In this frank and witty memoir, Ken Ilgunas lays bare the existential
terror of graduating from the University of Buffalo with $32,000 of
student debt. Ilgunas set himself an ambitious mission: get out of debt
as quickly as possible. Inspired by the frugality and philosophy of
Henry David Thoreau, Ilgunas undertook a three-year transcontinental
journey, working in Alaska as a tour guide, garbage picker, and night
cook to pay off his student loans before hitchhiking home to New York.
Debt-free, Ilgunas then enrolled in a master's program at Duke
University, determined not to borrow against his future again. He used
the last of his savings to buy himself a used Econoline van and
outfitted it as his new dorm. The van, stationed in a campus parking
lot, would be more than an adventure--it would be his very own "Walden
on Wheels."
Freezing winters, near-discovery by campus police, and the constant
challenge of living in a confined space would test Ilgunas's limits and
resolve in the two years that followed. What had begun as a simple
mission would become an enlightening and life-changing social
experiment.
Walden on Wheels offers a spirited and pointed perspective on the
dilemma faced by those who seek an education but who also want to, as
Thoreau wrote, "live deep and suck out all the marrow of life."
