I have to admit it took me a while to go through this book as it is not the easiest to read. It’s a story of an Irish writer (Keenan) taking his young family to live for few months in different parts of Alaska in order to do research for his next book as well as to pursue his childhood dream of visiting Alaska’s wilderness. During his travels Keenan gets to know a lot of interesting characters, the every-men of Alaska: truck driver, dog-sleigh lover, gold miners, natives operating a fish camp, Gwich’in Indians from the Arctic Village, etc. He also makes the effort to see and experience a lot more of Alaska’s life and culture than most tourists or travel writers.
All in all it’s an interesting book, well written and full of inspiring and heart-warming stories, but unfortunately I did find it a little bit uneven in parts. ( )

Variable. Some genuinely well written and interesting experiences of life as a tourist in Alaska, interspersed by a lot of spiritualist nonsense, that frequently fails to make any kind of sense whatsoever. One assumes that it too is the literal experiences of the author, who has failed to understand the world around him. Given some of the extremely naive experiences he undergoes without the spiritualism this might well be a reasonable conclusion.

Based on a little more than a whim the author decides to take his family for an extended holiday - from their native Ireland, too one of the most extreme places on earth, Alaska. Little detail is given about the fmailiy's reaction to this, or to the arrangements required - it seems the author had contact with a lot of friends who did most of the hard work. Once there they move around a bit with the family, and alos just the author on his own while the family are left behind to amuse themeselves. This is somewhat disappointing as the observations of the family could have added a great deal to the commentary of life in Alaska.

Some of the experiences the author undertakes visiting various people who live in Alaska permently are quite revealing - the degree of clothing and preperation required for any trip outside was quite extensive. It is therefore unfortunate that the author only learnt this through experience, rather than listening to his friends and contacts. He escape relatively unharmed, despite offending the tribes he was staying with.

I'm not going to comment too much on the annoying spiritual bits, because I largely skimmed them. They were mostly incomprehensible, or else blatently mis-interpreting or understanding the world around you. Eg. when a wolf walks across your path, there is no deeper meaning to this. He is not your spirit guide (which you've previously claimed was a bear anyway) neither is he your ancestor - you're Irish you have no ancestors in Alaska. It is just a wolf, even if they aren't usually seen in this area. Count yourself lucky, and revel in the joy of being fortunate enough to watch nature at work - something the author does manage to do on other occasions.

In summary - could be better. Probably only worth reading if you know something about life in Alaska. ( )

I've been on a bit of a Brian Keenan binge. I was especially interested in his account of his spiritual journey and his experience with shamanism. ( )

This is an interesting read. Brian has had a long fascination with Alaska and this is a story of his trip to visit the 4 corners of Alaska. He manages to convey the uniqueness of Alaska.
He also has an interest in the spiritual world of the native people and describes an experience he has with this.
Definately worth a read. ( )