Book Description
To live in a pristine land . . . roam the wilderness . . . build a home. . . . Thousands have had such dreams, but Richard Proenneke lived them. Here is a tribute to a man who carved his masterpiece out of the beyond.
Customer Reviews:
True to the man.......2007-09-29
Ten years ago I spent a summer volunteering for the National Park Service at Lake Clark National Park and Preserve, in Alaska. My remote rangers cabin was located at Twin Lakes. Being on the lower lake, I was about 9 miles from my nearest neighbor- Dick. We spoke daily on our walkie-talkies, checking in about the weather, any visitors, or interesting wildlife viewings. I trekked up his way several times over the summer, and enjoyed a few meals with him. I can't remember if it's in his book, but his favorite sandwich was the "Twin Lakes Special": sourdough flapjaks, raw onion, and honey; don't knock it 'til ya try it! Just like his book, he was a gracious, thoughtful man, a true naturalist. Also the most spry 82-year-old I think I'd ever seen! I was saddened to hear of his death several years ago, and was grateful the NPS kept his cabin as a historical site; it is a cozy place, dark inside, smelling faintly of woodsmoke and 1948 sourdough starter, with wonderful decorative touches throughout. Dick was truly a special person, and this book captures his voice, his no-nonsense manner of talking, as well as his appreciation of the beauty of the natural world, perfectly.
A modern day "Thoreau".......2007-09-16
You cannot visit Alaska without reading this book FIRST! Just the photography alone will make you want to go. I dentify in many ways with Dick as I lived in a cabin in the White Mountains of NH for many years. He didn't intrude on nature...he simply lived in harmony with it. He appeals to all of your senses in his simple but beautifully written words, never mind the pictures. He is definitely portrayed as a "loner" but that is a good thing..for a loner has much higher self esteem and sense of character than those who can't survive in the world without people around them all the time. Dick is a true steward of the land because of his deep, abiding love and connection for this piece of God's Creation. His beautifully chronicled life in Alaska will remind you of Robert Frost's words.."We love the things we love for what they are." Enjoy!
Just as Good the Second Time.......2007-09-12
I was telling my husband about this book as I started reading it. He said, "Don't you remember, we read that many years ago when Alaska Magazine published it"? I knew that Babe, the pilot, seemed familiar. It didn't matter. I was happy to read it a second time which is unusual for me. Oh, how I would have loved to have been able to do what Mr. Proenneke did and to live where he lived. There is nothing dull about this book and I suspect the people who find it dull haven't any interest in living in the wilderness without Blackberries, i-pods, automobiles and restaurants.
Even though most of us who enjoyed the book probably don't begin to have the skills that Richard Proenneke had which made what he did possible (and a pilot friend who delivered for free) I think we all wish we could do what he did. I know I do. I didn't realize that a sequel exists. It costs big bucks, but if it's anything close to as interesting as this book, it's worth it. Maybe I'll find out if the Mission Girls ever showed-up.
Homesteading in Alaska.......2007-08-16
The year was 1968. The setting, the Alaskan bush. The mission, to live simply, deliberately, and self-sufficiently off the land, free of the trappings of contemporary society. The protagonist, clearly not what you might expect given the era. He was not some young, free spirited hippie, luddite, or draft dodger. Rather, he was a skilled hard working machinist/woodsman, who at age 51 decided to permanently leave the rat race behind.
Why this man, Dick Prenacke, suddenly left behind his conventional existence to live in a remote and unforgiving section of Alaska is never fully explored in the book. While snippets do reveal his distain for modernity, it never fully embellishes on what ultimately drove the author to do what few would ever conceive of doing. Perhaps Dick realized that at 51, the physical and physiological fortitude required to make such a transition would soon be out of his reach. More likely however, he foresaw the end of an era. No more than a few years after his departure into the wild, Alaska would enact laws prohibiting trappers and homesteaders from freely trudging off into the woods to live the quintessential "Alaskan experience." Soon Alaska would become like the rest of the lower 48, where people like Dick would be considered trespassers and evicted from any land that they did not rightfully own. Fortunately for the author, the laws were grand fathered in.
