A Wolverine Is Eating My Leg

by Tim Cahill

Tim Cahill brings 'em back alive. Not only has he survived fantastic journeys through the Himalayan rapids, the Grand Terror of Montana, and Dian Fossey's forbidden zone, he writes about them, too. Fearless and hell-bent on destroying all obstacles in his path, Cahill takes us to places rarely seen and barely endured. All admonitions and warnings be damned: Tim Cahill dares us to follow him wherever danger and craziness lurk. And to laugh as he prevails.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, Humor, Adventure, Essays, Outdoors, Nature

369 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Tim Cahill (born 1944 in Nashville, Tennessee) is a travel writer who lives in Livingston, Montana, United States. He is a founding editor of Outside magazine and currently serves as an "Editor at Large" for the magazine.

Reviews

[Seth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've had this book sitting on my shelf for over a year and almost left it there to yellow as payback for my slogging through Cahill's surprisingly boring Pecked to Death by Ducks . Really the only reasons I rescued it were that I guessed I could read it in under a week and that I ain't getting my 50 cents back from no used books what I don't read. I'm glad a I gave it a shot, because Wolverine replaces Ducks' dull camping yarns with tales of genuine adventure and gonzo journalism.

A few of Tim Cahill's (Not to be confused with the Australian soccer star of the same name.) pieces in here are truly spectacular, like his account of infiltrating the Christian cults of 1970s California, and his devastating report from the aftermath of the Jonestown massacre. Others document a degree of voluntary peril that today's journalists have left to Discovery Channel crazies. Tim and pals take a suicide march through summer in Death Valley, spend two days half a mile underground squirming through 12-inch tubes of rock with no exits, and even drink beer with Wisconsinites.

After nearly dying in one of the worst whitewater-rafting fuck-ups one could care to experience -- smashed against rocks with lungs pumped full of water in remote northern India -- an experience that today's writers would stretch out into a double-spaced memoir life-changing self-examination and self-fellating, Cahill pops out a 15-page essay and moves on. (He is, after all, a magazine writer, producing magazine-length pieces.) Cahill describes his escapades with excitement, but also with a casualness teetering into blasé. His brevity works against him sometimes. One gets the feeling that he's leaving out bits that seem boring to him but that those of us who routinely face nothing more thrilling than making it from Silver Lake to Santa Monica in less than 30 minutes at 4pm would really like to live vicariously through.

Even so, more than anything Cahill's stories make one want to get out and live. And if the guy who chooses this as his author photo can handfish for poison Pacific sea snakes, can't we all?

[Ronnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

⁰

[Kris · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit dated, but still very enjoyable read about poking around the remote corners of the globe.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoy Tim Cahill. He's been a writer for Rolling Stone and Outside magazine, and his stories all focus on exotic, though often harrowing true adventures. To me, he's a cross between Pico Iyer and John Krakauer. He has John Krakauer's sense of adventure and ability to instill suspense in his stories, but he is a much better writer than Krakauer. He's got Pico Iyer's irreverence and sense of style, but without the insightful reflection that I love in Iyer.

The reason I gave this book only three stars is because it's so dated. The stories date back to the early 70s to mid-80s and have not been updated. The book opens with a strong and disturbing story about when he went to Guyana to cover the Jonestown massacre. He also includes an interesting story of going to Rwanda/ Zaire in the 70s to interview and meet with the scientists working with Dian Fossey and the mountain gorrillas. Another story focuses on when he went undercover at a commune in California.

The second half of the book was a mishmash of short stories that didn't really hold together well for me. Some even seemed like journal entries rather than polished pieces. This book is OK, but the stories could be stronger if he (or someone) went back and updated them a bit.

