Adventure Author Goes "Astray" with Humorous Commentary

Williams says people often ask him why he chooses to spend weeks and months alone, enduring harsh weather and the discomforts of small boat travel. In response, he often explains the powerful appeal of simple, elemental living and his disdain for the pursuit of financial security and material possessions. Williams credits Henry David Thoreau’s Walden as one of his single greatest inspirations, and after re-reading this timeless classic of the mid-1800s while back in college at the age of twenty-five, Williams decided to follow Thoreau’s example and go to the woods. He subsequently sold all his possessions, said good-bye to family and friends, and paddled away to the south on an open-ended journey to the Caribbean that lasted nearly two years.

After that journey and many more that followed, Williams again thought of Thoreau and how his writing conveyed a great satisfaction in being free of the mundane existence of his peers: the townsfolk back in nearby Concord. Thoreau explained how he lived on a few dollars a year and that to earn his living he only needed to work on rare occasions at various odd-jobs. Taking a look at his own peers, modern American society at large, Williams has put together a collection of observations and commentaries about the high-speed lifestyle most of us are swept up in. Astray of the Herd: Observations, Commentaries and Rants from Outside the Mainstream is an examination of seventy-five relevant topics that pervade what Williams calls the “herd-like” mentality most people accept as the way life should be lived. The commentaries are presented with logical arguments and plenty of subtle humor, and are arranged in the form of associational chaining as Williams interweaves them into a loose narrative of his Caribbean kayak journey. He addresses material objects and technologies, as well as the concepts and beliefs he associates with the herd; ranging from SUVs, computers and cell phones to fear, political correctness, and retirement.

In addition to Astray of the Herd: Observations, Commentaries and Rants from Outside the Mainstream, Scott B. Williams is the author of: Exploring Coastal Mississippi: A Guide to the Marine Waters and Islands, On Island Time: Kayaking the Caribbean, and co-authored with Ernest Herndon: Paddling the Pascagoula: The Last Wild River.

Astray of the Herd: Observations, Commentaries and Rants from Outside the Mainstream, by Scott B. Williams, Lulu Press, Inc., February, 2005, ISBN 1-4116-2234-0 is now available. For more information visit: http://www.scottbwilliams.com