Trivia

He joined the army at age 17, and tested missiles in the New Mexico desert.

He grew up in Thief River Falls, Minnesota.

Paulsen was critical of technology and has been called a Luddite.

Before becoming a full-time writer, he was a satellite technician, construction worker, ranch hand, truck driver, and magazine editor. He worked as a trapper, rode a motorcycle from Texas to Alaska, and raced in the Iditarod three times.

Paulsen was an outdoorsman (a specialist in hunting and trapping), and maintained a 40-acre (160,000 m2) land lot in the north of Willow, Alaska, where he bred and trained sled dogs.