Simple Truths : Clear and Gentle Guidance on the Big Issues in Life by Kent Nerburn  (17)
$10.88
|
The Hidden Beauty of Everyday Life by Kent Nerburn (7)
$10.88
|
Small Graces: The Quiet Gifts of Everyday Life by Kent Nerburn  (15)
$10.20
|
Make Me an Instrument of Your Peace by Kent Nerburn (14)
$11.53
|
Letters to My Son: A Father's Wisdom on Manhood, Life, and Love by Kent Nerburn (18)
$11.20
|
This item is not eligible for Amazon Prime, but millions of other items are. Join Amazon Prime today. Already a member? Sign in.
|
|||||||||||||
Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Bestselling author and native Minnesotan Nerburn (Simple Truths) navigates the West Coast from Washington to California. "[N]o divorce, no loss of job, no dramatic crisis of faith and self-confidence" led Nerburn away from his home in beautiful, isolated northern Minnesota, and his wife and his 10-year-old son, only a sense that the West Coast is his old lover: "Until I put her out of my mind... I'll never be at peace with this cold outpost that we now call home." Revisiting his young-adult haunts of 20 years ago, he hunts "street-level experience the ordinary people, the casual encounters, the ad hoc turns and serendipitous decisions." In various encounters a Native American, a student hitchhiker, a log-truck driver Nerburn captures the vocal and narrative styles of people who otherwise seem like caricatures (noble Native, ditzy student, gruff worker). Though he wants to explore "the myth of the West and the road" via these voices, for the book's first two-thirds he ruminates interminably on the misery of the trip. Cogent insights into 1960s counterculture's smalltown legacies ("Their mendicant lifestyle has been reduced to a pauper's huddling inside of half-finished huts") are overwhelmed by facile observations ("cities... feel like places where will and ambition matter more than sensitivity and compassion"). Nerburn's ingenuousness at the West's many changes including one improbable moment when he doesn't understand the ordering box in a fast-food drive-through lane smacks of pretense when one knows that he maintains his own Web site (www.kentnerburn.com). In the last third, he forsakes his midlife crisis for a tough, tight account of a day in wealthy, suburban Mill Valley and politicized Berkeley and Oakland's mean streets, finally achieving the immediacy and palpability he seeks. 6-city West Coast author tour; 15-city NPR tour. (June)
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
On a bitterly cold November day while living in a small community in the northern Minnesota woods, Nerburn made a sudden, life-changing decision to return to the fondly remembered California coast of his youth. In what became a search for a sense of home, he left behind his supportive wife and young son and began his solo pilgrimage by air, flying out to Seattle, WA. Bringing the reader along on his trek, Nerburn shares his experiences, encounters, and thoughts as he drives along the coastal roads of Washington, Oregon, and California. As evidenced by this contemplative travel chronicle, Nerburn learned much about himself in his encounters with some of the extraordinary people and places in this country. A sculptor, widely published art critic, and author of several nonfiction books (e.g., Simple Truths: Clear and Gentle Guidance on the Big Issues of Life), Nerburn here reveals himself to be a fine writer as well. Armchair travelers will revel in this book. Highly recommended for all libraries. Cynde Bloom Lahey, New Canaan Lib., CT
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
See all Editorial Reviews
Bestselling author and native Minnesotan Nerburn (Simple Truths) navigates the West Coast from Washington to California. "[N]o divorce, no loss of job, no dramatic crisis of faith and self-confidence" led Nerburn away from his home in beautiful, isolated northern Minnesota, and his wife and his 10-year-old son, only a sense that the West Coast is his old lover: "Until I put her out of my mind... I'll never be at peace with this cold outpost that we now call home." Revisiting his young-adult haunts of 20 years ago, he hunts "street-level experience the ordinary people, the casual encounters, the ad hoc turns and serendipitous decisions." In various encounters a Native American, a student hitchhiker, a log-truck driver Nerburn captures the vocal and narrative styles of people who otherwise seem like caricatures (noble Native, ditzy student, gruff worker). Though he wants to explore "the myth of the West and the road" via these voices, for the book's first two-thirds he ruminates interminably on the misery of the trip. Cogent insights into 1960s counterculture's smalltown legacies ("Their mendicant lifestyle has been reduced to a pauper's huddling inside of half-finished huts") are overwhelmed by facile observations ("cities... feel like places where will and ambition matter more than sensitivity and compassion"). Nerburn's ingenuousness at the West's many changes including one improbable moment when he doesn't understand the ordering box in a fast-food drive-through lane smacks of pretense when one knows that he maintains his own Web site (www.kentnerburn.com). In the last third, he forsakes his midlife crisis for a tough, tight account of a day in wealthy, suburban Mill Valley and politicized Berkeley and Oakland's mean streets, finally achieving the immediacy and palpability he seeks. 6-city West Coast author tour; 15-city NPR tour. (June)
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
On a bitterly cold November day while living in a small community in the northern Minnesota woods, Nerburn made a sudden, life-changing decision to return to the fondly remembered California coast of his youth. In what became a search for a sense of home, he left behind his supportive wife and young son and began his solo pilgrimage by air, flying out to Seattle, WA. Bringing the reader along on his trek, Nerburn shares his experiences, encounters, and thoughts as he drives along the coastal roads of Washington, Oregon, and California. As evidenced by this contemplative travel chronicle, Nerburn learned much about himself in his encounters with some of the extraordinary people and places in this country. A sculptor, widely published art critic, and author of several nonfiction books (e.g., Simple Truths: Clear and Gentle Guidance on the Big Issues of Life), Nerburn here reveals himself to be a fine writer as well. Armchair travelers will revel in this book. Highly recommended for all libraries. Cynde Bloom Lahey, New Canaan Lib., CT
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
See all Editorial Reviews
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
|
Inside Another Edition of this Book Citations: This book cites 7 books Explore: Citations | Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Key Phrases - SIPs: aviator bag, road angels, log yard, log truck Key Phrases - CAPs: San Francisco, Bay Area, West&nb |