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Summary: Moving,thrilling, powerful PHOTOS and writing.
Review: I agree with the many who say LOOKING FOR ALASKA is Peter Jenkins best book, or at the very least, ranks right there with
A WALK ACROSS AMERICA.ONE THING, however, that separates Peter Jenkins from other best- selling travel/adventure writers is that he is also an outstanding photographer.....These photos not only lend richness to his stories and description, but add much value to his books. I don't mind buying this book in hardcover because of these wonderful pictures that separate his products from just about everyone elses. My favorite pictures, although not necessarily my favorite characters are the Alaskan surfer, the bush plane in front of the Alaska Range and Tina, the Haida woman with the totem pole. Thanks to the publisher for such a beautiful and well priced book. LOOKING FOR ALASKA, in hardback, is bound to become a premanant member of my library. By the way, his daughter, Rebekah, is a fine photographer herself, even at 20, she has a few in the book..
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Summary: America's favorite travel author writes another spellbinder
Review: With two complete sets of first editions, including the hard-to-find "The Tennessee Sampler" and the signed, limited editions of "The Walk West" and "Across China," I've been both a reader and collector of Peter Jenkins's books for more than twenty years. And obviously I'm not alone. Ever since a disenchanted young man set out to find himself on October 15, 1973, by walking across America, millions of readers around the world have been captivated by his travel books. The reason is simple, for Peter Jenkins writes with infectious exuberance about the land around him and the people who inhabit it. And with his innate understanding of human nature, he somehow gets these people to tell their own stories as well. So whether it's Mary Elizabeth and her sons in Murphy, North Carolina, Perk Vickers and his family near Lake City, Colorado, brothers Billy and Red Parker in Goodland, Florida, or the hundreds of other individuals he has encountered during his numerous journeys, he creates flesh-and-blood people, not cardboard cutouts, and vividly brings to life scenes and eras that most of us will only experience--and savor--in the pages of his books. When I somewhat apprehensively opened "Looking for Alaska," I hoped that a now middle-aged, perhaps more sedate, Peter Jenkins had not lost his old sense of wanderlust. I need not have worried. Yes, this time his family accompanied him to The Last Frontier, but they only add to the enthusiasm and excitement that permeate this book. Indeed, his daughter Rebekah, conceived during his walk West in the late 1970s, obviously inherited her father's independence and flair for writing and photography, for her words and pictures contribute a unique perspective on the family's eighteen-month stay. And this trip is filled with all the unforgettable adventures and characters that Peter Jenkins's admirers have come to expect. For example, there's a white-knuckle account of how a Realtor fought off a bear who crushed the bones in the man's face and punctured his skull. Another is the truly harrowing and bone-chilling narrative of how a seasoned dog musher and veteran of the famed Iditarod Race fell through ice but managed to survive. Added to these are stories of everyday life in America's forty-ninth state that are both fascinating and breathtaking, largely due to Peter Jenkins's uncanny ability to capture the essence of a region and its diverse people.
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Summary: Mr. Jenkins found Alaska
Review: What a wonderful work. While my wife and I visited Alaska's Kenai region for only a few weeks, we are smitten. Jenkins' descriptions and pictures capture the essence of the area and people so very well. He managed to capture the romantic nature of the state AND the real effort it takes to make it there in a way that is unlikely to result in a sudden increase in immigrant population; quite a trick. Alaska is truly a magic place, IF you're ready to deal with the realities of life on the last American frontier. Many thanks to Mr. Jenkins for this wonderful book.
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Summary: What a guy ! What a place! What a book!
Review: A fabulous look at Alaska and the interesting people who have made it their home. I couldn't put it down and am now going backward in time to read his first book, "A Walk Across America".
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Summary: Peter Jenkins Is the best man on the earth
Review: Wow dont yah just love Peter Jenkins!! I mean Wow what a good author!! He's an amazing author I love his new book Looking for alaska!! I think its awsome You should all go buy it for a christmas gift or even for your self its worth it!! Your Biggest Fan
Luke Luvell Jenkins
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Summary: I have found Alaska
Review: In life, we all dream of traveling. To find the lost and see the unseen. Peter has been there. His book, Looking For Alaska, paints a wonderful picture in the mind of those with imagination. And it is clear to me that "Alaska makes people hallucinate" just as Peter says, because Mr. Barlow himself must have been hallucinating when he wrote the poor review. Maybe Matthew is lacking in love and imagination, or maybe there is some jealousy on his part - for not being listed in the book. Mr. Jenkins has depicted Alaska and America as he saw it, not as others see it. That's the beauty of it. I recommend this book to everyone and beg Peter Jenkins to walk on, look on, and continue on with the wonderful work.