[Glen Engel-Cox · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an excellent collection of thoughts and comments on the sheer edge of adventure. Cahill knows exactly how to describe the amazing stupidity of some of these adventure sports in a way that still leaves you interested in participating. Like his previous collection, Jaquars Ripped My Flesh, this book covers the gamut in place and sport, from extreme skiing in Montana to whitewater rafting in India. And while Cahill is a master at adventure writing, when he turns his pen to describing the cultures of some of the more exotic places that he has visited and the difference between their culture and our’s, he’s both hilarious and profound. This book is a selection of the Vintage Departures series, a group of books that I have found to be uniformly excellent.

[Nathan Albright · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a disappointing book.  Admittedly, this book is one of the earlier works by the author, when he still took himself too seriously and felt the need to defend himself as a serious writer.  Unfortunately, when an author decides to touch third rails all over the place with offensively leftist political and religious worldviews--he seems particularly hostile to premillennial religious sects, a negative bias I take rather personally--then taking someone seriously means viewing the author with a high degree of irritation and annoyance.  Not only that, but the vast majority of these essays are lengthy and frequently mean-spirited.  It is as if the early Cahill was trying to be like John McPhee without being humane and seeking to show those he was reporting on in a good light.  And so he makes fun of unconventional religious people, mocks the interest in cryptids like Bigfoot in Oregon, and generally portrays himself in a douchey fashion.  In fact, the author frames himself in such an unfriendly light that one almost wishes that a wolverine had eaten his leg off, and devoured the rest of him as well.  Fortunately, the author's writings did get a lot better as they became shorter and more self-effacing, but this book is definitely a rough beginning.

The essays in this collection, roughly 300 pages total, are divided into five sections.  The first section examines jungles of the mind, and it looks at the author's discussions about religion (including cults in California and the survivors of Jonestown in Guyana) as well as politics and ecology.  After that the author looks at issues of terror and paradise by trying to discuss the Garden of Eden as well as the search for terror in Montana and the enjoyment of beauty and terror in the Marquesas.  After that the author discusses scuba diving, harem fantasies, and the search for sea snakes.  Two essays look at monsters and hoaxes (bigfoot and some ice fishing in Wisconsin).  Finally, the last series of essays provides some examples of the author's love of travel, including vertical caving, survival games, and a kayak trip down the Ganges River.  It is certainly possible to feel envious of the author's travel experiences, especially since they appear to have been on the dime of various magazines, even though the essays reveal that the author's writing abilities need a lot of work.

If one is inclined to read this book charitably, one can say that the bloated and heavy-handed aspect of these essays shows a writer still trying to learn his craft.  Fortunately, his writing would get better, but if this had been my first impression of the author's works I might not bother to read much more of it.  Fortunately, as is often the case, the author's maladroit take on politics and religion does provide other writers who may happen to read this with a better grip on how not to handle matters of faith and biblical interpretation.  And to his credit, the author would go on to write thoughtful and sensitive pieces that do not attempt to paint him as an expert in issues on religion and politics, and even if his political worldview does not noticeably improve, the fact that the author stops taking himself so seriously and frames himself as an incompetent abroad makes his writing a lot easier to take, since one can handle brainless political hot takes from an obvious incompetent far more than someone who takes themselves seriously and expects you to do so as well.  As is so often the case in writing, framing matters a great deal in how a work is taken, and these works fail to amuse or impress.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, I have to start by asking about the title. Honestly, I probably would have read this much sooner if it had a different title, but something about the title put me off and so this sat on my shelf longer than it otherwise might have. For the record, I can't figure out what the title has to do with the content of this book in any form, so I definitely don't recommend making any judgements about the book on that basis.

This book is a collection of essays, which reflect the author's career as a journalist, much of which was writing about adventure travel. They cover a broad range of topics and location, taking the reader from Africa to South America, from the American West to South Asia. Along the way we encounter wild gorillas, the aftermath of mass suicide, explore caves, ski, hike, and white-water raft, and even visit an alleged cult. The author does an excellent job of transporting the reader into each of these wildly varying locals and topics, and his portrayal of his subjects comes across as fair and often even compassionate. There is much that he has done that I have no interest in doing, but I still found his account of his experiences compelling and enlightening. But if I had to pick a single favorite, it would be the story about the extreme skiers in Montana. As a recreational skier, I would "have no business" attempting to ski the areas described, but I can appreciate the skill that it takes to do so.

