Feeding the Rat by Al Alvarez (2001)

A Climber’s Life on the Edge.

This is a biography of Mo Anthoine, a Fred Beckey-type who climbed all over the world and didn't manage to make much of a name for himself, because he saw it as entirely besides the point. My introduction to this work came from a Swedish climber we met dirtbagging in Joshua Tree, who had painted "Feed the rat!" on the the side of the beat-up sedan she was living out of. That tells you a lot, I think.

The author has some literary cred too - publishing in the New Yorker, etc.

145 pages. Paperback reprint with a new epilogue by the author. Low-quality b&w photographs throughout.