Glad you brought him up. I learned about him reading his book about solo sailing around the world in a 31 foot boat. Good read even if you aren't interested in sailing. Free ebook here: http://www.arachnoid.com/sailbook/
It's been a while, but perhaps he's on his boat.
His work is well worth exploring.
I'm left wondering why I wrote this... "meta" comment. I guess because some of this insight and excellence seems to benefit from if not require a certain independence of spirit and perhaps a corresponding sense of perspective.