While the book is essentially a personal account of Alaskan homesteading, the author episodically weaves social commentary into his writings. He laments a society that is wasteful and superficial. The hunters that come into his Alaska, products of such a society, leave garbage and animal meat behind, unaware that the author cleans up after as well as makes use of their squander.
The author also reveals his anxiety for a society that is increasingly consumed by materialism. He feels that man is entrapped by things that he doesn't need and he seeks to avoid the superfluous at all costs. To the outsider, surviving in the wilds of Alaska would seem to require an extravagant amount of equipment and gear. One can only imagine the bill the average suburbanite would amass at the local REI in preparation for such an endeavor. Yet the author demonstrates just how little is required to not only to survive but also to prosper in such an inhospitable region.
The book closes with some thoughts on technology, and the rapidity of change that comes with it. The author's words are both haunting and prescient as he elaborates on his first year in Alaska and how his experience conflicts greatly with society at large.
inspiring.......2007-07-14
Inspiring book. Diarist was over 50 when he began this journey. Helps me look to the future for myself.
Average customer rating:
- Pribilof Island Experience
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Libby: The Alaskan Diaries and Letters of Libby Beaman, 1879-1880
Betty John
Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0395493250 |
Customer Reviews:
Pribilof Island Experience.......2006-10-29
What a wonderful book! Libby Beaman accompanied her husband to the Pribilof Islands (1879-1880). One hundred years later, her granddaughter gathered her journal, sketchbook and letters together to form this book of Beaman's experiences in that remote outpost. At the worst, they spent seven weeks snowbound by severe storms with limited food and 40 below zero temperatures outside. At times they had to stay in bed all day trying to keep warm. Starvation threatened their lives and she almost died from that and from scurvy.
Libby's accounts of daily life, of the fur trade, people and conversations and of nature form a remarkable picture of a long-ago life.
Customer Reviews:
An education on the Inside Passage.......2000-10-06
What a great account of cruising the Inside Passage from Seattle to Alaska from a fisherman who has been there and done that! It is a book I could not put down. You get an education on the cruising challenges, the weather, the fishing industry and breathtaking beauty of the Area. Joe Upton's experience from a small boat is nature in your face and will keep you on the edge of your seat. The book is full of great pictures and maps showing Joe's cruising routes during his 7 month season of fishing. This book gave me an education on what to expect cruising the Inside Passage which I want to do someday in a small boat. Anyone who wants to know more about the Inland Waters will love this book. Someday a movie will have to be made about this true story. Thank-you Joe for writting this book... it is a classic of history.
Very real!.......1999-10-26
Easy to read and to get 'involved in the story'. I have fished many of the areas described and the author is very accurate. Great reading if you have spent any time in Alaska.
Preping for Travel.......1999-04-25
We are preparing to Experience the Inside Passage during the summer of 1999. This will be our first trip. We wanted to read a book that would give us an idea of history, and what to expect on this first trip. This book is excellent on preparing one for a trip to this magestic country. Not only do you learn about the fishing industry, you learn about history, the summer weather, how residents survive in this country, its wildlife and senery. The maps in the book and their description of travel through the many inside passages is great and we now have a much better idea of what to expect when we arrive.
Certainly worth reading if you have an interest in the coast line from Seattle to Skageway.
Gary Beach
A beautifully detailed and illustrated fisherman's diary........1999-03-09
Joe Upton has a way with words and pictures that captures the changing, and often savage, beauty of the Southeast Coast of Alaska. Follow the daily adventures of the author, his wife and a dog as they ply the Alaskan salmon trade in a 32' boat from Seattle to Scagway and back. Beautifully illustrated with the authors own photos and maps its a must read for anyone who loves Alaska, the sea, boats or fishing. We had the good fortune of meeting and dining with the author in l998,(he now writes travel books), while on a cruise of the inside passage. We quickly became a fan of Joe and have devoured all three of his books. I just wish that I had read this book before the cruise. It would have made the trip all that more enjoyable.
Average customer rating:
- Charming true story of an adventurous family.
