7 Oct 2026
Episode 2: Adventurer, Activist, Advocate
John Hill is this week's guest on Your Last Great Read.
John is a fascinating person. I first got to know John through family connections, and someone who I discovered loved adventures on his bicycle. That's something I certainly appreciate.
But over the past 10 years or so, I have learned that there is a lot more to this man. He is extremely active in our local community – and our global community. He believes in service to both his neighbor next door and his neighbor halfway around the world.
His choice of books certainly reflects his passions. He offered two suggestions.
The first is "Undaunted Courage" by Stephen Ambrose. This 1996 biography of Meriwether Lewis of the Lewis and Clark Expedition is based on the journals and letters writing by William Clark, Thomas Jefferson, Meriwether Lewis, and the members of the Corps of Discovery.
His second book is a more familiar one: Walk In The Woods. This book, published in 1998, is written by Bill Bryson, and chronicles his through-hike attempt of the Appalachian Trail with is pal Matt Angerer. You may recall, this book was turned into a film starring Nick Nolte and (my favorite actor) Robert Redford.
During the introduction, I mention the list of eight books he considered discussing during the episode. We did not have time to discuss each of them.
Here is the list:
Undaunted Courage (Stephen Ambrose) - a 1996 biography of Merwether Lewis of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The book is based on journals and letters written by Lewis, William Clark, Thomas Jefferson and the members of the Corps of Discovery.
The Wager (David Grann) - Set in the 1740s, this is the story of the treacherous journey of six English warships, the Wager among them, with the secret mission of capturing Spanish silver and gold near the tip of South America. While rounding Cape Horn, and battling an outbreak of scurvy, the weather conditions turned atrocious, and the Wager became separated from the rest of the squadron. Shipwrecked on a desolate island, the surviving crew struggled against the elements, splitting into two groups: one that mutinied against their captain, David Cheap, and a smaller group that remained loyal to him.
Killers of the Flower Moon (David Grann) - Oil was found on the Osage reservation, and made the Osage people the richest people per capita in the world in the 1920s. White local con men orchestrated these killings to steal oil headrights and inheritance money.
The White Darkness (David Grann) - In 2008, Henry Worley set out across Antarctica with two other descendants of Shackleton's crew, battling the freezing, desolate landscape, life-threatening physical exhaustion, and hidden crevasses. On November 13, 2015, at age 55, Worsley bid farewell to his family and embarked on his most perilous quest: to walk across Antarctica alone.
Annals of the Former World (John McPhee) - A 4.6-billion-year geological history of North America; McPhee traces a cross-section of the North American continent roughly along Interstate 80 and the 40th parallel, stretching from New York to California.
The Frontiersman (Allen Eckert) - This dramatic historical narrative chronicles the epic, violent struggle for control of the American frontier in the Ohio Valley and Northwest Territory from the mid-18th century through the War of 1812.
Grandma Gatewood's Walk (Ben Montgomery) - The true story of 67-year-old great-grandmother Emma "Grandma" Gatewood, who became the first woman to solo thru-hike the Appalachian Trail in 1955.
Walk in the Woods (Bill Bryson) - A 1998 travel book by the writer Bill Bryson, chronicling his attempt to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail during the spring and summer of 1996. For much of his journey, Bryson was accompanied by his friend Matt Angerer (pseudonymously called “Stephen Katz” in the book.
