Good Morning Midnight: Life and Death in the Wild

Johnny Waterman is a legend in Fairbanks, Alaska. Examining the life of his father, Guy Waterman, and his brothers and extended family gives an insightful analysis of their interactions, history and relationships. The book shows a keen understanding of the psychology of mountaineers and those who love the frontier and outdoors. It examines the connection of life and death, the connectin of hope with despair, and the internal conflicts of one man that eventually led to his taking his own life. Tragically, it also gives one insight as to the deaths of two of his three sons. What is unique about Mr. Brown's biography of Guy Waterman, is that he refuses to pathologize Guy Waterman. Instead, he paints him as a unique character, grand in his eccentricities and human frailties. He is a man connected to wilderness in a spiritual way yet remains existentially alone and unable to connect with his own children in any enduring way. For much of his life he remains estranged from them. This book is a page-turner, a psychological and philosophical thriller that had me mesmerized from beginning to end. I found Mr. Brown's grasp of Alaskan wilderness accurate. He knows Denali and the Ruth Glacier in a personal way. He respects the power of wilderness. I recommend this book to anyone interested in wilderness, memoirs, mountaineering, and psychological mystery.

This very artfully told tale was truly page turner for me. Thick with literary references, Brown's story of Guy Waterman reflects the complexity of a multi-talented individual, appreciated by many, but omniouly least of all by himself.I came away with a very strong feeling that Guy Waterman was truly a unique individual. His successes far outweighed his failures. But his ultimate failure was to recognize that hardmen mature into wisemen. Old Men of the Mountain types, who regale their friends and cohorts with lessons and values of challenging and living amongst the mountains. No matter how far flung the challenge, a mountaineer's ultimate objective is to return from his/her adventure to share the experience; the cold, the hard breathing, the colors, the wind and their intimate feelings of wonder or survival. Regretfully, Guy's inner-self, his demons, contested his own outwardly generous, steadfast and friendly personality. For me, Brown's story reacquainted me with several names and places familiar in mountaineering circles. It also cleard my long held confusion between John Waterman the highly acclaimed, albeit daring alpinist, Guy's son and Jonathan Waterman the prolific author of Alaskan mountaineering.HOWEVER, as an end note the publisher editorial and Author INCORRECTLY stated that Krakauer wrote about John Waterman. The book Into the Wild was the story of Chris McCandless, by J.Krakauer.

After just finishing the book I found myself wanting to write the author and thank him for letting the reader into another world, a very personal one, of a man who had experienced so much in the ways of life, love, and death. The book flows with it's constant references to Guy Waterman's own writings as well as great literary works. I felt a part of the waterman clan ,without intruding, after reading the book. It has been a long time since a book made anything so real with out being too heavy handed. The adventures are amazing, both in the outdoors and with the human emotions. A fantastically orchestrated work; Chip Brown has proved himself as an outdoorsman and writer.

As a resident of Fairbanks, Alaska, I am familiar with Johnny Waterman's legend. By exploring the lives of Guy Waterman and his family, this book provides a very insightful analysis of the family's history and relationships. The book shows a keen understanding of the psychology of mountaineers and those who love the frontier and outdoors. It examines the connection of life and death, the connection of hope with despair and the internal conflicts of one man that eventually led to his taking his own life. What is special about Mr. Brown's biography of Guy Waterman, is that he refuses to paint a picture of pathology. Instead he describes Mr. Waterman as unique and grand in all his eccentricities and human frailties. Here is a man who is connected to wilderness in a spiritual way yet remains existentially alone and unable to connect with his own children in an enduring way.This book is a page-turner, a psychological and philosophical thriller that had me mesmerized from beginning to end.I found Mr. Brown's grasp of Alaskan wilderness accurate. He knows Denali and the Ruth Glacier in a personal way. He respects the power of wilderness without impressing his ego on it. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves memoirs, wilderness and psychological mystery.

I could nitpick the psychological approach of the author...but really he does a great service to Guy Waterman's legacy. This is a powerful story ....that truly unearths existential questions for us all...about why we choose to live on the earth.....There are great morsels....beyond the more despairing parts...about how Guy and his wife Laura built their homestead ...which is inspiring....The stories about the premature deaths of his sons..are also depicted well, with grace and ..some adventure. I was touched by this story......This is a great book. I recommend it highly.