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John Suiter’s Poets on the Peaks: Gary Snyder, Phillip Whalen & Jack Kerouac in the North Cascades is a biographical account of these Beat Bards, with emphasis placed on their wilderness outings and spiritual explorations, painting them as 20th century Thoreaus.
This book – the images, the text, the characters – are beautiful. It renews the magic of this place.
A portrait of mountains and rivers and Buddha and zen and trees and poetry. America.
Thomas Cleary’s The Essential Koran is a sort of summarized version of the Islamic text. It consists of passages selected for the opening of Islam to the modern Western mind.
I was surprised at the lack of myth in the book. It seemed to be filled with “God is this, God is that, disbelievers are poopy.” Names were dropped (Moses, Jesus, etc) and the Garden of Eden* was given a full page, but there were no real stories – the most important aspect of any religion or believe system. I’m forced to think that this is a result of the summation, that the actual Qur’an contains more myth.
I found many disagreements in the text, though none that I think are specific of Islam. Rather, all large, organized religions seem to fall to this.
Despite the beauty of the words, it describes a life of fear. Fear of some god, some master hanging over you. Even those who claim to love and find joy in their god must consider with every action what their judge will think of them. There is no harmony in this – these tiered systems, that find a distinction between heaven and earth.
They do not comprehend anything...except as God wills.
What’s this? Are humans not sentient? You are your own being. You are god. You know as well as any what lays before you and what lays behind you.
And what is the life of the world but the stuff of deception?
How can one live so removed? How can one deny the joys and beauties and truth of life?
There is much good in Islam – kindness, benevolence, tolerance – but it is still a structure of (dank) submission. A belief that separates its followers from the Earth.
Isabel Fonseca’s Bury Me Standing digs past the lore of gypsy culture to find the Rom people as they really are. In her travels of Eastern Europe soon after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, she researches the gypsy plight – early slavery, Nazi death camps, and modern persecution. The book is depressing, but recommended for the insight into the normally closed world of Roma.
Larry Dean Olsen’s Outdoor Survival Skills, first published in 1973, was one of the first books to rekindle interest in primitive living skills. And it is, of course, still a worthy read today. It is the only book I’ve read on the subject that discusses no modern implements. Not once is more than an acknowledgment offered to, for example, a steel knife. All of the skills described in the book are meant to be performed with absolutely nothing but what is found in Wilderness. It covers more than what Elpel discusses in Participating in Nature, but doesn’t go as in depth. Though the author, in the beginning, shows he has skills as a story teller, the book is written more as a manual. It’s use of diagrams and pictures are also lacking. But, Olsen’s creations are often more elegant than those in Elpel’s book. Perhaps it would be better titled Outdoor Living Skills.
I would recommend reading both, though between the two, study and carry Participating in Nature.
Participating in Nature is Thomas Elpel‘s “field guide to primitive living skills”. The book is presented as a story of the author’s wanderings throughout one day. It covers far more than primitive technology, expanding into Elpel’s environmental actions and ideas on modern, sustainable living. The primitive skills themselves are diverse – everything from bow drills to brain-tanning – and are presented in a much simpler, more digestible (yet still complete) manner than, say, David Wescott’s Primitive Technology: A Book of Earth Skills. The chapter on plants is a succinct version of Botany in a Day, and focuses only on a small number of plants local to Elpel’s Rocky Mountain bioregion, but I found the rest of the discussions applicable here to the Pacific Northwest, with only minor exceptions.
It is an excellent beginner’s book to primitive skills and the mind-set that goes along with them, as well as a valuable reference for the more advanced.
Eddy Joe Cotton’s Hobo is the fast paced adventure of a young runaway turned train rider. The rapid growth and maturity of the author tricks one into assuming a large lapse of time, when in fact the book spans only a few weeks of his life. I didn’t enjoy the whole book, nor did I find it to be one of the better books penned by a Hobo. I think his love for the state of Nevada played a role in this. He focuses on many of the things which disgust me about the state. That said, Cotton’s short journey on the road is peppered with many insights into the America of the early 90’s and plays host to many an interesting character.
Jessica Han’s Transient Ways concerns itself with stories of travel, trains, and squats. Unlike Off the Map, this book’s writing is amateur, the stories have no cohesion, and the author presents herself as mildly egotistical. Which isn’t to say I didn’t enjoy it. The tales are entertaining – enticing in their simplicity. Jessica shows promise as a writer, but is no Kerouac.
Jessica is also featured in the excellent hobo documentary Catching Out.
Brigitte Mars’ Natural First Aid is a nice little book for dealing with home, and some wilderness, ailments. The book begins with a short introduction to basic first aid – CPR, splints, and the like – and follows that with “An A-Z Guide to Ailments and Injuries,” including everything from nosebleeds to jellyfish stings. Each ailment includes possible herbal and homeopathic techniques for prevention and remedy. The books also includes a chapter on “Surviving Nature’s Challenges,” which discusses basics of topics such as surviving bear attacks, making fire, and giving birth.
The book, sadly out of print, is very basic, and is no replacement for real first aid training, but certainly warrants a spot on your bookshelf for herbal reference.