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Lunch at Toad River: Moving to Alaska
Sally Lesh
Manufacturer: Point Adolphus Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0970876904 |
Customer Reviews:
Charming true story of an adventurous family........2006-03-05
With grace and humor, Sally Lesh deftly describes the true tale of a n east coast family who gives it all up to pursue authentic, frontier living in the wilds of Alaska. The author reflects with sharp wit on the joys and tribulations of traveling across country with 8 children in a school bus -- never giving up her 5:00 cocktail -- in pursuit of their dream of starting a new life in Alaska.
Average customer rating:
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Exploring the Unknown: Historic Diaries of Bradford Washburn's Alaska/Yukon Expeditions
Dr. Bradford Washburn
Manufacturer: Epicenter Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0945397968 |
Book Description
Alaska and the Yukon. Cold. Mysterious. Distant. Imagine how empty and forbidding the region seemed in the 1930s when Bradford Washburn began a series of exploratory expeditions. With its glorious black-and-white, large-format photographs, Exploring the Unknown contains previously unpublished diaries kept during Washburn's 1934 first-ascent climb of Alaska's Mt. Crillon; the 1935 National Geographic Society-sponsored exploration of wilderness sections of Canada's Yukon; and the 1951 climb of Mt. McKinley's West Buttress.
Customer Reviews:
Ultimate Truth Revealed.......2002-06-13
Everyone experinces in their life moments of truth. It is in these times we come to understand and realize the ultimate reality and grounding for ourselves and everything around us. Though not very long, Merton's journal entries spill out the sacramental truth he saw in Alaska. God spoke to Merton through everything around him during his stay in Alaska - the people, trees, water, mountains, etc. And in turn it pours back out of Merton in his talks and conferences. Very few things in this world we can be sure of. But the truth is never wrong and never changes - this book reveals a little slice of the Great Center which we all seek to draw near to.
Amazon.com
More adventure books should be like this. In a genre rife with overbearing machismo and braggadocio, this book, originally published in 1907, is a refreshing and at times hilarious take on exploration. Robert Dunn reveals the bickering and frayed nerves, petty insecurities and trivial jealousies that existed alongside the courage, discipline, and determination exhibited by each member of the 1903 expedition that attempted the first ascent of Alaska's Mt. McKinley, the highest mountain in North America. Without downplaying the difficulty of the task, Dunn's honest assessments of the men involved reveals the complex motivations for undertaking arduous exploration and the human weaknesses that are revealed in the process.
The group was led by Frederick Cook (who was later shamed for faking a discovery of the North Pole); Dunn served as the group geologist and second-in-command. He was also an aspiring journalist, and true to his muckraking roots, he makes no apologies for his brutally frank and often unflattering depiction of the party and events. "To distort or hide, in deference to any custom, or so-called sense of pride or honor, simply is to lie." His companions undoubtedly would have appreciated less sincerity, but readers will find his unflinching accuracy most appealing. For instance, he writes of Cook: "I cannot believe he has imagination; of a leader's qualities he has shown not one." Or a possibly worse fault: "He doesn't smoke, and that makes me uncomfortable...." He also dispenses witty advice: "The reason this Diary seems so good-humored, is because it's always written after eating. Never write a field journal on an empty stomach."
Though the experience was often hellish, Dunn can't help but focus on its heavenly rewards upon conclusion, wondering: "Shall I ever return to so glorious a land, to such happiness?" With that line, as with the entire book, he brilliantly and stylishly captures the inherent paradoxes that lie at the core of exploration. --Shawn Carkonen
Book Description
In 1903, aspiring journalist Robert Dunn joined an expedition attempting the first ascent of Mt. McKinley, the highest mountain in North America. Led by explorer Frederick Cook (who would later win infamy for faking the discovery of the North Pole), the climbers failed to conquer McKinley, but they did circumnavigate the great peak—an accomplishment not repeated until 1978. The trek also spawned a book unique in the literature of exploration: Dunn’s frank, sardonic, no-holds-barred look at day-to-day existence on an Alaskan expedition.
