Friedman, unable to shake a lifetime practice of thinking before jumping, records her conversations with herself as she pulls farther and farther away from her cultural norm. Diving against her better judgment into a fast river in Kakadu National Park near Darwin, which may or may not harbor crocodiles, she makes it to ‘the other side.’ “I like backpacker me,” she journals. “She is easygoing. She talks less, listens more. She doesn’t wear a watch. “