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Memoir of a Wildman
This gripping true account from Timber Cleghorn takes you around the world on thrilling adventures and dangerous humanitarian aid missions. From climbing unnamed mountain peaks in Asia, dodging missiles in Ukraine, and befriending warlords in Afghanistan, Timber’s life will challenge and thrill you.
Raised on a remote farm with no modern conveniences, Timber grew up as if from another century. After farming with horses and hunting for food, the modern world came as a shock to him.
Now as Timber embarks on a massive survival challenge above the arctic circle, he feels confident in his skills, but will his heart carry him through the isolation, darkness, and bone-chilling cold?
In Memoir of a Wildman, Timber tells his story for the first time; a story of faith, fear, adventure, turmoil, and unimaginable happenstances. Every story is related through the lens of surviving 83 days on Arctic Circle.
Raised on a remote farm with no modern conveniences, Timber grew up as if from another century. After farming with horses and hunting for food, the modern world came as a shock to him.
Now as Timber embarks on a massive survival challenge above the arctic circle, he feels confident in his skills, but will his heart carry him through the isolation, darkness, and bone-chilling cold?
In Memoir of a Wildman, Timber tells his story for the first time; a story of faith, fear, adventure, turmoil, and unimaginable happenstances. Every story is related through the lens of surviving 83 days on Arctic Circle.
411 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 24, 2024
23 people are currently reading
46 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
January 13, 2025
One of the best books I’ve ever read. Honest. Spiritual. Unapologetic. Intimate. I read every page, including the thank yous at the end. The tone of the book is friendly, as if it’s just this author telling the reader about his life and thoughts and experiences around a campfire (in a very cold climate!) Of course, I’m a fan of the show, and that’s how I found the book. But, this story is so much more than an accounting of a few months in the Arctic. It’s about a life well-lived (to date) and about a man satisfied with his life (at last) and his new-found confidence that he will always be ready to deal with whatever comes his family’s way. This is on one of my best book shelves, alongside authors such as Larson, Helprin, Grann, Kelly, and Weir. That’s awesome for a first book: Timber should be very satisfied.
January 7, 2025
Alone, but not alone
Timber, thank you for sharing your experience so well—and for weaving it into the story of your whole life. Your experiences before “Alone” were more than many could even dream of (or have nightmares about).
I find my heart enlarged and encouraged to dream and to press on for more of the life God has for me and my wife. Your and Cara’s love is inspiring and beautiful. Soul mates doesn’t begin to describe the depth of your love together. Thanks for painting a beautiful picture of that love for us.
And thanks for being a man in heart, soul, and mind. In an age where being a man who isn’t ashamed of being a man is often despised, you show us how to be a godly man who can still hunger after good things. You show us that a real man can choose for himself to buck the system and be free.
Finally, thank you for being an unashamed believer in Jesus. Your relationship with God is not conditioned on religious trappings but on the personhood of our God who is very, very real and present. He crafted the Arctic and its flora and fauna. He made marmots and moose and pike and gray jays. He blasts that landscape with the hoar frost of His breath and crafts skies full of diamonds while blanketing the ground in seamless white. Thanks so much for taking us there to see it. And thanks for letting your viewers and readers know that knowing Jesus is the greatest treasure and achievement there is.
Timber, thank you for sharing your experience so well—and for weaving it into the story of your whole life. Your experiences before “Alone” were more than many could even dream of (or have nightmares about).
I find my heart enlarged and encouraged to dream and to press on for more of the life God has for me and my wife. Your and Cara’s love is inspiring and beautiful. Soul mates doesn’t begin to describe the depth of your love together. Thanks for painting a beautiful picture of that love for us.
And thanks for being a man in heart, soul, and mind. In an age where being a man who isn’t ashamed of being a man is often despised, you show us how to be a godly man who can still hunger after good things. You show us that a real man can choose for himself to buck the system and be free.
Finally, thank you for being an unashamed believer in Jesus. Your relationship with God is not conditioned on religious trappings but on the personhood of our God who is very, very real and present. He crafted the Arctic and its flora and fauna. He made marmots and moose and pike and gray jays. He blasts that landscape with the hoar frost of His breath and crafts skies full of diamonds while blanketing the ground in seamless white. Thanks so much for taking us there to see it. And thanks for letting your viewers and readers know that knowing Jesus is the greatest treasure and achievement there is.