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Summary: HOME AWAY FROM HOME
Review: Another amazing adventure from one of my favorite authors! This book was such a treat. I called Seward, Alaska my home for several summers as I was growing up. I still keep many contacts there and not one of them can recall the elusive "Matthew Barlow" (he wrote a "rambling" review above) who seems to have a spelling problem himself. "Ongoing ramblings"? Sorry, I just had to throw that in. I felt as if I was there, sitting beside Peter Jenkins, as he opened up the doors to the Last Frontier. Let him take you on this great adventure, too.
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Summary: This guy nails Alaska.
Review: Several years ago my boyfriend of the time, while I was a student at University of Michigan, told me that the book that inspired him to travel was A WALK ACROSS AMERICA.I didn't remember the writers name, I did remember his dogs name, Cooper, because it was the same as my brothers. I never read it, too much school work. But now I have read a Peter Jenkins book about the place I love more than any other place, ALASKA. I have worked here, on and off, for eight years, and LOOKING FOR ALASKA, thrills me with simple, yet often poetic prose. Peter Jenkins is a master story teller. His cast of characters is onen that could only exist up here, they ring very true. Peter paints the winter mountains pink AND orange, as only one who has been in this place in the winter can. The sections about his time on the ice with the Eskimo whalers; his journeys with his twenty year old daughter Rebekah,(and by the way her writing in this book is often excellent); his portrait of the retired sled dog Kitty (which brought tears to my eyes, as did his kayak trip with his daughter); the story about mouse trading; the Haida princess, Tina; and the two woman of Unalakleet, the Eskimo and the former Debutante are my favorites in a tour de force on ALASKA. Not since McPhee's COMING INTO THE COUNTRY have I read a book that moved me so about my only Frontier.
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Summary: Debunking the mysterious Mr. Barlow
Review: I happen to really live in Seward, AK (unlike Mr. Barlow) and enjoyed Peter Jenkins book enormously. I've lived here for over eight years and worked for the local post office that entire time, up until eight months ago. I have never heard of, seen, or met a Matthew Barlow. His name also doesn't show up in our tiny phone directory. As for his jibes about Peter misspelling a few people's names may I point out a few things to him? First of all least is not spelled "leaset" as Mr. Barlow spelled it at the very beginning of his diatribe. Second, the eighth letter in discrepancies is an "a" not an "e". Third, "eachother" is two words not one long one. Frankly I think that Mr. Barlow should refrain from criticizing a published writer until he can at least write a few paragraphs without misspelling every other word! Mrs. Corinne Macomber
Seward, Alaska
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Summary: looking for alaska
Review: I am a Native Alaskan. My people have been in Alaska before it was called ALASKA. I was given Peter Jenkins book as an early holiday gift from my Uncle and wondered if he captured my people and all our people, of all groups, because almost no writers/travelers ever have. He even found things I did not know about, like `mouse trading', from his Deering, Alaska chapter. Lines like this from the book lift me and illustrate his acute powers of perception, "Millie's voice is like a whisper but has incredible strength. I think the Eskimo way of speaking, soft, slow, focused, and songlike, comes from being listened to and from living surrounded by so much beautiful silence and life." Actually he has been to many more places in this 590,000 square mile place than almost any Alaskan I have known. There is hilarious, witty stuff,, like this section title: "These Athletes Eat Raw Meat, Run Naked and Sleep in the Snow." This is one white man that has a caring and discerning heart, this is by far, one of the best books on ALASKA I have ever read. We needed this kind of work here and I want to thank him for hearing my people, the Native Alaskans and all the rest of us, showing us as the alive and vivid world. Since graduating from UCLA I have yearned to be back in my homeland, for a few days reading LOOKING FOR ALASKA I have been.
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