000 sold. Makes an excellent gift because its broad and timeless appeal is rooted in that thing that rings true in its pages: Know what makes you happy and live it.
Three of Dick’s journals are published in their entirety, and the fourth will be published in Fall 2018.