Birthplace of the Winds: Storming Alaska's Islands of Fire and Ice (Adventure Press) - Hardcover

Bowermaster, Jon

3.43

35 ratings by Goodreads

9780792275060: Birthplace of the Winds: Storming Alaska's Islands of Fire and Ice (Adventure Press)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0792275063 ISBN 13: 9780792275060

Publisher: National Geographic, 2001

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Describes the author's twenty-five-day kayaking and mountaineering journey to the volcanic mountains of Alaska's Aleutian Islands of the Four Mountains through the dangerous region in which the Pacific Ocean meets the Bering Sea, as they battled high winds, fierce ocean currents, and the harsh, mountain environment of this remote, mostly uninhabited area. 25,000 first printing.

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From Publishers Weekly:

Bowermaster (The Adventures and Misadventures of Peter Beard in Africa) admits that he is known "more as a `writer' than as an `adventurer.' " And indeed, his superb reporting and storytelling abilities animate and intensify this account of his 25-day kayaking and mountaineering trip through Alaska's Aleutian Islands with four other trekkers. In the glut of Alaskan adventure books of the last few years, this one stands out not just because of the remote Islands of Four Mountains. Bowermaster's clear vision and clean prose make for many pleasing, writerly moments: his honest catalogue of his own fear ("A certain amount of fear is good, makes you cautious. But how much is too much, before it becomes crippling?"), his interest in the Aleut inhabitants (though they invented the kayak, "the Aleuts shared little boat-building knowledge from island to island... because they were usually at war") and his ambiguous response to the land ("From a distance, it doesn't seem all bad, especially if you like extremes including lousy weather, tidal waves, earthquakes, and volcanoes"). After exploring each island by land and sea and climbing the tallest Aleutian volcano, Bowermaster has produced a remarkable narrative that captures the intense history and beauty of a place most of the world will never visit. 16 pages of photos not seen by PW.

From Booklist:

The Islands of Four Mountains aren't a locale dreamt up for a fantasy novel; the name denotes a group of conical, Mount Fuji-like volcanic islands in the Aleutian archipelago. Uninhabited, fog-enshrouded, and rarely photographed, they struck Bowermaster as a fit destination for a National Geo assignment, of which this lively chronicle is the result. To make this expedition of Xtreme tourism more authentic (or perilous), he and his three partners traveled in the vessel invented by the original Aleuts: the kayak. Over a recent month-long sojourn only occasionally interrupted by sunshine, the four paddled across the dangerous currents swirling about the islands, struggles Bowermaster relates in dramatic tones, paralleled by evocative and meditative moods that infuse his observations of the rocky, treeless, sulfurous scenery. Throughout, he threads descriptions of Aleut customs set down by Russian explorers and fur traders in the 1700s. The narrative mix of past and present works splendidly and creates a vivid verbal picture of a place nature and weather determinedly conceal from civilization. A cinch to attract the adventure reading set. Gilbert Taylor
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