Ken McAlpine

As one who has long had a strong interest in islands and man's experiences with the isolation and difficult extremes you can expect to encounter in being cut off from the outside world by a surrounding landscape of water, I had hoped this book would give an account somewhat similar to Neale's An Island to Oneself, even taking into account the author's short sojourn on each of the Channel Islands. But the subtitle is somewhat misleading: the "year on the edge of civilization" was in short spurts, and rarely was the author very distant from other tourists and the civilization that tourists tend to bring with them. Interesting in its descriptions of each island, but still somewhat disappointing.… (meer)

Ken McAlpine takes us along on his coastal road trip as he drives north from the October warmth of the Florida Keys to the frigid March shores of Maine. Traveling along the eastern seaboard to small towns and backwaters, he visits with lifeguards, fishermen, environmentalists, Gullah root doctors, marine police, and others who chose to live their lives on or near the water. McAlpine obviously loves his subject. I enjoyed his writing, his self-deprecating humor and his ability to show reverence when called for and irreverence when not.

Some of my favorite childhood memories are of those spent down the shore on quiet September and October weekends. So for me, I only wish I could have been along for the ride. It was a treat to read about the areas I am familiar with and the many others which were new to me.… (meer)

Islands Apart is an exploration of a protected chain of uninhabited islands just off the California coast. The author, Ken McAlpine, intersperses visits to remote outposts in Channel Islands National Park with visits to remote communities that live shoulder-to-shoulder with the rest of civilization. The best parts of the book capture the burst of exhilaration the traveler experiences as an island comes into view over the bow of a ship. McAlpine clearly appreciates what the islands have to offer -- scenery, wildlife, solitude, and the faint remnants of human attempts at settlement. He paints vivid portraits of the rangers and fellow campers he meets and lovingly describes the antics of seabirds and the curious habits of coreopsis. Along the way, McAlpine shares a running commentary on his search for meaning in his own life. It is this commentary and his off-island excursions that bog the book down. His visit to Santa Barbara's unofficial "Arlington West" memorial commemorating the Iraqi War dead, his sessions with a Buddhist monk devoted to tending sequoia seedlings and his strangely fractured interactions with the homeless tend give the book a disjointed feel. Recommended only for those with a special interest in the Channel Islands.… (meer)

I think what McAlpine was trying to do was to show that there is a deep desire in all things, in people and in nature, to know that there will be some piece of them left behind after they die. To know that they won’t just fade into oblivion. It is why we have children. It’s why writer’s write, cavemen drew, why the park ranger’s work so diligently to preserve the foxes and murrelets and the ugly scrub that’s native to the islands. It’s why the xantus murrelets continue to lay eggs in caves where rats destroy the embryo within before it’s even had a chance to firm up. What’s more, in an effort to ensure we continue on, we do what we can to control what little bit we can, whether by planting a tree in the desert or by working long hours to invest every cent possible in a future hoped for.

Full review: http://thekoolaidmom.wordpress.com/2010/01/22/islands-apart-by-ken-mcalpine/… (meer)