Publishers Weekly
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.)
From the Publisher
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
Tom Brokaw
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!
Randy Hayes
"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?"
David Helvarg
"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."
Theresa Longo
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.
Kirkus Reviews
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.