May 10, 2025
I'm a huge fan of the History Channel's show "Alone" and have watched every season. I was particularly taken with the contestant Timber who was very entertaining to watch and I knew had quite a back story the series could not get into.
I was pleasantly surprised how good the writing was and found it interesting to read about his very challenging childhood being raised off grid in pretty harsh conditions and with strict and hard parents who bought into the conspiracy theory that the government was going to take everything away and so they fled into the wilderness. He was one of eleven kids so needless to say to feed and clothe so many off grid was a huge and hard undertaking that was very hard on the kids.
To Timber's credit he left after saving up his own money selling fur hides. He got a degree in linguistics (he speaks fluent Russian too!) and became an aid worker abroad in many war torn countries helping families in distress. He sure had some amazing stories to tell of his time there. He also met his wife, Cara, there and has made a life with her and their children. Eventually the work took it's toll, especially with a young family.
The book goes back and forth in time as he survives 84 days above the Arctic Circle on Alone interspersed with stories of his life. Like many contestants, they don't have to stay the longest and get the cash prize to win. So many go out to work things out in their head, to have the time and silence to process things in a different way. This was the same with Timber who went out very conflicted and left being completely at peace and ready to go back into the world.
Timber's faith means almost everything to him so readers who do not have a faith may not like all the references to God and Scripture. But that too was appealing to me in the sense that he had been raised to only know a harsh and judgemental God. While aid working he was able to finally understand the loving God who had been with him throughout his life, something similar to my own walk.
I was glad to have read this book.
I was pleasantly surprised how good the writing was and found it interesting to read about his very challenging childhood being raised off grid in pretty harsh conditions and with strict and hard parents who bought into the conspiracy theory that the government was going to take everything away and so they fled into the wilderness. He was one of eleven kids so needless to say to feed and clothe so many off grid was a huge and hard undertaking that was very hard on the kids.
To Timber's credit he left after saving up his own money selling fur hides. He got a degree in linguistics (he speaks fluent Russian too!) and became an aid worker abroad in many war torn countries helping families in distress. He sure had some amazing stories to tell of his time there. He also met his wife, Cara, there and has made a life with her and their children. Eventually the work took it's toll, especially with a young family.
The book goes back and forth in time as he survives 84 days above the Arctic Circle on Alone interspersed with stories of his life. Like many contestants, they don't have to stay the longest and get the cash prize to win. So many go out to work things out in their head, to have the time and silence to process things in a different way. This was the same with Timber who went out very conflicted and left being completely at peace and ready to go back into the world.
Timber's faith means almost everything to him so readers who do not have a faith may not like all the references to God and Scripture. But that too was appealing to me in the sense that he had been raised to only know a harsh and judgemental God. While aid working he was able to finally understand the loving God who had been with him throughout his life, something similar to my own walk.
I was glad to have read this book.
January 5, 2025
Timber,
I'm going to assume that you read most of these since there haven't been too many of them yet. Thank you for sharing your love of life and your love of the Lord. I have come to many of the same conclusions regarding his desire to take us where we want to go within the context of a gentle Father and willing guide. I strongly believe his will is for us to dream and to risk, in faith, while in pursuit of those dreams. I only have a 10th grade education but once I got a hold of this understanding I felt a conviction to start a business of my own. This has led me to places of unimaginable difficulties but equally unimaginable reward (products I have designed are currently deployed on the Intl Space Station, something that would have been absolutely impossible without the Lord's inspiration and constant presence)... Anyway, I just want to thank you again for sharing your journey in such a well-written and fun way. I plan on buying many more of these books to share with anybody I feel can benefit from your incredible story. (and Thank You, Cara for giving Timber the freedom to go and be the Lord's ambassador in such an epic and far reaching way. Your sacrifice was no small thing!)... The Lord is good!
