Herzog's disclaimer at the beginning is that the details of the book are *mostly* true, but more important to him than accuracy was capturing the 'essence' of something that he felt he came in contact with during his interactions with Hiroo Onoda. Onoda was a Japanese WWII guerilla fighter who held his station in the jungle in the Philippines almost 30 years after the war ended, believing all the while that the war was ongoing.

Let it be known that I come equipped with a very positive bias toward Werner Herzog. His films are actually hit or miss for me, but he has a unique, very subtle sense of humor that he infuses into everything (even Onoda's tale) and I am always interested in at least seeing his work and his perspective. I just feel like I really like the guy as a person. I'm so glad he exists.

That said, the story of Onoda and his comrades (who, no big spoiler, ultimately don't remain on the journey) is such compelling stranger-than-fiction stuff and the book is so short that I would recommend it to just about anyone. There are occasional stream-of-consciousness quasi philosophical bouts, but they are few and far between, and hey, that's just Herzog. If anything I wish these parts were a little more fleshed out as they feel kind of out of place in their current form. Overall a small complaint.