It was Jack London who taught every voracious young reader the temperature at which Saliva will freeze in mid air. This is, without question,- cool knowledge. To many people, he is simply remembered as that guy who wrote the book about the sled dog or the short stories about gold miners. Anyone who comes to London at this surface level will be richly rewarded with that most wonderful of simple pleasures: a good read. But the author does much more than merely spin a ripping yam. Jack was no hack.

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It was so cold that his spit froze in the air before it hit the ground. He was so far above the Arctic Circle that the sun never rose. Seventy below zero, and there was nothing but whiteness in every direction: ice and snow. No trees, no houses, no wood, no warmth.

He had only a few matches and a handful of frozen fingers. And yet, to survive, he had to build a fire Jack London"s tales of adventure are unsurpassed because London was there. From Alaska to the Yukon, from the Klondike to the Arctic tundra, London knew the outlaws and the wolves, the prospectors and the grizzlies. In these collected stories of man against the wilderness, London lays claim to the title of greatest outdoor adventure writer of all time.

INTRODUCTION

To BUILD A FIRE

LOVE OF LIFE

THE CHINAG0

TOLD IN THE. DROOLING WARD

THE MEXICAN

WAR

SOUTH OF THE SLOT

THE WATER BABY

ALL GOLD CANYON

KOOLAU THE LEPER

THE APOSTATE

MAUKI

AN ODYSSEY OF THE NORTH

A PIECE OF STERK

THE STRENGTH OF.THE STRONG

THE RED ONE

THE WIT OF PORPORTUK

THE GOD OF HIS FATHERS

IN A FAR COUNTRY

TO THE MAN ON TRAIL

THE WHITE SILENCE

THE LEAGUE OF THE OLD-MEN.

THE WISDOM OF THE TRAIL

BATARD

AFTERWORD

ABOUT THE AUTHOR