Adventure writer Tim Cahill on fear, and what it’s like to be dead for ten minutes

“I think fear comes out of ignorance.” – Tim Cahill

Tim Cahill is a journalist, author, and pioneering travel writer.

In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Tim discuss hooking the reader from the first line of a story (2:15); the start of Tim’s career and his early experiences in journalism (8:50); travel writing in the 1970s, and the evolution of travel writing (16:30); his relationship with risk and fear (24:00); his brush with death in the Grand Canyon (36:45); and how his connection with walking and travel has changed as he has aged (51:00).

For more from Tim, check out his Rolling Stone and Outside archives, or his 2004 Q&A with Rolf.

Mentioned writing by Tim Cahill

• In the Valley of the Shadow of Death: Guyana After the Jonestown Massacre, by Tim Cahill (article)
• The Shame of Escobilla, by Tim Cahill (article)
• My Drowning (and other Inconveniences), by Tim Cahill (article)
• Buried Dreams: Inside the Mind of John Wayne Gacy, by Tim Cahill (book)
• Pecked to Death by Ducks, by Tim Cahill (book)
• A Wolverine is Eating my Leg, by Tim Cahill (book)
• Hold the Enlightenment, by Tim Cahill (book)
• Jaguars Ripped my Flesh, by Tim Cahill (book)
• Pass the Butterworms, by Tim Cahill (book)
• Road Fever, by Tim Cahill (book)

Other notable links

• Outside Magazine (publication)
• Gonzo Journalism (style of journalism)
• In medias res (narrative technique)
• Walt Whitman (poet and essayist)
• Ernest Hemingway (author)
• Emily Dickinson (poet)
• Mark Twain (author)
• Bill Cardoso (journalist)
• Queen Charlotte Islands (i.e., Haida Gwaii)
• Lava Falls (Grand Canyon rapids)
• Paleface v. Redskin (American literary dichotomy)

The Deviate theme music comes from the title track of Cedar Van Tassel’s 2017 album Lumber.

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