Overall, this collection is an excellent read for the armchair traveler who wants to get a taste of what it might be like to travel *far* off the beaten path.

[Kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Tim Cahill brings 'em back alive. Not only has he survived fantastic journeys through the Himalayan rapids, the Grand Terror of Montana, and Dian Fossey's forbidden zones, he writes about them, too. All with the same excitement and crazed humor his readers have relished for years in the pages of Outside and Rolling Stone. Fearless and hell-bent on destroying all obstacles in his path, Cahill takes us to places rarely seen and barely endured. All admonitions and warnings be damned: Tim Cahill dares us to follow him wherever danger and craziness lurk. And to laugh as he prevails."
~~back cover

I didn't find this book as humorous as I have some of his others. This one as more serious, more scary places and situations. Intresting, but there was absolutely nothing about a w0lverine eating his leg.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was expecting more humor, but what we get is more serious discussions and stories. I liked best his piece on a stay in the Marquesas Islands. Except for the biting bugs, I would really like to visit there. The Jamestown material was hard to read. Some of the articles didn't capture my attention as in the last book I read by him, but he is a very good writer. Somewhat dated, of course, but still worthwhile.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

A selection of essays from the history of Tim Cahill's career. It includes extreme sports -- vertical caving, whitewater rafting in the Himalayas, paintball battles, and such. Also investigation of Bigfoot and ice fishing and covering Jonestown in the immediate aftermath of the mass murder-suicide. A bit of a roller coaster. But no wolverines at all in the book.

[Kelsy Allan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cahill founded Outside magazine, which is awesome, so obviously he’s pretty awesome too.
This is a compilation of short stories about caving, rafting, hiking, eclipses, wildlife conservation, diving...but all within a conversation about fear and death which turns out refreshing instead of morbid. And, it’s funny. 1,000 points to Cahill for continuing to be one of my favorite badasses.

[James Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is well written and the chapter about Jonestown is very interesting but dont expect whiteknuckle adventure throughout like the blurb makes out. One of the chapters is about him going paintballing, another about skiing..

[Ann Bouslog · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read because it was on the bookshelf. Makes me feel unadventurous.

[Darryl Updegrove · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slow starting, but got more interesting towards the middle and end. A collection of stories; not sure the point of them all.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Possibly my least favourite of Cahill's books, seems a little outdated now with ita references to Vietnam and stories of Jonestown. Still an enjoyable read, but not as good as his others

[Suzanne Fournier · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5*

A series of experiences the author went through while working as a journalist, travelling or adventure seeking.

Generally interesting, amusing, and occasionally sad.

[Ted Manahan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hard core reporting and adventures.

[Hunter Wells · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cahill brings a book that takes you on incredible adventures like no other. I enjoy how he organizes his travels together making this beyond a simple memoir, but more of worldly journey. I am patiently waiting to read his other two books with similar content: A Jaguar is Ripping my Flesh and Pecked to Death by Ducks

[Eric_W · Rating 4 out of 5]

“In these same waters there is another fish that looks very much the upright and businesslike cleaner wrasse. The blenny, however, is an entirely different kind of fish. The sly blenny finds a wrasse in full dance at its cleaner station [the wrasse is a small fish which has a symbiotic relationship with groupers, it swims inside the grouper’s mouth and eats tropical parasites that accumulate and annoy the grouper,] and there it sets itself up for wicked business by imitating the dance of the honest fish [the wrasse.] when the grouper approaches mouth open, the blenny darts in, tears off a hunk of Flesh, and escapes to a nearby niche the enraged grouper can’t penetrate. The blenny is a fish that lives in treachery and feeds off the flesh of those who would freely feed it. It is sometimes called a false cleaner, though I prefer to think of it as a lawyer fish."

