How Heavy is the Mountain

Rating:
Summary: Alaska Dreaming
Review: Having just read this book I wanted to say that I found it to be a most engrossing and humorous tale of Alaska. The authors account of adventures in every part of that beautiful state was the perfect remedy to long, hot, smoggy California summer days. I highly recommend this book and have forwarded copies to friends as a highly entertaining novel from a talented new author.

Rating:
Summary: A "Truer" North
Review: I love the author's creative, eclectic writing style: the mixture of story and poetry is great. Mr. Rundquist did extremely well in capturing true-to-life Alaskan characters. Having read many, many books that are "supposedly" about Alaska, I found "Mountain" to be free from the stereotypes that all too often run through such efforts. This Alaskan's critique: he done good.

Rating:
Summary: Former Davis resident writes tour guide/novel about Alaska
Review: Tim Rundquist, formerly of Davis, has just published his first book, 'How Heavy is The Mountain,' which he describes as an 'Alaskan tour manual/novel.' He worked in Alaska and the Yukon Territory, Canada for eight seasons as a professional tour guide, covering territory from Ketchikan to Prudhoe Bay, and nearly everything in between. The time spent in Alaska affected him not just professionally but creatively: 'My time in Alaska made such a deep impression on me that I had to write about it,' he said. 'Alaska is truly a land like no other.' The trouble was, Rundquist had some difficulty deciding what kind of book to write. 'The educator in me wanted to give a tour of the places that I came to know so well,' he said. 'The environmentalist in me wanted to highlight the special and fragile nature of the land. And my inner artist was inspired to express itself, to experiment, to create. The words just flowed.' So the result is a book that's not easy to categorize, but is well-written, informative and alternately (sometimes simultaneously) touching and hilarious. Perhaps Rundquist doesn't want to be confined to one genre. But finally it didn't matter: 'My goal, above all, is simply to place the book in the hands of people who will read and enjoy it. I wish I could be like Richard Brautigan and build a readership by walking around San Francisco, giving away copies for free.'