A Wild Path

Douglas Wood

• Publisher: Univ Of Minnesota Press
• Year: 2023
• eBook ISBN: 9781452970424
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Social Science Biographies
• Index: Social Sciences

A soul-satisfying journey through the wilderness that uncovers hope, healing, and the abiding grace of wild things
 

A Wild Path is author Douglas Wood’s highly anticipated followup to the critically acclaimed memoir Deep Woods, Wild Waters. He again leads readers along a meditative path through a wilderness of many dimensions—from the lakes and islands of his beloved Canoe Country to rugged ocean coasts to a mountain chasm, from camping on the Canadian Shield to listening to the soft strains of Beethoven in the pines, and from the pain of childhood wounds to appreciation for a life rich with nature. As on every good journey, there is plenty of laughter, warmth, and humor on the trail.

 

With the generosity and compassion of a good wilderness guide, Douglas Wood welcomes readers to accompany him as he navigates his life-path from struggling student and “worst reader in the class” to prolific writer and best-selling author. He offers courage and hope to those who feel different or left behind, and he shares how he found, through the counsel of rocks, trees, and waters, his own way toward joy and wonder and an unshakable sense of belonging.

 

Exploring the meanings of myriad outdoor experiences, Wood seeks to understand the importance and existence of beauty, the emotional poignancy of a wilderness sunset, and the realization of dreams, while also honoring his outdoor and literary mentors, including Sigurd Olson and Aldo Leopold. Traveling across continents, over oceans, and through the landscape of time, A Wild Path ranges from solitary shorelines of introspection to peaks of triumph, finding rest and tranquility in a simple cup of jasmine tea, sipped by a campfire under the stars.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Introduction: A Wild Path
• Nature Boy: A Story of Wilderness Therapy
• Toward the Wisdom of Trees
• To Sleep by the Sundown Sea
• Dreams of the Lonely Land
• No Such Thing as Beauty
• Famous Grouse
• Bad Weather
• The Sky Dwellers
• A Woodland Warning
• The Grand Tour
• A Cabin in the Woods
• Sparky’s Close Call
• Morning Gratitude: A Turtle’s Radio Debut
• Theater of the Wild
• Making Camp
• If You’re Gonna Be Dumb
• The Arrowhead Maker, the Tiger, and Me
• A Valley of Light: Tramping the Hills with the Holy Trinity
• The First and Only Naturalist-Guided Motorcycle Tour of Northern Minnesota
• Beethoven in the Pines
• A Christmas Walk
• Nemesis
• A Changing of the Guard
• Computer Class for the Bronze Age
• A Circle of Souls
• From the Wild Horizons
• Boulders in the River
• Slowing Down?
• Three Trout and a Boy
• A Flower on the Far Side of the World
• The Fragrance of Jasmine Tea
• Acknowledgments