He had his own city dump style garbage pit of plastics and waxed cardboard trash. He lived off Marshmallow Fluff and Chimichangas. He stole a television set, a radio with TV, trashy books. It's no wonder that true hermits are peeved about his 'Hermit' status because the man brought society with him. I listened to 'The Stranger in the Woods' twice, and the second time brought out a lot of the story's flaws, a lot of Knight's flaws. Knight was a man who simply decided to bow out of society.

And Michael Finkel does his best to portray him as a hero of sorts. There's no doubt that Christopher Knight's story is absolutely captivating. A riveting story of survival that asks fundamental questions about solitude, community, and what makes a good life and a deeply moving portrait of a man who was determined to live his own way - and succeeded. Based on extensive interviews with Knight himself, this is a vividly detailed account of the why and how of his secluded life - as well as the challenges he has faced returning to the world. He broke into nearby cottages for food, clothes, reading material, and other provisions, taking only what he needed, but terrifying a community never able to solve the mysterious burglaries. Living in a tent even in winter, he had survived by his wits and courage, developing ingenious ways to store food and water, to avoid freezing to death. He would not have a conversation with another human being until nearly three decades later, when he was arrested for stealing food.

In 1986, 20-year-old Christopher Knight left his home in Massachusetts, drove to Maine, and disappeared into the woods. For readers and listeners of Jon Krakauer and The Lost City of Z, a remarkable tale of survival and solitude - the true story of a man who lived alone in a tent in the Maine woods, never talking to another person and surviving by stealing supplies from nearby cabins for 27 years.

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