Islands Apart: A Year on the Edge of Civilization
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Books › Travel › Essays & Travelogues
ISBN: 1590305302 / Publisher: Shambhala, July 2009
An award-winning travel writer and author of Off Season traces his year in solitude at southern California's Channel Islands National park, where he became attuned to the rhythms of the outdoors, explored natural wonders, and visited such sites as Arlington West, a Catholic monastery, and a Beverly Hills soup kitchen. Original.
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Author Ken McAlpine stands in his front yard one night in Ventura, California, trying to see the stars. His view is diminished by light pollution, making it hard to see much of anything in the sky. Our fast-paced, technologically advanced society, he concludes, is not conducive to stargazing or soul-searching. Taking a page from Thoreau's Walden, he decides to get away from the clamor of everyday life, journeying alone through California's Channel Islands National Park. There, he imagines, he might be able to "breathe slowly and think clearly, to examine how we live and what we live for." In between his week-long solo trips through these pristine islands, McAlpine reaches out to try to better understand his fellow man: he eats lunch with the homeless in Beverly Hills, sits in the desert with a 98-year-old Benedictine monk, and befriends a sidewalk celebrity impersonator in Hollywood. What he discovers about himself and the world we live in will inspire anyone who wishes they had the time to slow down and notice the wonders of nature and humanity.
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