"I would rather be a superb meteor, and that each of my atoms shines with a magnificent brilliance, rather than a sleeping planet," Jack London commented. "The proper function of man is to live, not to exist." With 400 illustrations, this is a worthy tribute to the author of The Call of the Wild and White Fang, the last great voice of the American frontier. Looking back on a restless life that spanned just 40 years, this biography finds London riding the rails, pirating oysters, shoveling coal, and joining the Gold Rush, staying on the go while maintaining a lifelong "1,000 words a day habit."