I'm going to assume that you read most of these since there haven't been too many of them yet. Thank you for sharing your love of life and your love of the Lord. I have come to many of the same conclusions regarding his desire to take us where we want to go within the context of a gentle Father and willing guide. I strongly believe his will is for us to dream and to risk, in faith, while in pursuit of those dreams. I only have a 10th grade education but once I got a hold of this understanding I felt a conviction to start a business of my own. This has led me to places of unimaginable difficulties but equally unimaginable reward (products I have designed are currently deployed on the Intl Space Station, something that would have been absolutely impossible without the Lord's inspiration and constant presence)... Anyway, I just want to thank you again for sharing your journey in such a well-written and fun way. I plan on buying many more of these books to share with anybody I feel can benefit from your incredible story. (and Thank You, Cara for giving Timber the freedom to go and be the Lord's ambassador in such an epic and far reaching way. Your sacrifice was no small thing!)... The Lord is good!
December 17, 2024
Timber is a gifted writer among MANY other talents. I am so thankful he has shared his story in the form of a book so that others may be blessed by his words.
This book tells about his time on “Alone”. Watching the show you get about 10% of the story and this book is all the rest. More importantly he tells stories of his upbringing living off grid and his time overseas doing God’s work. He’s so much more than a competitor on Alone…although he’s AMAZING there too! I hope you’ll grab a copy for yourself and enjoy it as I and my husband..and brother, and in-laws, and friends…all have!! Bravo, Timber!!! We anxiously await more books from you!
This book tells about his time on “Alone”. Watching the show you get about 10% of the story and this book is all the rest. More importantly he tells stories of his upbringing living off grid and his time overseas doing God’s work. He’s so much more than a competitor on Alone…although he’s AMAZING there too! I hope you’ll grab a copy for yourself and enjoy it as I and my husband..and brother, and in-laws, and friends…all have!! Bravo, Timber!!! We anxiously await more books from you!
December 28, 2024
The best Alone book I've read yet and one of the best wilderness tales. Timber is such a fascinating person and his challenges and enlightenment on the trip are portrayed beautifully in this book. There is a lot of talk of God in the book. As a non-religious person, I resonated with the feeling Timber was having by connecting it to the nature he was experiencing, rather than the portrayal of a lord or male deity. Nevertheless, this is a fantastic book and it gave a bit more clarity as to why my favorite character from Season 11 decided to leave the challenge early, even though he was clearly the most successful.
February 15, 2025
This book grew and showed more finesse as it went on, just like Timber’s journey did. In the beginning, I felt like the writing was a little jagged and it took me a while to figure out the process of the jumps from the Alone stories to the stories about his pre-Alone life. As it went on, though, I figured out the process and writing style more, and his writing seemed to become more refined. Thank you, Timber, for telling your story so honestly and with an open heart.
January 25, 2026
what an incredible testimony!
I watched the series and saw what Timber describes more deeply in these pages.
Understanding the difficulty of his childhood and recent traumas from war zones just before going on the show make his story so much more compelling a testimony to the healing power of God through His creation!
Only God could have provided for a hunger for healing that deep.
It’s the best firsthand, raw and totally transparent expressions of faith I have ever heard.
I watched the series and saw what Timber describes more deeply in these pages.
Understanding the difficulty of his childhood and recent traumas from war zones just before going on the show make his story so much more compelling a testimony to the healing power of God through His creation!
Only God could have provided for a hunger for healing that deep.
It’s the best firsthand, raw and totally transparent expressions of faith I have ever heard.
March 24, 2025
Anyone that watches the show Alone will love this book. Exceptionally well written, however quite heavy on religion. The writer takes you on a journey that most will never experience and in a fantastic way. I laughed, I cried, I felt his pain and joy. I highly recommend this one to anyone that loves survival, or wilderness.
December 14, 2025
I was inspired by Timber’s story when watching Alone Season 11. I am happy to have learned more about him and his time on the show. I finished the book on Bondi beach hours before a shooting took place, and reflecting on the insights Timber gained on life and purpose seem even more relevant.
July 22, 2025
I’m not sure how well this book stands on its own. For me, as a fan of Alone, it was fascinating to read the story behind one of the most compelling competitors in the show’s history.
August 17, 2025
Without doubt, one of the most interesting humans ever.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews