The book is more than just the story of a man losing his leg, it's about a lifetime of survival. Gary Edinger grew up in Wisconsin's backwoods in the 1950's. Electricity and other conveniences were slow to arrive in that part of the world. Cows, axes, wood stoves, guns, traps, and fishing poles were common and crucial elements of life. Hardship, toil, and free-ranging self-reliance have kept his frontiersman-like spunk and vigor alive.
The book chronicles his family history and his early life, which includes his experiences as a boy learning to become a hunter, racing sled dogs at the international level of competition, becoming a commercial fisherman on the Yukon River, and guiding elk hunts in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness of Montana and Idaho, where he learned how to pack with horses and mules. Since losing the lower half of his left leg in the logging accident, he has set out to prove just as he's done all of his life, that he can still do whatever he sets his mind to.
The book gives you clear but subtle insights into how his mind works and the unique ways he can summon his sheer force of will to overcome insurmountable odds. In the final chapter, Edinger describes how he overcomes this new challenge in his life. He includes the details of returning to the Montana/Idaho wilderness to undertake elk hunting once again, subsequent camping trips to the mountains with his family, and returning to the logging profession that nearly killed him. After you have finished this book, you will have been entertained by his stories and inspired by his triumphs.
