A Wolverine Is Eating My Leg [Paperback]

Tim Cahill (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 25, 1989

Cahill is great! He is the P.J. O'Rourke of the outdoors! Fearless and hell-bent on overcoming all obstacles in his path, Cahill takes us to the oddest and scariest adventures nature has to offer.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Cahill ( Jaguars Ripped My Flesh ) courts intercontinental adventure in these collected travel pieces. He fishes for pike in Wisconsin's icy Lake Nagawicka (and competes in a minnow-drinking contest at Chuck and Sue's bar). Over the protests of the late Dian Fossey, he eyeballs Rwanda's now-famous mountain gorillas. And he joins the journalists flocking to the scene of mass suicide in Jonestown, Guyana. His pen is filled with adrenaline; he batters down obstacles and dares to do the difficult, whether this means braving the scent of decay (Jonestown's "last bodies to be removed had been in such a state of decomposition that bits and pieces kept falling off") or surviving a serious wind-chill factor. Though Cahill's humor and machismo can be heavy-handed, and his occasional sexism is annoying ("menopausal waitresses" cramp his style in Oregon), the writer's appetite for fun and trouble off the beaten path is exhilarating.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

These are pieces written over the past 20 years by a "journalist . . . with a desire to go where no sane man would wish to go," who discovers there is wonder left in the world. Believing that risk is a form of therapy, Cahill has sought adventure by participating in and reporting on risk sports from deep sea scuba diving to avalanche skiing, caving to white water rafting. He also spent time with Dian Fossey and her gorillas, visited Jim Jones's death camp in Guyana, and investigated Bigfoot accounts in the Pacific Northwest. Author, editor of Outside , contributor to Rolling Stone , Cahill writes with irreverent humor, philosophy, and considerable knowledge about people testing themselves. He is a fine storyteller. Recommended for most libraries.
- Roland Person, Southern Illinois Univ . Lib . , Carbondale
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 302 pages
• Publisher: Vintage; 1 edition (February 25, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 067972026X
• ISBN-13: 978-0679720263
• Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.6 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,018,531 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars unique stories, different from his other books, March 13, 2000

By 

J. K. Kelley "literary mercenary" (Eastern WA, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Wolverine Is Eating My Leg (Paperback)

While Cahill is always very entertaining, his later books have focused more on the caving, scuba, climbing and flying aspects of adventure travel. In _Wolverine_ the stories include a broader variety of journalistic endeavour, taking him from Jonestown to a bizarre religious cult to encounters with mountain gorillas. This was the book that hooked me on Tim's writing.

What makes it so good is, for one thing, that he's never so detached as to reek of smug pseudo-sophistication, but never so involved as to let his emotions and opinions interfere with the story. The balance between the two extremes is perfect. For another, Tim simply does and sees things hardly anyone else ever sees and does, let alone writes about. For yet another, he is often very funny in a dry, Montana sort of way. If you are new to Tim Cahill, you're in for quite a few hours of great reading.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Early Cahill Charm, February 19, 2001

By 

sweetmolly (RICHMOND, VA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Wolverine Is Eating My Leg (Paperback)

"A Wolverine---" is the second book of articles mostly taken from "Rolling Stone" and "Outside" magazine. The articles were written as far back as 1971 when Tim was a young man indeed. And it shows. Youthful high spirits prevail, and there is much cheery bravado interspersed with excellent journalistic essays that display a remarkable maturity.

Ever wonder why people chase all over the earth to view a solar eclipse? Find out on a rollicking trip to find the absolute best place to get an unclouded view. Discover what all the shouting is about.

I am used to Tim somehow bringing me back alive, laughing all the way from the wildest, strangest parts of the world. I have always credited him with fine introspection and lyrical prose that sneaked into whatever he wrote. The guy is just incapable of bad writing.

The essays include a fine thought piece on the late Dian Fossey, the "Gorillas in the Mist" author who was murdered apparently by poachers. The essay on "reprogramming" of children who were enmeshed in cults is harrowing. Cahill has no use for the cults, but the rationale and methods of reprogramming are chilling. He infiltrated a California cult and lived there while developing his story. The living conditions (except for the leader who lived in a mansion on the hill) were unbelievably bad, yet the morale was high among the young converts. Tim presents a balanced, sometimes humorous, article that shows empathy for all except the leader.

The premier essay, which should be required reading, was his on-the-spot reporting of the Jamestown Massacre that took place in Guyana twenty years ago. The immediacy and power of his word pictures, the horror of 900 dead supposedly suicides, the incredible remoteness of the site crush with a pervasive sadness and dismay.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More classic Cahill, October 21, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: A Wolverine Is Eating My Leg (Paperback)

More classic Cahill, the Dave Barry of adventure travel. Cahill separates his writings into 5 sections, Jungles of the Mind, Visions of Terror and Paradise, Wet Work, Monsters and Hoaxes, and The Raggedy Edge. The stories incorporates a lot of material from his magazine work. Some of the material is recognized from his other book `Jaguars Ripped my Flesh', although he uses it with a lot of new material. I found this book much more enjoyable than `Jaguars Ripped my Flesh'.