The Way of the Hermit - by Ken Smith (Paperback)

About the Book

Ken Smith has spent the past four decades in the Scottish Highlands. He lives alone, with no electricity or running water. His home is a log cabin nestled near Loch Treig, known as 'the lonely loch', where he lives off the land: he fishes for his supper, chops his own wood, and even brews his own tipple. He is, in the truest sense of the word, a hermit. For the first time, Ken shares the story of his life. From his working-class origins in Derbyshire, to the formative years he spent travelling in the Yukon and finally how he came to be the Hermit of Loch Treig. Looking back through decades of diary entries, Ken reflects upon the reasons he turned his back on society, the vulnerability of old age and the awe and wonder of a life lived in nature.

Book Synopsis

*INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER*

Subconsciously, I pressed myself into the loch's banks as that summer inched forward. We'd got off to a rocky beginning, but I started to see Treig in a different way. There was something about this land that told me just to hold on a while longer. It might've been just a whisper at the time, but I knew it was definitely worth heeding. I just knew that was it. This was the place.

Seventy-four-year-old Ken Smith has spent the past four decades in the Scottish Highlands. His home is a log cabin nestled near Loch Treig, known as "the lonely loch," where he lives off the land. He fishes for his supper, chops his own wood and even brews his own tipple. He is, in the truest sense of the word, a hermit.

From his working-class origins in Derbyshire, Ken always sensed that there was more ot life than an empty nine to five. Then one day in 1974, an attack from a group of drunken men left him for dead. Determined to change his prospects, Ken quit his job and spent his formative years traveling in the Yukon. It was here, in the vast wilderness of northwestern Canada, that he honed his survival skills and grew closer to nature. Returning to Britain, he continued his nomadic lifestyle, wandering north and living in huts until he finally reached Loch Treig. Ken decided to lay his roots amongst the dense woodland and Highland air, and has lived there ever since.

In The Way of the Hermit, Ken shares the remarkable story of his lfe for the very first time. Told with humor and compassion, his unique insights allow us to glimpse the awe and wonder of a life lived in nature and offer wisdom on how each of us can escape the pressures and stresses of modern life.

Review Quotes

"A rip-roaring read, filled with death-defying adventures -- fighting off grizzly bears; avoiding a charging bull moose; nearly freezing in an ice-encrusted tent... Smith is a good storyteller.[The Way of the Hermit] flows smoothly, with just enough of the vernacular to give it personality."--The Washington Post

"A rip-roaring read... [and] a love story to the mountains in the mist, the pulsating northern lights and the red deer at dawn. And to independence."--The Washington Post

"Moving...The Way of the Hermit feels qualitatively different from other hermit-related books... They are the basic stuff of existence, the point at which Smith makes daily, intimate contact with the natural world and his own human needs. His ability to appreciate them despite their repetitious quality is worthy of a zen monk... Few of us can say as much, and it feels like a blessing to have spent this time with someone who can."--Slate

"A Thoreauvian account of solitary life in the Scottish Highlands....[a] spry memoir....A delightful manual for would-be back-to-the-landers, if not hermits in training."--Kirkus