My Life in the Wilderness. An Alaskan’s Story by Robert L. Hilliker. Written and copyright by the author in 2016. Ebook version published by Alaska Dreams Publishing (First eBook publication May, 2016. Print version ISBN: 978-0692642634 by author).
This is one man’s story beginning with his hopes and dreams of living in Alaska in some of the early days. After a number of preparatory moves educating himself in the ways of the early Mountain Men and concentrated activity in practicing these activities, he was ready to make his move. Now a middle-aged man with a family, he embarked upon a first year-long attempt beginning in December 1980 for a sojourn in Alaska. This gradually progressed to the establishment of life as his preferred way of living with a new family, personal construction of a home and a lifetime of satisfaction.
Discussion: This is an interesting tale describing many of the features of Alaska from the trip up the Alaskan Highway into many different parts of the intriguing land by “a normal work-a-day man who was able to realize his dreams by sheer perseverance.” The story is simply written and loaded with activities about which most people only dream. There is much repetition and or redundancy, but acceptable because of the occurrences in different settings and involving different individuals. The book is not for everyone, but especially of interest to readers who think about unusual places, participate in ‘specialized fun groups’ and even dream about actually making the same ‘break-from-reality’.
5* Of special interest to readers noted.