Before Dunn, most such accounts were sanitized and expurgated of anything unflattering. Dunn, however, a protégé of the muckraker Lincoln Steffens, endeavored to report what he saw, with panache. And what Dunn reported was a journey rife with conflict, missed opportunity, incompetence, privation, and danger. By showing men reduced to their rawest state, the young journalist produced a compelling, insightful, and oddly amusing book that disturbed and riveted his contemporaries. As Hudson Stuck—the Episcopal archdeacon of the Yukon who completed the first ascent of Mt. McKinley in 1913—observed, “[Dunn’s] book has a curious undeniable power, despite its brutal frankness. . . . One is thankful, however, that it is unique in the literature of travel.”
Customer Reviews:
Brilliant insights from a master.......2002-04-30
Dunn takes the cake from the grave! While the Crook Society scrambles to promote the old faker Dr. Cook, and Bryce tries to sue Washburn for his book about the McKinley fraud we have Dunn's magnificent work back in print.
Skip the modern intro (how ridiculous!) as Dunn's razor sharp writing needs nothing added. Was Cook a fake? Of course! And far worse than that - he is seen here as a sociopath, a failure, a miserable little worm who couldn't lead a horse to water.
It is wonderful that publishers are putting books back in print such as this one, or the Denali (Deception, etc.) triple reprint. In addition to this group we now have Washburn's brilliant images that say more in a few photos than Bryce did in 100 pages.
A fascinating study of an expedition gone to [junk], by the man who taught everyone else how to "tell it like it is".
Predecessor to Into Thin Air.......2002-01-22
If you've read Krakauer's "Into Thin Air" you can only come away from reading "The Shameless Diary...." thinking how it must have been the model for the frankness and criticism he wrote of himself and his fellow climbers in his blockbuster Everest disaster story. Besides the no holds bared frankness of the author's daily reflections of the events of this expedition the reader is let into the authors inner mind as well as the levels of, what can only be considered, animal brutality required to actually complete such a journey, and, which could have only been common, yet previously unexposed, to all such expeditions of it's age.
Throughout the reading I was constantly contemplating how I could have stood up to the rawness of nature that these men withstood. My own meager climbs of the major peaks of the White Mountains of Vermont, and the high peaks of the Adirondacks and Catskill Mountains of New York all paled in comparison to what these men accomplished during any one day of this expedition. A recent winter day hike to Windham High Peak, NY now seems like a child's day in the sun in reflection.
This is the sort of book that forces one to be constantly making those sorts of comparisons.
Average customer rating:
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Alaska 2007 Wall Calendar
Fred Hirschmann
Manufacturer: Graphic Arts Center Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Calendar
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Alaska by Cruise Ship: The Complete Guide to Cruising Alaska with Giant Pull-out Map (5th Edition)
ASIN: 0882406221 |
Book Description
Stunning images from some of the country's top, award-winning photographers make up the signature State Calendar Series from Graphic Arts Center Publishing Company. Coupled with updated grid styles and features like extra space for notes and four-month planning grids, our state and specialty calendars are not just organizational tools, but works of art for any season.
Special features: 12 7/8" x 12 7/8" * Shrink-wrapped with hidden stiffener * Award-winning photography * Space for notes each month * Bonus photography and 4-month planning grids.
Customer Reviews:
Alaska calendar 2007.......2006-08-28
I have been buying the annual edition of Fred Hirschmann's calendar for over 20 year. This is the usual excellent production that you get each year. Get your copy before they run out
Average customer rating:
- Great humor and insights
- travels with samantha
- Well written and well worth reading
- disapointed about the print quality and number of pictures
- Entertaining read, interesting photography
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Travels with Samantha
Philip Greenspun
Manufacturer: ArsDigita Press
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ASIN: 1588750019 |
Book Description
This book is about the summer I spent seeing North America, meeting North Americans, and trying to figure out how people live, writes Greenspun after losing his companion. Youll come face to face with examples of the stunning ethnic, scenic, and cultural richness of the continent. Meet both sides of the language war in Montreal, bored youths in the Midwest, North Dakota Harley riders, struggling single mothers in the Yukon, and free spirits in Alaska. Join Greenspun as he travels up the spine of the Rocky Mountains into Canada and then up the Alaska Highway. Splash down in a float plane and spend a week with bears.
