Three Seasons in the Wind : 950 Kilometres by Canoe Down Northern Canada's Thelon River; 2nd Edition

Rating:
Summary: Not just a canoeing book - a personal perspective on life
Review: I anticipated that this book might be just another canoe guidebook about a northern Canadian river since its size and layout indicated that it wasn't a coffee table photo collection - except for the striking cover photograph. The contents were, therefore, an unexpected and pleasant surprise. Yes - the book does describe a canoe journey - but it seems to me that this is primarily a narrative of personal development. The effective use of their diaries to evoke the experience of the landscape, and the insights of this husband and wife partnership about their experiences and feelings make the book far more than a story about canoeing. The story uses their experience to give the reader some direct insight into the personal development of two apparently ordinary people who undertake what to many of us would be an unthinkable challenge. In our modern, urbanized society, there is little opportunity to experience the spirit of the early North American explorers - the Pitts manage to deliver that sense of discovery (both personal and geographic) in the telling of their journey through their respective diaries. This is not a "canoe book" - it is tale of two people confronting the challenges of life - who just happened to be canoeing at the time. One was left wishing the river had been longer so that we could share their experience for a few more pages.

Rating:
Summary: Honest, Intriguing True Adventure
Review: My only real complaint about this book is that I wish it were longer and had more photos. The style is a combination of the authors' personal diaries they kept while on their month-long voyage down the wild Thelon River in far northern Canada where the open tundra dominates. Their writing was very honest, and I felt intrigued to be reading a firsthand account instead of a recollection that you feel was written and embellished after their trip. At the end of the book, one of the authors describes a portage in great detail and provides a play-by-play of the physical rigors and also the emotional state during this long and arduous portage. This is a wonderful and memorable piece of writing, and I wish that they had given that level of detail to the entire trip. Nonetheless, highly recommended for those who love true adventure stories and who have any interest in a long wilderness canoe trip.

Rating:
Summary: Honest, Intriguing True Adventure
Review: My only real complaint about this book is that I wish it were longer and had more photos. The style is a combination of the authors' personal diaries they kept while on their month-long voyage down the wild Thelon River in far northern Canada where the open tundra dominates. Their writing was very honest, and I felt intrigued to be reading a firsthand account instead of a recollection that you feel was written and embellished after their trip. At the end of the book, one of the authors describes a portage in great detail and provides a play-by-play of the physical rigors and also the emotional state during this long and arduous portage. This is a wonderful and memorable piece of writing, and I wish that they had given that level of detail to the entire trip. Nonetheless, highly recommended for those who love true adventure stories and who have any interest in a long wilderness canoe trip.

Rating:
Summary: Both the how and why for time spent in the wilderness.
Review: This book succeeds through its unpretentious and honest description of a journey well taken. The concurrent use of diary entries from both of the Pitts gives the narrative a nice balanced feel. The details of how to prepare and do what is required by a trip such as this are very clearly explained without bogging down the story. The canoe seems to represent chiefly a means, rather than an end, because the authors are best at defining why they did this in the first place. Their story provides inspiration particularly to those of us who have not been there before.

Rating:
Summary: Both the how and why for time spent in the wilderness.
Review: This book succeeds through its unpretentious and honest description of a journey well taken. The concurrent use of diary entries from both of the Pitts gives the narrative a nice balanced feel. The details of how to prepare and do what is required by a trip such as this are very clearly explained without bogging down the story. The canoe seems to represent chiefly a means, rather than an end, because the authors are best at defining why they did this in the first place. Their story provides inspiration particularly to those of us who have not been there before.