Book Serendipity
I first heard about Jack London when I was reading the book Into The Wild—I wrote a blog post about it over here https://jcornejo.com/2025/10/18/re-into-the-wild-by-jon-krakauer/ —since then, I’ve been curious about reading stories from Jack London. Finding this book wasn’t an easy task. I didn’t want to buy it online; I wanted to find it in person at a bookstore.
When I was still living in Santa Cruz, I found a version of this book in a modern format—that book has more spacing between written lines, and the font size is larger, making its overall size bigger and heavier—at the vintage bookstore “BAD ANIMAL https://www.badanimalbooks.com/books”, which is also an authentic restaurant. Anyways, the book I found there was too big, so I didn’t buy it there.
A few months later, I moved to San Diego, and it was nearby, while exploring Encinitas, that I found a little rare&used bookstore “Artifact Rare Books.” https://artifactrarebooks.com/, which had that copy of Jack London in a pocket size format! The best part is that I entered that bookstore without thinking of looking for this specific book; it just happened that it was on display on one of the shelves—truly a book serendipity moment!
Jack London Short Stories
Jack London was a real adventure individual, and his written stories are fruit from all his travel experiences—from building his own boat to sail around the world, to riding freight trains across the U.S. His life story is very interesting and inspiring. There is a park in San Francisco in his memory—I haven’t been there yet—and on this website you will find more information about it https://jacklondonpark.com/jack-london-biography/
Which stories do I like the most from this book?
- To Build A Fire
- Lost Face
- A piece of Steak
- Law of Life
Each of those stories has resonated with me in one way or another. It sparked some deep thoughts that I’ve tried to express below, although it is not a complete transcript of what’s going through my mind, I hope that it gives some clues about where my mind is at.
To Build A Fire
Normally, there is a good amount of mistakes that we can afford; however, there are a few that will lead us to significant hardships. In some cases, it can be the difference between life and death. Our ego will most likely be one of the culprits of taking us down such a dangerous path of no return.
Panicking and exhaustion are other potential candidates that can throw us into some deep holes if we don’t manage them well. The best remedy for those symptoms is to stay calm, which doesn’t necessarily mean being passive. In some circumstances, speed of action is necessary, while at the same time remaining calm, knowing what one is doing to keep a given situation under control.
I understand that unsolicited advice is normally not well-received, and it is easy to discard it. However, they might be well-sounded and probably worthy to examine such advice, as they might be of good use. It’d be important to also analyze the intention of the person giving such advice, and we should ask that firsthand ourselves before judging or jumping into assumptions.
Lost Face
Even in the worst situation, there are choices to make the most of them. Knowing how to read the room and adapt and be fluid will get you way further than staying fixated in your inner world. Thinking outside the box is a skill that is hard to acquire — it demands critical thinking and constant refinement. One of the best ways I’ve found to get better at thinking out of the box is putting myself into situations out of my comfort zone. In those situations, I like to observe my surroundings, and that naturally plants new seeds of ideas in my mind.
I’ve met people who are remarkably good at quickly coming up with ideas that turn what could have been a stressful situation into something manageable, and other times turn boring situations into enjoyable experiences. The idea here is to be open-minded and to know how to differentiate between what is in our control and what is not.
A Piece of Steak
I was once younger than now with so much energy that I could go on and on. Now that I am about to turn 40, I need to think more strategically about how I spend my energy throughout the day. That realization is a humbling one; however, the key is again adapting to this nonstop journey of time. My strengths at this age are different from those they were in my 20s, and they will be different from what they will be in my 50s and 80s. So, in every period of life, we need to play with our best strength for that period of time.
I recently started to play tennis with someone who is 16 years younger than me. I learned that my best strategy to keep up with him is to minimize bursts of energy, focus on good positioning, and return the ball rather than pulling out all my power on every hit.
Law of Life
Eventually, we are all going to die–our beloved ones, our friends, people we met once, and people we never met. That’s part of life, and we as human beings have the unique advantage of being aware of our own mortality. Whatever we do in our lifetime, it will most likely remain within our own lifetime–maybe it will make it in the one or two generations after ours. Having this perspective on life is what keeps me grounded.
Turning 40 has allowed me to observe how older generations have changed in these 40 years, and also how I’ve changed myself. We only have so much time. Are we living for ourselves, or are we living for someone else?
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