A Man in the Wilderness, A Buffalo in the Living Room

Bought a couple of books last night that I can hardly wait to read. One Man's Wilderness, An Alaskan Odyssey first came out in the 1970s and is now in its 26th printing and selling well. It's the story of a self-sufficient craftsman who builds himself a log cabin and endures what nature deals him in an area of the Alaskan wilderness that few humans had passed through.

The other book, A Buffalo in the House: The True Story of a Man, an Animal, and the American West, I happily discovered as I was browsing through animal books. This book was very recently published and I had not heard of it. A review on the dust jacket by a staff writer of The New Yorker magazine describes the book as "riveting . . . I can't remember when I've been instructed so gracefully, or entertained to such deep purpose." After skimming the contents, I knew I had to have it. Details of the book are here.