Homelands: Kayaking the Inside Passage

by Byron Ricks

Release Date: 06 July, 1999

Edition: Paperback

Price:

More Info

Like a Very Well-written Diary

Daily accounts of experiences while kayaking the inside passage. I found the entire book engaging and interesting. However, it does not offer deep or wide coverage of kayaking or the cultures or natural history of the inside passage (fine by me). Little tastes of these topics throughout the book. This surprised me given the length of the bibliography. Many interesting interactions with people living in these areas. I highly recommend this book for those interested in travel/adventure non-fiction. As mentioned by previous reviewers, much text is devoted to descriptions of travel from point A to point B but we have no map.

A clear-eyed, thoughtful, and lyrical adventure book.

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.'