Jack London asks Clemens to write his biography, but Clemens urges London to go to Alaska and write about his own exploits. Of course, London did go to Alaska and become a very successful author, but he also became an alcoholic and morphine addict along the way, dying at age 40, though there's no guarantee London wouldn't have suffered the same fate had he stayed in San Francisco — and at least wrote some of the most classic American literature while up there.
