A Wild Idea

By: Jonathan Franklin

Narrated by: George Newbern

Length: 10 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's summary

Why would a San Francisco entrepreneur sell his company, fly to the ends of the earth, invest millions restoring paradise, then fight like hell to give it all away?

In 1991, Doug Tompkins left his luxury life in San Francisco and flew 6,500 miles south to a shack in Patagonia that his friends nicknamed "Hobbit House". Mounted on wooden skids that allowed oxen to drag it through the cow fields, Hobbit House had for a refrigerator a metal box chilled from the icy cold winds off the glacier. Rainwater dripped from a rooftop barrel into the rustic kitchen. Earlier tenants include a sheepherder with little more than his dogs and a rifle. Instead of the Golden Gate Bridge, Tompkins now stared at Volcano Michinmahuida, blanketed in snow and prowled by mountain lions the size of small tigers.

Shielded by wilderness and waterfalls and tucked into a remote forest with three times the rainfall of Seattle, Tompkins plotted his counterattack against corporate capitalism. As founder of Esprit and The North Face he had “made things nobody needed”. Now he declared it was time to “pay my rent for living on this planet”. Could he undo the environmental damage produced by his prodigious clothes manufacturing? Could he launch a new brand, one that promoted environmental conservation, preservation, and restoration?

In Patagonia, Tompkins adored his pioneer existence. All his belongings fit in a single duffel bag. When hungry, he fished from his front yard and harvested vegetables from a greenhouse. Tompkins kayaked along the rivers, ice-climbed glaciers, and waited until the ocean storms reached a frothy peak to pilot his wood-hulled crab boat into the raging waves of the Pacific. Within a hundred miles there were virtually no roads and his old farm was accessible to the occasional fishing boat and a battered airstrip.

Flying his small plane for hundreds of hours, he explored. The average plot of land is 10,000 acres, and the price per acre is as little as US $25. It was all for sale and about to be destroyed by clearcut logging. Zooming over treetops and around mountain peaks, Tompkins flew inside tight canyons and gaped at the singular beauty: active volcanoes, gliding condors, forests never logged, rivers never dammed - all so undisturbed, so exquisitely designed, without a single flaw. Could he protect this wild beauty? Place a frame around this perfect creation? For the ensuing quarter century that dream, that obsession became his life.

Only in death did it become his legacy.

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2021 Jonathan Franklin (P)2021 HarperCollins Publishers

Great Book!

I really enjoyed this book. It’s a roller coaster of liking and disliking Doug. It makes you really want to get out there and explore. Great listen.

Brilliant

Great listen, good writing about an extraordinary man. This should be a must read for any wild land conservationists

Well told story

Written and told with great clarity and significance to life and accomplishments made. Appreciated the work and complied stories.

One of environmentalism’s most important stories

I was pleased to come across this book, as I teach about sustainability and the outdoor products industry. This slice of history and the central figures occurred right under the noses of many of us, yet has been woefully under told. Kudos to the author for his efforts. Sadly, the narrator whose voice and tone are so easy to listen to, and which add flavor to the words, occasionally fails inexplicably on common words. Ibis is pronounced “ib-is” and filet is “fill-lit”. How can produced not catch such mistakes?? Oh well. I guess it’s ironic given Tompkins’s extreme attention to detail that these human errors persist.

One of the most important books you will ever read

If you believe in conservation this is one of the most important books you will ever read.

Interesting story, well performed at best.

Thought it was interesting but the rich guy saves the world theme is kind of boring.

Thank You

Thank you to everyone for their dedication and hard work to make the parks possible and the Telly of the stories in this book. Thank you <3

A wonderful book

Thoroughly enjoyed this book. What a wild ride through life and and an influence that will be apparent for generations. I might have slept with that Husky (plane) as well!

How could I have not known.

This book had a profound impact. How could anyone who appreciates the outdoors not know about Doug Tompkins. It’s fascinating. It’s moving and it’s thought-provoking, and it made me want to cover every inch of the National parks that have been establish as a result of his work.

Really makes you think

A Wild Idea isn't perfect; I think it is too quick to brush aside the flaws of Doug Tompkins for the sake of selling his image as some larger-than-life grandiose figure. That said, wow, what an eye-opening listen into the journey of objectively one of the most successful nature conservation efforts in history. For all his brashness and arrogance, Tompkins clearly held a rare, deep love of the natural world that few people who amass similarly large wealths have. The conservation work of Doug, Kris, and their team is monumental and inspiring. Among many other thoughts, I can't help but ask: Where are the other ultra-wealthy nature lovers? Don't let the Tompkins' story stay unique. Make it become the norm.