A natural storyteller, modest and good-humored, Wood tells it all as it really was: the exhilaration, the camaraderie, the constant hard work, the fears, the occasional terrors, the frequent boredom, the sexual frustration, the immense fatigue...and also the pride of being one of those determined few who, throughout the ages, have heroically challenged the awesome forces of nature for little reward but a spartan life.
These memoirs constitute an invaluable document of an extinct breed, as well as a moving portrait of a boy's coming-of-age, as Wood leaves his family and learns about the world and himself.