The Canoe Maker's Son


Book Description

About the Book The Canoe Maker’s Son takes you on a glorious adventure from the tropics of Hawaiʻi to the open sea, to rugged coasts and dark forests, and to the Indians of the Pacific Northwest. A story of shanghai, survival, and surprising ancestry. “My great-great-great-grandfather, ʻEleu, was born in 1773,” the old man paused, watching his grandson’s face light up with excitement. “He grew up to be a canoe maker just like his father before him. Both were in service to Kalaniʻōpuʻu, the great chief of Hawaiʻi Island. Not only were they canoe makers to the king, but ʻEleu went to the Pacific Northwest Coast on a great tall ship.” “What? Papa, I can’t believe it.” “It’s true, boy. Now, let me tell the story of the canoe maker’s son.”




The Canoe Maker


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The Starship and the Canoe


Book Description

“The Starship and the Canoe is neither a wilderness survival manual nor a book of blueprints. It is another of those rare books impossible to define: the kind that seeks you in time. And you will know it, live it, and consult it thereafter simply by name.” --Chicago Sun-Times “Brower’s superbly written book clutches at one’s imagination.” --Publishers Weekly “In the tradition of Carl Sagan and John McPhee, a bracing cerebral voyage past intergalactic hoopla and backwoods retreats.” --Kirkus Reviews Originally published in 1978, The Starship and the Canoe is the remarkable story of a father and son: Freeman Dyson is a world-renowned astrophysicist who dreams of exploring the heavens and has designed a spaceship to take him there. His son George, a brilliant high school dropout, lives in a treehouse and is designing a giant kayak to explore the icy coastal wilderness of the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. Author Kenneth Brower describes with stunning impact their lives and their visions of the world. It is a timeless tale framed by modern science, adventure, family, and the natural world.




Canoe construction in a Cree cultural tradition


Book Description

This study examines Eastern Cree canoe construction from a variety of anthropological and historical perspectives. The fully detailed and illustrated technical aspects of canoe construction are combined with a description of the social and economic factors, the canoe builder’s view of these activities through myth and song and a discussion of the continuity and change in all aspects of traditional canoe construction.







Little and Often


Book Description

A USA TODAY BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR (★★★★) “Little and Often is a beautiful memoir of grief, love, the shattered bond between a father and son, and the resurrection of a broken heart. Trent Preszler tells his story with the same level of art and craftsmanship that he brings to his boat making, and he reminds us of creativity’s power to transform and heal our lives. This is a powerful and deeply moving book. I won’t soon forget it.” —Elizabeth Gilbert Trent Preszler thought he was living the life he always wanted, with a job at a winery and a seaside Long Island home, when he was called back to the life he left behind. After years of estrangement, his cancer-stricken father had invited him to South Dakota for Thanksgiving. It would be the last time he saw his father alive. Preszler’s only inheritance was a beat-up wooden toolbox that had belonged to his father, who was a cattle rancher, rodeo champion, and Vietnam War Bronze Star Medal recipient. This family heirloom befuddled Preszler. He did not work with his hands—but maybe that was the point. In his grief, he wondered if there was still a way to understand his father, and with that came an epiphany: he would make something with his inheritance. Having no experience or training in woodcraft, driven only by blind will, he decided to build a wooden canoe, and he would aim to paddle it on the first anniversary of his father’s death. While Preszler taught himself how to use his father’s tools, he confronted unexpected revelations about his father’s secret history and his own struggle for self-respect. The grueling challenges of boatbuilding tested his limits, but the canoe became his sole consolation. Gradually, Preszler learned what working with his hands offered: a different perspective on life, and the means to change it. Little and Often is an unflinching account of bereavement and a stirring reflection on the complexities of inheritance. Between his past and his present, and between America’s heartland and its coasts, Preszler shows how one can achieve reconciliation through the healing power of creativity. “Insightful, lyrical…Little and Often proves to be a rich tale of self-discovery and reconciliation. Resonating with Robert Pirsig’s classic Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, it is a profound father-and-son odyssey that discovers the importance of the beauty of imperfection and small triumphs that make extraordinary happen.” —USA Today (★★★★)




MotorBoating


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Paddle-to-the-Sea


Book Description

A small canoe carved by an Indian boy makes a journey from Lake Superior all the way to the Atlantic Ocean.