Living With Wildness: An Alaskan Odyssey - Softcover

Sherwonit, B

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1602230145 ISBN 13: 9781602230149

Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 2008

Synopsis

In 1974 twenty-four-year-old Bill Sherwonit stepped into a whole new life - deep in the Alaska wild. In this engaging essay collection, Sherwonit recollects the adventures and trials of his more than thirty years in the Alaska wilderness.From the streets of Anchorage to wildlife preserves where wolves and bears freely roam, Sherwonit has witnessed the collision of man and nature firsthand in the untamed climes of Alaska. "Living with Wildness" constructs a continuum of 'wildness' with Sherwonit's lyrical writings, as he recounts intimate moments with the songbirds fluttering around his home birdfeeder and the halibut on his fishing line, as well as exciting experiences, including his close encounter with a grizzly bear and the breathtaking views of the northern lights in the remote North. Sherwonit discusses the cultural idea of the 'wild man' and meditates on his own efforts to spiritually connect with nature, noting that 'Wilderness is a place. Wildness, on the other hand, is a quality, a state of being.'A compellingly intimate and mesmerizing narrative, "Living with Wildness" reveals how we can engage with nature and access the wildness in our own selves.

About this title

Review:

"In Living with Wildness, Sherwonit employs both a journalist's skills and a nonspecialist's sense of humble wonder to deliver a portrait of the wild in its many guises. . . . If next year I take more walks, notice more birds and small mammals, grant my children a little more outdoors freedom, and manage to escape the city in search of darker, star-filled nights, it will be because of Living with Wildness. Just reading it made me feel more connected to the place I call home."-Andromeda Romano-Lax, author of Searching for Steinbeck's Sea of Cortez and The Spanish Bow

"In this open-hearted inquiry, [Sherwonit] learns what it means to make a home in the complicated landscape that emerges when wilderness and communities push against each other. Sherwonit movingly describes the explorations of the spirit that accompany his outdoor adventures. His discoveries remind us all that the most meaningful journeys begin with the smallest acts of awareness."--Sherry Simpson, author of "The Way Winter Comes: Alaska Stories" --Sherry Simpson (07/24/2008)

"In "Living with Wildness", Sherwonit employs both a journalist's skills and a nonspecialist's sense of humble wonder to deliver a portrait of the wild in its many guises. . . . If next year I take more walks, notice more birds and small mammals, grant my children a little more outdoors freedom, and manage to escape the city in search of darker, star-filled nights, it will be because of "Living with Wildness". Just reading it made me feel more connected to the place I call home."--Andromeda Romano-Lax, author of "Searching for Steinbeck's Sea of Cortez" and "The Spanish Bow" --Andromeda Romano-Lax (07/24/2008)

"Like one of his winter days in Anchorage, Sherwonit's book is bright and calm. Its gifts are a wild landscape of delight and a lesson in attentiveness."--Kathleen Dean Moore, author of "The Pine Island Paradox" --Kathleen Dean Moore (04/01/2008)

"Bill Sherwonit has added a fine new volume to the literature of place, a literature that may be the most vital and venturesome of any kind being written in America today."--Scott Russell Sanders, author of "A Private History of Awe"

--Scott Russell Sanders (04/01/2008)

Bill Sherwonit has added a fine new volume to the literature of place, a literature that may be the most vital and venturesome of any kind being written in America today. --Scott Russell Sanders, author of A Private History of Awe (04/01/2008)"

Like one of his winter days in Anchorage, Sherwonit s book is bright and calm. Its gifts are a wild landscape of delight and a lesson in attentiveness. --Kathleen Dean Moore, author of The Pine Island Paradox (04/01/2008)"

In "Living with Wildness," Sherwonit employs both a journalist s skills and a nonspecialist s sense of humble wonder to deliver a portrait of the wild in its many guises. . . . If next year I take more walks, notice more birds and small mammals, grant my children a little more outdoors freedom, and manage to escape the city in search of darker, star-filled nights, it will be because of "Living with Wildness." Just reading it made me feel more connected to the place I call home. --Andromeda Romano-Lax, author of Searching for Steinbeck s Sea of Cortez and The Spanish Bow (07/24/2008)"

In this open-hearted inquiry, [Sherwonit] learns what it means to make a home in the complicated landscape that emerges when wilderness and communities push against each other. Sherwonit movingly describes the explorations of the spirit that accompany his outdoor adventures. His discoveries remind us all that the most meaningful journeys begin with the smallest acts of awareness. --Sherry Simpson, author of The Way Winter Comes: Alaska Stories (07/24/2008)"

About the Author:

Bill Sherwonit is a widely published journalist and nature writer and has written ten previous books on Alaska.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 1602230145
• ISBN 13: 9781602230149
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 232