Customer Reviews:
Great humor and insights.......2006-06-09
I enjoyed this book and felt like I was traveling with the author to areas of the U.S. in which I've never traveled.
travels with samantha.......2006-03-27
I first discovered the online version of this book while surfing the photo.net web site for tips and advices from the experts to improve my photographic skills. Before I could finish with the first chapter, my eyes were full of tears of pain and sorrow and my heart was full of sympathy and regrets. I became obsessively driven to finish the book to understand how a MIT super computer geek (pardon the vernacular)could have so much insight and impressive ability to comprehend the importance of observations and art of conversations. I was richly rewarded from a fresh look at a society that I have called home for the last twenty years. Dr. Greenspun dispelled all my cultural myths and shattered many my incorrect sterotypes of how people live and play in this country and in Canada. In his self-imposed mostly lone cross-country oddesy, Dr. Greenspun began to explore his old emotional wounds, visit former lovers and super geeky friends. Instead, he discovered many more unexpected yet wonderful treasures:the warmth and genuine welcome from total strangers on the road, the unimaginable natural beauty, and the importance of family and happiness. He shared with his readers some of the most simple and important lessons of life :"Professors would spend 10 years in school, then 7 years working feverishly, then get crushed when denied tenure. Scientists would spend 30 years trying to really accomplish something, but end up with only a stack of obscure paper in unread journals. Women clawed their way to moderately lucrative middle-management postions but found their career flattening out just as their child-bearing years drew to a close...Nonetheless, I knew precious few "academic and professional strivers" who seemed as happy as Lurel and Eric..." (Page 352) To strive for noble goals of professional accomplishment and greatness sometimes obscured the view of the BIG PICTURE: to be happy is to follow the same rule that has made people happy for thounds of years, namely their family and religion. I cried when his beloved companion George was in the intensive care unit (I am not a dog lover per se), laughed when he hiked to Yellowstone National Park with a ton of camera and lenses on his back(Do you really need all that heavy equipment to take some great photos?), smiled when he visited his college sweet heart(mixed emotions of longing and sweetness), cringed when his prized photographic slides were stolen(watch out for inner city crimes every where in USA!), puzzled when he attended "congregation" in Alaska (New Age religion in Alaska?), shocked when he encountered a German girl who washed his cooler and all the Tupperware containers (I cannot even get my wife to do the dishes), surprised when his super geeky friend Joel has not chaged since college (how many people do you know do not own a TV?), and finally I re-read all the beautiful passages of his conversations with people from all walks of life, full of various yet interesting view points and humor. I learned more about lives, dreams and hopes of ordinary citizens from this book than I have lived this nation the past twenty plus years. To paraphase the great French author and essay writer Michel de Montaigne in 1568, "from the things that are evident and known to all from experience-from the creatures and nature of Man, by which, and from what he knows of himself, it proves what seeks to prove, mainly from what each man has assyed of himself." The introspective examination revealed the univeral and undeniable truth: in mists of urban chaos, traffic congestions, random gun violence, air, land and water pollutions, repressive ignorance and indifference there are beauty and tranquility found every where you look:Boston, Montreal, Ottawa, Minnesota, Yellowstone, Montana, Canadian Rockies, Edmonton, Alaska, Vancouver, Seattle, Porland, Colorado, and even MIT! Dr. Greenspun has an unique and intelligent way of caputre his subject matters with his camera and displayed them spendidly as photographs to enhance readers' pleasure. I am a great lover of photography, and can recommend this book just on the high quality of the photographs alone. Even if you have no desire to read a word of Dr.Greenspun's book, I belive you will enjoy all the stunning and unbelievable photos. Comparing with the online version of the photographs, the color and contrast of the photographs would inspire and propel you to visit the locals yourself. Due to Dr. Greenspun's book, I have set aside a loyal sum of money to visit Alaska to photograph wild bears and other wonderful advantures. How exciting would it be to breath the air of Colorado Rockies, listen to the sound of mountain springs in the Yellow Stone, eyewitness the starry night sky of Alaska, smell the wild flowers of Montana, eat the home-made-soup of truck stops of the interstate highways, visit great art museums of Boston and Philpelphia, and most importantly a journey of self-discovery....I treasure this book with all my heart; something viseral and emotional unexplainable with words. Perhaps a great sense of pride and belonging. Perhaps a slight sense of comfort and understanding. Perhaps a wonderful peek at other peoples' inner lives. Perhaps this book reminds me more than any book that I should ignore all the inconviences of daily life and appreciate the gradiose gift of happiness from my family and friends.
