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The
Island Within
The 1990 Banta Award BOOK As Richard Nelson points out in the preface of The Island Within, this work was not undertaken as a travel guide, but as a guide to nontravel. His hope is "to acclaim the rewards of exploring the place in which a person lives rather than searching afar, of becoming fully involved with the near-at-hand, and nurturing a deeper relationship with home." The Island Within is the rich and intimate account of Nelson's explorations of a wild, uninhabited (by humans) island and the wilderness surrounding the island. It is a very poetic and sensitive work, filled with intense visual images of nature and the joy of experiencing life. The descriptions of the area are rich and vivid, reflecting his love and respect for the island and the surrounding natural world. In each chapter the reader is made aware of how we all are tied to the land and the bounty it has to offer. The cycle of life and death is reflected throughout as Nelson explores the island searching for a way of belonging to the natural community, to be not only an observer, but also a participant in the life cycle. Throughout Nelson struggles to integrate the spiritually-based values of the Native American people, with whom he has spent years, with the empiricism of his own Western scientific training. This point is most clearly brought to bear as Nelson reflects about his ambivalence regarding hunting. Living in an isolated area, Nelson depends on hunting and fishing for food, but there always seems to be a moment of regret or sorrow in the need to take another creature's life. Epiphanies fill the book. As Nelson's perceptions, feelings, and philosophies are recorded as part of his meditations, the reader finds him/herself lost in the same process of self-reflection. It is accepted and expected that Nelson's experiences should shape our own view of the world around us, and they do. The
AUTHOR "Nature was my earliest childhood fascination. I started collecting butterflies when I was scarcely tall enough to open the door and let myself outside. Later on, I graduated to reptiles, and from the sixth grade through early college I literally filled my room up with captive turtles, lizards, and snakes (a practice I eventually gave up when I saw the cruelty in it)." Richard Nelson was born and raised in Madison, Wisconsin. He attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison for both his undergraduate and graduate studies. After several years as a biology major, he became disillusioned with the analytical, quantitative, technology-bound approach of western science and shifted to anthropology and the study of nature through non-western cultural traditions. Nelson has spent the past twenty-five years working with Alaskan native peoples and writing about their relationships to nature. He has also participated in several projects on subsistence and traditional land use in Native Alaskan communities. He has written for Antaeus, Orion, LIFE, Outside, and the Los Angeles Times. Other works include Shadow of the Hunter, Hunters of the Northern Ice, and Make Prayers to the Raven, which was developed into an award-winning PBS series about the natural and spiritual worlds of the Koyukon Indians. He has held faculty appointments at the University of Hawaii, Memorial University of Newfoundland, University of California-Santa Barbara, University of California-Santa Cruz, and the University of Alaska-Fairbanks. Since 1982 Nelson has worked primarily as an independent researcher and writer. He currently makes his home in Sitka, Alaska with his wife and stepson. 1990 WLA Literary Awards Committee
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