I read this a while ago and really enjoyed it. I came across it today and, after searching #goodlongread for it couldn't help myself but post it here.
It's really interesting, to me, that someone can live like that. I guess everyone is different and none of us really know what would happen if we were to experience something similar, but there are records of people developing serious mental issues just from being in solitary for a couple of months. It's a different situation, of course, even moreso because it seems that he might be somewhere on the autism spectrum.
I guess we've all fantasized about just leaving and going somewhere of nowhere, like in the canadian wilderness or some small exotic island, to live where no one has lived before, alone until the end of time (at least I have), but this guy actually lived with minimal to no human contact for nearly thirty years.
Anyway, a really good and interesting read!
I found it amazing, and very very interesting. It makes sense that, after such a long time in the woods, one would lose a lot of social/communication skills, but this case is even more interesting because he seems like an inteligent person and, while he didn't have any human contact, he read a lot of books. That's a really interesting combination, I think, because reading books is great exercise for the mind, and usually lead to some sort of self-analysis which I think made him very self aware. While I've never been more that a couple weeks out camping, I really like and somewhat relate to this line With no audience, no one to perform for, I was just there. There was no need to define myself; I became irrelevant. The moon was the minute hand, the seasons the hour hand. I didn’t even have a name. I never felt lonely. To put it romantically: I was completely free.
I found it particularly interesting that he is that honest; he doesn't care whether he is being rude or if he is offending the one he's talking to. Reading at the end, I partly found it sounding kinda egoistic and rude to the author that he told him that he didn't consider them friends nor would he miss him. On the other side of it, though, I found it very intriguing that he did reply like that as well, avoiding the lies and true meanings behind the curtains of nicer words.
Well shit -- I knew it didn't work very well but I looked around on #goodlongread and didn't find it so I posted it. Should've looked elsewhere too, but I'll remember to use google to search on here! Thanks, and sorry for the repost.
Great read, fascinating individual. It's going to get worse before it gets better, I fear.
As my first read back to hubski from the wilderness, I find humor in my slight relatedness with this article. Though I have yet to complete my B.S., I study psychology. Love it. I love how the mind works in all of its quirks and functions even when they are ... different or go astray as with degenerative diseases or the abnormality of the mind of a murderer. It is remarkable , the nervous system. The way we can offload knowledge into other languages like using one's fingers to remember the tens place in counting or like remembering our to do list. In this way, our working memory capacity increases. I enjoy people watching, especially when I alter their environment by leaving something of value or interest in view to observe the consequences. In these times, I enjoy my interaction with people, and the more I partake, the more I itch to learn and participate more. Occasionally though, I do not want to be around them. Sometimes, I would much rather get away and explore a river's course than to watch the people as they flock from place to place. In these times, I feel alien, like a bear in the woods keeping a safe distance and living life on my own terms. But, I'll come back eventually, because people are fascinating; please keep your distance.