Well written and well worth reading.......2004-06-30
I recently became interested in traveling and when I first picked up this book, I was excited to read about the different parts of the author's trip and hear about the places he visited. However, by the end I found there was more to it than just where he had been and what he had seen. What separates this piece of writing from others is that it reads very smoothly, as if the author is telling the story in person. I found that certain bits and pieces of information from conversations with strangers were effectively chosen. By focusing on interesting dialogues, it is easy to understand how these people have changed the author's outlook on strangers and life in general. His struggle for answers and meaning on this trip reminded me of Eugene Henderson's struggle in Bellow's novel "Henderson the Rain King"...in the end they both seem to find that what they are looking for is actually much closer than it seems.
The photography in this book is some of the best I've ever seen...the pictures from the Yellowstone chapter were especially beautiful. If they were blown up, I bet they would look fantastic in a frame on the wall. Greenspun has definitely strengthened my desire to get out on the road, see new places and meet new people. Travels With Samantha proves that everyone can potentially gain from traveling; all it takes is an open mind...
disapointed about the print quality and number of pictures.......2003-02-11
I read Philip's writings from his trip few years ago, just as he was publishing it on his (at that time unique and very vaulable for a beginning photographer) web. In fact, I downloaded all the artciles, printed them myself and made a book of them at home. And I read and I even made some notes out of it. So, now, few years later, i decided to buy the book, because: I had though I would like to have a real book, and I wanted to test Amazon.com shopping. Well, After have it read once again, as a real book, I am somewhat disapointed. First, there are actually less pictures than within the original articles still avalable on the photo.net. Second, the print quality is not very good, and so, in fact, if I tried, I could make better looking photographs just printing the downloaded stuff on my computer printer. And this is a professionally printed book. And, for photographs, low quality of print matters very much. So, that is why I am disappointed. Still, the reading's fine and easy, and in fact, it is the kind that lets you (me) rest while reading, so, it is ok for me. I read Joyce too, but when I want to.
Entertaining read, interesting photography.......2002-06-20
Greenspun's 1993 summer holiday trip, 14 weeks from Boston to Alaska and back, turns out to be an interesting read. Although he often discribes himself as a typical MIT computer science nerd, he seems to have no trouble meeting people and engaging in various conversations with him. In fact, he's surprisingly good at it.
Philip appears to have a very strong (American) opinion on just about everything and that is quite noticable in this book as well. Added to the constant stream of meeting people and summarizing his conversations with them, this can make TWS a somewhat though read after a while.
The photography is very nice, very effectively showing the places Greenspun visited. It could also be classified as "calendar-type landscape/wildlife photography". Fortunately, the sheer beauty of landscapes, the Alaska bear photographs as well as several portraits to go along with the names in the story, make up for this.
Summarizing, I should say that I am very happy that this 1994 web publication is available in print. I enjoyed reading it on the web while I was a student and happily re-read the print edition.
Books:
- Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year
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- Owners Pictorial Guide for the Care and Understanding of the Mills Bell Slot Machine
- Painting People: Figure Painting Today
- Patti Smith Complete 1975-2006: Lyrics, Reflections & Notes for the Future
- Pocket Life List: A Birdwatcher's Life List and Diary of North American Birds
- Rapid Prototyping: Laser-Based and Other Technologies
- Real Analysis: Measure Theory, Integration, and Hilbert Spaces (Princeton Lectures in Analysis)
- Relax Your Way to Thin! Hypnosis Weight Loss Motivation
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Books Index
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Alone in the Wilderness
Alone in the Wilderness 2-DVD Package
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More Readings From One Man's Wilderness: The Journals of Richard L. Proenneke, 1974-1980
Shadows on the Koyukuk: An Alaskan Native's Life Along the River
