I think these were my favorites – but so difficult to choose! So many books! Between working at a bookstore and attending some truly great classes, I’m sure I’ve forgotten half of what I’ve read. These books, and all the great ideas and conversations that came with them, were made possible thanks to Curt, Mark, Dawn, and Don, among others – and thanks to the Wee Book Inn in Edmonton, What the Book in Seoul, and to Payless Books in Amcorp Mall, Kuala Lumpur.
Happy 1st birthday to kellyshepherd.com!
. . .
Brody, Hugh. The Other Side of Eden: Hunters, Farmers, and the Shaping of the World. London: Faber and Faber, 2001. A cultural and linguistic journey to the far north of Canada by the renowned British filmaker, anthropologist, and philosopher. A detailed and loving depiction, and ultimately, a defense of hunting-and-gathering cultures and their contributions to the world. There is a growing body of work that argues for nomadic hunting-and-gathering, or foraging, as one of the only truly sustainable human lifestyles. Of course this comes at a time when most if not all of these particular cultures are seriously threatened, and many already gone. An environmental treatise, a critique of traditional stereotypes and anthropological thinking, as well as a spiritual exploration.
Fiddler, Chief Thomas and James R. Stevens. Killing the Shamen. Waterloo: Penumbra Press, 1985. The true story of “one of the most unusual cases in Canadian jurisprudence.” An intimate look at the Sucker clan, who lived nomadically in what is now northern Manitoba and Ontario, and the legal battle that threatened to destroy them in the already rapidly-changing world of the early 1900s. Includes interviews and early photographs. An oral account by family members and eyewitnesses of the controversy that surrounded the clan spiritual leader’s decision to kill a tribal woman who was believed to be possessed, and to have turned into a windigo, an evil cannibal. The story of a large extended family, beginning with its mythical past and nearly ending in the ultimate clash of cultures and perspectives.
Kendall, Laurel. The Life and Hard Times of a Korean Shaman: of Tales and the Telling of Tales. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1988. An anthropologist recounts her experiences in Korea with the female shaman whose life she studies, a women whose turbulent past includes the Korean War, abject poverty, and an unhappy marriage. A study of her stories as much as of the gifted storyteller herself, as the title suggests. The tales themselves are often clever, polished and well-rehearsed (the manshin, or Korean shaman, being something of a professional storyteller, among other things), and questions are raised as to the accuracy of some of them. It is not that the informant is deliberately misleading her interviewer, necessarily, but rather that the two people are approaching the same subjects from very different points of view. A glimpse into Korean folk society and religion; an interesting study of the interviewer-informant relationship; a heartfelt biography of a tough and humorous woman.
Least Heat-Moon, William. Blue Highways: A Journey Into America. London: Pan Books, 1984. A college English professor whose job and marriage fall apart at the same time decides to hit the road, to engage life head-on. He camperizes a van, cuts his losses, and sets out to wander the “blue highways” (the backroads) of America. A vagabond literary travelogue, a personal memoir; a candid documentary that explores in detail both the author’s life and the lives of the eccentric and intriguing people he encounters in the most out-of-the-way places he can find. Comparable to Kerouac’s On the Road – and even called a better book by some critics. Fittingly enough, I guess, I started this book while moving out of my old apartment in Edmonton, and finished it in a camper-trailer in Manitoba.
O’Flaherty, Wendy Doniger. Other People’s Myths: The Cave of Echoes. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995. An exploration, history, and celebration of storytelling, from the ancient Greek and Hindu epics, to Biblical parables, to the more modern – and postmodern – and the obscure. Comparisons of myths, and discussions of cultural relativity: can we say that some myths are “better” than others? Based on what criteria? Interesting discussions on the fine line between academic detachment and emotional involvement when we encounter the myths and belief-systems of other people. Is it possible to make someone else’s myths our own? Is it even desirable? Which myths are “ours,” anyway, and why?
Quammen, David. The Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinctions. New York: Touchstone, 1996. This book “examines the mysteries of evolution and extinction as they have been illuminated by the study of islands,” and also serves as a crash course in the history of ecological science - featuring in particular the life and work of Alfred Wallace, the lesser-known English naturalist whose independant theory of natural selection predated Charles Darwin’s. The author visits some of the world’s most remote and difficult-to-reach locales, and studies some of its rarest and most endangered animals. An exciting travel adventure, a far-reaching mystery story, and an environmental wake-up call.
Snyder, Gary. The Back Country. New York: New Directions, 1971. ”A reaffirmation of a back country of the spirit” – images and myths, scenes and stories from the Far East (especially Japan) and the far West (the Northwest of the United States), this collection of poetry documents Snyder’s life, studies, and work on both sides of the Pacific. Rough depictions of physical labor, sensual descriptions of love and relationships - and a careful, understated, almost mystical attention to landscape and natural surroundings. Campfires, people, ritual, mountains, hitch-hiking, and haiku. Includes Snyder’s translations of Japanese poet Miyazawa Kenji.
Turner, Frederick. Beyond Geography: the Western Spirit Against the Wilderness. New York: Viking Press, 1980. This, I was told, is a must-read. Having previously read some excellent titles on similar topics for school papers, I was anxious to get started. My conclusion: yeah, it’s definitely a must-read. A lot of things I had been thinking about already – and a lot of other things that I could never have imagined - were explained in depth and clarified here. A history book and more, it’s an exploration of the religious and spiritual, economic and social factors (or motives) surrounding the ”discovery” of the Americas by Europeans. It also describes how the aftermath of those events, and their philosophical underpinnings, have continued to shape our society. A disturbing and profoundly sad book, I think it’s also an important one that everyone should read.
Vaillant, John. The Golden Spruce: A True Story of Myth, Madness, and Greed. New York: W.W. Norton, 2005. “The story of a glorious natural wonder, the man who destroyed it, and the fascinating, troubling context in which his act took place.” A detailed history of the logging industry in British Columbia from its earliest days, in particular on the Coast, and on the Queen Charlotte Islands. This book traces the history of one specific tree, an impossibly rare golden spruce, and the mythical status it was given by the local Haida people. It also introduces the complex and disturbed individual - himself both a child of the logging industry, and its most outspoken opponent - who would dare to destroy such a precious living symbol.
Yi, Song-mi. Korean Landscape Painting: Continuity and Innovation Through the Ages. Seoul: Hollym, 2006. A historical and aesthetic overview of Korean sansuhwa – landscape painting, literally “mountain water painting” - reflecting the Confucian delight in the presence of both mountains and waters. This ideal was, and still is, perfectly suited to the Korean peninsula, which is largely (70%) mountainous terrain. Yi describes artistic influences from classical China, as well as the shift away from those influences, as Korea developed its own distinctive traditions and styles. I don’t know much about art, but I do love looking at these mist-shrouded montains, old village houses, and twisting trees… and it may have helped that some of the reading was done on a bus from Seoul to Gwangju, past remarkably similar rural villages, nestled under snow-capped mountains…
