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Homelands: Kayaking the inside Passage [Paperback]

Byron Ricks (Author)

3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)

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Product details

Paperback: 370 pages
Publisher: Avon Books (13 April 2000)
Language English
ISBN-10: 0380809184
ISBN-13: 978-0380809189
Product Dimensions: 20.3 x 13.4 x 2.7 cm

Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)

Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,339,804 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #30 in Books > Travel & Holiday > Countries & Regions > United States > States > Alaska

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review

In an era of testosterone-charged adventure tales, Byron Ricks' Homelands: Kayaking the Inside Passage is a wonderfully introspective adventure-travel memoir. In 1996, Ricks and his wife Maren van Nostrand came close to making an offer on their first house but instead decided to undertake an adventure of a different kind--kayaking from Alaska's Glacier Bay, down the coast of Western Canada, to southern Puget Sound, near their Seattle home. They had no set schedules to keep and for five months lived by nautical charts and the rhythms of the tides, wind and weather. Their plan was to paddle from the glaciers to the city, exploring a coast in flux and the ways of Native peoples such as the Tlinglit, Tsimshian and Haida--whose ancestors had paddled the passage for centuries.

The driving question of Homelands is this: how does the act of making a very long journey home--at an average velocity of a mere three knots--affect one's concept of home? This ocean-sized question is fed by smaller tributaries: Do overcoming peril and danger make the rewards of coming home greater? How do native inhabitants encountered along the way relate to their homeland? What do you do when you're camped in a bear's back yard? And what are the issues facing husband and wife setting out across vast expanses of open water to confront--in the most literal sense--what lies beyond?

A journalist with a background in history and anthropology, Ricks is gifted with both a keen eye and a poetic ear. The tale is written in diary form and its voice comes from the pace of the kayak: tranquil, steady and respectful. An easygoing and astute companion, Ricks is clearly an old soul--with questions well worth asking and some lovely observations to share. --Kimberly Brown

Synopsis

Describes one couple's five-month journey by kayak from Alaska's Glacier Bay to the Puget Sound.

Inside This Book (Learn More)

First Sentence
At 7 A.M. Maren and I join Peter, our skipper, and David, a photographer and avid paddler. Read the first page

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Concordance

Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover

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Customer Reviews

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

Not a how-to book, rather a story of the heart and spirit. 6 Sep 1999

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

I found Byron Ricks book to be a captivating tale of kayak travel through the Inside Passage. No, it doesn't tell us exactly how they did things or where they went but that was not the point of their story. They tell us of the people, the sights (good and bad) and about the daily trials they faced. It has given me a clearer picture of what I can expect when I paddle the Inside Passage.

I highly recommend the book to partner with other how-to books on the Inside Passage.

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A clear-eyed, thoughtful, and lyrical adventure book. 30 Aug 1999

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

Ricks is a fine writer. The journey unfolds a day at a time, and for reasons which become obvious, he does not provide a lot of technical paddling instruction, maps, or 'broken stove" anecdotes. Homelands is an 'inside passage,' a journey of the mind through a landscape with a profound spiritual history. The relics and totems of European and American explorers and enterpreneurs are just as present as those of the First Nations peoples; Ricks sees the trees, the forest, the clear cuts, the log rafts, and the tides and currents as part of a personal and historical journey. It's a literate book and can be enjoyed by those who do not paddle. Readers are invited to go with the flow of the book, its weather days and paddling days, and to reflect on their own purposes in being outdoors, or on personal journeys. It is written with an authentic modesty about the considerable accomplishment of the journey, and has a moving ending, much more about the relationships one makes in one's life than about 'getting somewhere.'

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A well researched book 30 Aug 1999

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

A well-researched adventure story. Byron did his research on the history and geology of the region and writes well about. He and Maren are genuinely concerned about the environment. The book was a nice story.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

interesting reviews

I have not kayaked and bumped into this looking for something else. Every time a less than 5 star review is written a 5 star review follows. Read more

Published on 6 Sep 1999

A book that could have been great.

I enjoy a "journey book" and read a lot of them. I have kayaked in the area covered by the book by myself for weeks. Read more

Published on 24 Aug 1999

Great Book!

Homelands gave me a sense of being there as part of the adventure---an extraordinary undertaking which brought the realization that life is an exciting journey. Excellent!

Published on 22 Aug 1999

Wonderful insight into the lives of Northwest Native peoples

Superbly written book.

Published on 22 July 1999

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