This book by Tim Cahill is a wonderful collection of essays drawn from Rolling Stone and other magazines. Cahill is the adventurer all of us Walter Mittys would like to be. He writes of wild­water rafting in the Himalayas, scuba diving with sharks, rappelling down cliffs in the utter darkness of caves, crossing Death Valley on foot during the summer--all sorts of death­defying adventures. At one point he reflects on the "sickness" of one of the war simulation games in the wilderness of New Hampshire: " Gaines was probably right, at least for those of us who enjoy this Constant testing and attendant adrenaline rush. It is a way of finding out who you are, and even those who object to the concept of the game, to its emotional weight, 'look for the same kinds of whatever means available. I know for a fact that quite a few of those who said they found the idea ’sick’ spend sessions with a man who say yes, uh-huh, and how do you about that?’"

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

As an explorer, Tim Cahill gets everywhere. As an invstigative reporter, he has given us realistic and human reports of stories which another reporter would only be able to couch in Paparazzi-speak. When there is horror (which there is), he is understated. When there is excitement (of which there is a lot), Cahill shares it with us.

From ice-fishing in the depths of winter, and extreme skiiing, to the jungles of South America, Dian Fossey's legacy and south-sea diving, Tim Cahill has done it all, and brings it to life here. I found the Jonestown story, of which he was one of the first reporters on the scene, to be haunting, and it is a testament to his skill that he could make such a horror accessible on a human scale. And then we're vertical caving, in some of the most incredible parts of the Earth.
A great book of more-than travel stories, by a man who fits equally well into the writer and traveller camp, as far too few do.

If you're travelling, or are thinking of traveling, read this book, and you might just step off the beaten track a little more...

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

a real-life Indiana Jones who writes instead of nabbing priceless artifacts, Cahill writes the funniest social criticism disguised as travel journalism.

unlike Jaguars Ripped My Flesh, this book is dark. he even warns us at the entrance to this hall of mirrors but nothing prepared me for the middle portion of the book. the first portion of the book was darker than his other stuff, yes, but still within the realm of dark humor. then he gets to the Jonestown Massacre in Guyana. i had to stop reading several times just to keep from breaking down. i knew it was bad but i had no idea just how bad and Cahill's unique perspective and insider knowledge made it utterly gut-wrenching.

once that portion of the book is over, he gives a quick, hilarious chaser to wash away the bitter left behind by the Story That Must Not Be Named and then into more usual tales of adventure and cynical woe.

disjointed and non-linear? yes. but well worth it to hear about Cahill's experiences in his voice.

[Tito Quiling, Jr. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked Tim Cahill's piece in the collection, Not So Funny When It Happens To You when I read that one a couple of years ago. Cahill's narrative stood out, having a light air about it and even reminded me a bit of Bill Bryson's style, using a bit of self-deprecating humor and eases into the more serious tone, relaying details of a place historically, along with urban legends which surround it.

Cahill has a series of travelogues centering on what seems to be regions of the world--from the mountains of South America to the islands of Polynesia, the ice-capped landscape of Western Europe and even a bit of Africa. While the language is of the standard narrative in terms of narrating one's travel, where humor and history go together, I find that the rawness and the romance of the place, looking at its intersections was quite inconsistent. Nevertheless, the book was able to draw me in and made me decide to give Cahill another try, perhaps if I can find another one from this series.

[Jae · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection of Cahill’s essays and articles, written (I’m guessing) between about 1975 and the late 80’s, was my first exposure to this writer, except for a couple of articles I’ve read in National Geographic and Outside magazines. The development of Cahill’s style over the years is evident and interesting to watch happen. The articles run the gamut from hanging out with Dian Fossey’s mountain gorillas on a volcano in Africa, to hunting Sasquatch in Oregon, to extreme skiing with Bozeman locals and legends at Bridger Bowl. As with most collections, I loved some articles, some were OK, and some I just didn’t care about. Although I found some glee in the extreme skiing article (it’s fun reading a book about routes you’ve snowboarded and people you've met), I most enjoyed the article about Cahill’s infiltration of the Susan and Tony Alamo cult in California during the spiritual revival of the mid-70’s. My recommendation: Take this book with you on the airplane.

