A Wild Idea

by Jonathan Franklin

Overview

In 1991, Doug Tompkins abandoned his comfortable life in San Francisco and flew 6,500 miles south to a shack in Patagonia. Instead of the Golden Gate Bridge, Tompkins stared out the window at Volcano Michinmahuida, blanketed in snow and prowled by mountain lions. Shielded by waterfalls and wilderness, the founder of such groundbreaking companies as Esprit and The North Face suddenly regretted the corporate capitalism from which he had profited from years. As a CEO he had caused much pollution and, “made things nobody needed.” Now, he declared, it was time to reverse the damage to the planet, and maybe even himself.

In A Wild Idea, award-winning journalist and bestselling author Jonathan Franklin tells the incredible true story of Douglas Tompkins, who became one of the primary founders of our modern conservation and land protection movement.

Piloting his small plane, Tompkins explored the uninhabited lands of Patagonia and gaped at the singular beauty: active volcanoes, forests never logged, rivers never dammed—all so undisturbed, so exquisitely designed.

Could he protect this wild beauty? For the ensuing quarter century, that dream— that obsession—became his life. Only in death did it become his legacy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062964120
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	08/10/2021
Pages:	368
Sales rank:	151,156
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.70(h) x 1.40(d)

About the Author

Jonathan Franklin is an investigative journalist who has reported for the New York Times, Boston Globe, and The Guardian. A native of Massachusetts, he resides in Santiago, Chile, with his wife and seven daughters, but often lives off the grid when writing his books.

Table of Contents

Author's Note xi

Part I

1 The Rucksack Revolution 3

2 Conquistadors of the Useless 27

3 The Snow Cave 41

4 Plain Jane Goes Mainstream 55

5 Esprit de Corp 77

Part II

6 Where Is My North? Flying South 103

7 Earth First! 113

8 Pioneer Village 131

9 Stalking Tigers in Siberia 141

10 Two Exotic Birds in a Strange Land 153

11 Salmon Wars 163

Part III

12 The Land of Shining Waters 181

13 Pumalín Park 195

14 In the Heart of Patagonia 211

15 The River Killers 227

16 Operation Musashi 241

17 River Keepers 251

Part IV

18 Puppet Shows for Parrots 267

19 The Route of Parks 281

20 Ambushed in Patagonia 291

21 Year 1 A.D.-After Doug 313

22 Islands in the Storm 327

Author's Note 337

List of Interviews 339

Suggested Reading 347

Acknowledgments 351

Editorial Reviews

08/30/2021

Journalist Franklin (438 Days) takes a look at the life and work of American businessman-turned-conservationist Doug Tompkins (1943–2015) in this accessible biography. Admitting that he’s “lived many years in awe of Doug Tompkins,” Franklin pays tribute to the North Face founder’s “love affair with the wild.” Franklin describes the office environment Tompkins helped to create during the 1970s and ’80s at Esprit headquarters in San Francisco: the company had a rooftop trampoline for fun, for instance, a sign of its eclectic work culture. Much of the account deals with Tompkins’s experiences in South America after he divorced and sold his stake in Esprit, netting him approximately $300 million. He donated to wildlife preservation groups and accumulated parcels of land in Chile and Argentina to establish national parks: “He bought entire valleys, purchased volcanoes, acquired stands of old-growth trees with substantial financial contributions from key allies in the U.S. and Europe,” Franklin writes. Franklin’s admiration for Tompkins is clear, though he gives fair play to the man’s many contradictions: “Tompkins was an environmentalist who drove a red Ferrari. A multimillionaire who preferred to sleep on a friend’s couch.” Readers who love stories of business mavericks will find much to savor. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

A WILD IDEA is an empowering and insightful story of an unbelievable life! A crescendo of action punctuated with a powerful message...A motivating saga of brilliance and extreme endurance. A must read, it offers life-changing lessons in gratitude, humility and resilience.” — Theresa Longo, Actress

"A WILD IDEA is a primer for rewilding your own mind. Jonathan Franklin has written an epic. It’s a book about what really counts in life. Nature and beauty are fundamental. Doug Tompkins battled to stop the bad and start the good. Franklin shows how Doug did both — deliciously and wickedly well. You’ll learn how to beat 70 to 1 odds. Via sizzling stories, A WILD IDEA documents this man’s odyssey in such a way you will surely investigate your own worldview. Who are you?" — Randy Hayes, Founder Rainforest Action Network, Executive Director Foundation Earth

