Commentary/review

De profundis clamavi ad te, Domine…

I have mixed feelings about this book, this international bestseller, this confession, this hiking in Sweden guidebook, this manifesto, this cookbook, this memoir, this … I don’t know.

It is my least favorite genre, starting with a confession about some profound mental and physical health distress, and family troubles. At the same time, I managed to finish it. Indeed, I learned a lot along the way. Apart from some attempts at Tree Stump philosophizing and some pretty strange stories, this book offers deeply practical knowledge about camping and survival. You will learn about a neighbor getting extremely angry at some boys playing tricks and switching off his Christmas tree lights (seriously though). Yet in the very same book, you will learn the differences between down and synthetic sleeping bags used over a longer period of time. You will also get a recipe for the perfect camping porridge (it certainly sounds delicious).

The book is lacking in good humor or attempts at seeing things in perspective. It is serious in the extreme. The philosophy of stoicism seems not to have reached Jämtland in any shape or form. The survival offered here is much different from, for example, the Scottish way.

This book’s authors are probably too serious for their own good yet they also offer great tips and ways of dealing with what can be described as deprivation, the state of need, touching upon different aspects of necessity, such as the necessity of privacy, freedom, space and some time to breathe.

I was not able to reach the PDF supplement to this book.

I am not sure if this book is suitable to all readers and whether it should (or even could) be recommended. It is very odd.

The book has a very nice cover though, really beautiful. How easy to make a simple audiobook cover with a great effect. Just use a good photo.

Cover Photo by Noah Holm on Unsplash