[Mads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Irreverence is the word. The first essay about "An Ecology of Secrets" very nicely done. I find Cahill's rough-and-tumble style a wonderful foil to Ackerman's soaring, fluid prose. Actually, reading Cahill makes me appreciate Ackerman even more. Cahill has his own virtues, while scanning my old copy as I write these lines, I find that Cahill has actually quoted Ackerman in the Intro! How about that!

"...when you become so thoroughly concerned with acting deftly, in order to be safe, that only reaction is possible, not analysis. You shed the centuries and feel creatural. Of course you do have to scan, assess, and make constant minute decisions. But there is nothing like thinking in the usual methodical way. What takes its place is more akin to informed instinct. For a compulsively pensive person, to be fully alert but free of thought is a form of ecstasy."

Amen to that.

[Lisa Findley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of the essays in here are really interesting, such as the one on the cult, especially once I realized these were written decades ago, so his essay on religious cults came out at a time when the country was in full frenzy over this then-new phenomenon. And some of his more straight-up travel narratives, like the one on crossing Death Valley, are captivating. But these are dated essays, and a couple are just outright obnoxious, like when he blithely ignores Dian Fossey's very serious request that he not visit her gorilla sanctuary. Overall, I like Cahill's humor and easy turn of phrase, but maybe I should check out some of his later stuff.

[Terry · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to read Cahill because he was described as the PJ O'Rourke of adventure travel. Much of this book was published for Rolling Stone magazine in the 70s and early 80s. Cahill travels with some of my other favorite adventurers of that era like Dave Roberts and Nick Nichols. He finds adventure with Africa's silverbacks and in whitewater near Dehra Dun, but also closer to home such as among Christian cults on the streets of Los Angeles. The longer, investigative pieces were more enjoyable especially his coverage of the Jim Jones atrocity and his walk from Death Valley up to the summit of Mt. Whitney. A fun read!

[Nicole · Rating 2 out of 5]

Overall, not too impressed. Book is divided into several sections with a "theme" and then dedicated sections/topics. One topic was the Jim Jones cult and the story behind the mass suicide and how the author was part of a group that got to the camp about 3-4 days after the all the deaths. Another was on the story of BigFoot. Another was about ice fishing. The topics were extremely wide ranging though individually interesting but appeared to fall outside the realm of travelogue writing. If you are looking for more traditional writing about travel adventures, this isn't it.

[Bonnie G. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really a 3.5 star read. This is good... occasionally great, but mostly good. I like adventure travel and I like reading about it. Cahill has had some truly exceptional experiences and he writes about them well. Some of these essays tell you not just about the events and experiences chronicled, but about humans and why we do what we do, and those stories are great. Others are just reports, which is fine but not enough in my eyes. That said, the cult infiltration and Jonestown stories alone are worth the price of admission. They are spectacular.

[David Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Wolverine Is Eating My Leg by Tim Cahill (Vintage Books 1989)(910.4). Though shelved under “Literary Travel,” Tim Cahill's trips are usually anything but a literary excursion. In this volume, he hangs out with Diane Fossey's gorillas, visits Jonestown, Guyana a few days after the mass suicide before everything had been swept clean by the authorities, spends time with Bigfoot researchers, and became the subject of search and rescue in Death Valley. The tales are engaging, but what they have to do with “Literary Travel” is beyond me. My rating: 7/10, finished 9/19/14.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

OK, I admit it. I'm a pushover for Cahill's adventure writing with a sense of humor. I am transported to whereever he goes-whether it be free base caving, into the jungle, on the quadruple diamond ultra ski slopes in Montana, the Mohave Desert, or in the Marquesas battling sand fleas and a spot on the weekly airplane.

This writing is good for the soul, really and truly and I think he is topnotch.