"A WILD IDEA is a rollicking good read about the on-the-edge life of mountaineer, entrepreneur and earth saver Doug Tompkins. This comprehensive but never dull recounting of the founder and co-founder of North Face and Esprit camping and clothing brands and his late life struggle to live on and protect millions of acres of the world’s most stunning lands in the face of fierce opposition is the stuff of modern legend. But Franklin’s A Wild Idea is no hagiography. In exposing Tompkins flaws; his obsessions, ego, obstinacy and extreme risk taking (he died in a kayak accident in 2015) Franklin also illustrates how imperfect humans, with the right life partners, can transform the world.   Tompkins greatest legacy may be in proving how in saving the earth we’re really saving ourselves. Read A WILD IDEA and you might get the idea that hope is still a viable option." — David Helvarg, author of The Golden Shore and Rescue Warriors

“Doug Tompkins was always in search of great adventures and as A WILD IDEA brilliantly shows, our trip to the Siberian wilderness was off the charts!” — Tom Brokaw, author The Greatest Generation, NBC News Anchor

From the Publisher

Doug Tompkins was always in search of great adventures and as A WILD IDEA brilliantly shows, our trip to the Siberian wilderness was off the charts!

Tom Brokaw

"A WILD IDEA is a primer for rewilding your own mind. Jonathan Franklin has written an epic. It’s a book about what really counts in life. Nature and beauty are fundamental. Doug Tompkins battled to stop the bad and start the good. Franklin shows how Doug did both — deliciously and wickedly well. You’ll learn how to beat 70 to 1 odds. Via sizzling stories, A WILD IDEA documents this man’s odyssey in such a way you will surely investigate your own worldview. Who are you?"

Randy Hayes

"A WILD IDEA is a rollicking good read about the on-the-edge life of mountaineer, entrepreneur and earth saver Doug Tompkins. This comprehensive but never dull recounting of the founder and co-founder of North Face and Esprit camping and clothing brands and his late life struggle to live on and protect millions of acres of the world’s most stunning lands in the face of fierce opposition is the stuff of modern legend. But Franklin’s A Wild Idea is no hagiography. In exposing Tompkins flaws; his obsessions, ego, obstinacy and extreme risk taking (he died in a kayak accident in 2015) Franklin also illustrates how imperfect humans, with the right life partners, can transform the world.   Tompkins greatest legacy may be in proving how in saving the earth we’re really saving ourselves. Read A WILD IDEA and you might get the idea that hope is still a viable option."

David Helvarg

A WILD IDEA is an empowering and insightful story of an unbelievable life! A crescendo of action punctuated with a powerful message...A motivating saga of brilliance and extreme endurance. A must read, it offers life-changing lessons in gratitude, humility and resilience.

Theresa Longo

2021-06-16
Investigative reporter Franklin recounts the life of the free-spirited millionaire entrepreneur who used his fabulous wealth in the fight to save nature.

One constant in the epic life of North Face founder Doug Tompkins (1943-2015) was his enduring love of the outdoors. The son of a successful antiques dealer, he grew up in the countryside of Millbrook, New York (Timothy Leary was a neighbor), where he cultivated his love of the natural world. His contrarian ways eventually led to his expulsion from high school just weeks before graduation. Tompkins headed West, where he baled hay in Montana, raced Olympic skiers in the Rockies, and took up rock climbing in California. He also “hitchhiked by airplane throughout South America.” Tompkins ended up in San Francisco, where, by the mid-1960s, the skiing and climbing supplies business he started with the help of Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard suddenly began to boom. He was a charismatic businessman, and every one of his ventures after that—from his wife’s Plain Jane dress company to his own Esprit clothing brand—was successful. But his Midas touch never changed his passion for travel and adventure—e.g., flying his Cessna, sometimes with his family, but often, to the detriment of his marriage, solo. In the early 1990s, Tompkins bought property in southern Chile and fell in love with its pristine beauty. His outrage over the resource extraction–based nature of the Chilean government’s policies fueled his desire to protect the land. In the years that followed, he became an outspoken, sometimes reviled conservationist dedicated to using his fortune to transform thousands of acres of Patagonia into national parks. The great strengths of this timely, well-researched book lie not just in the author’s detailed characterization of Tompkins’ complex personality, but also in the celebration of his singularly dynamic crusade to save the environment.

A satisfyingly heartfelt tribute to a thoroughly remarkable man.

Kirkus Reviews