The Wild Within: Adventures in Nature and Animal Teachings - Softcover

Rezendes, Paul

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1439231044 ISBN 13: 9781439231043

Publisher: BookSurge Publishing, 2009

Synopsis

Master Tracker Paul Rezendes has followed bobcat through impenetrable swamps, and howled with coyotes in a moonlit field. Here, he weaves vivid accounts of lessons learned in the wild with the story of his extraordinary life progression from gang member to Zen woodsman. Leaving his past behind, he sought a truer path–and learned about compassion from a curious 750-pound bull moose, and discovered the inseparability of life and death through a wrenching encounter between a coyote and a deer. These stories transport readers from the slopes of Maine's Mount Katahdin to Cape Cod's sun-drenched blueberry tangles to the brink of a fox's forest lair. With this book, he shows us how to live in the natural world, moving soundlessly, watching where we put our feet, gauging the wind, and entering a new state of awareness. A dramatic, deeply spiritual book, The Wild Within is one of those rare books with the power to change the way we see ourselves–and make the natural world come alive.

About this title

Review:

The story of Paul Rezendes's spiritual journey began when he was leader of a motorcycle gang (i.e., a Devil's Disciple). His dangerous life of narcotics and guns eventually caught up with him and he and his wife found themselves in trouble with the law. His legal hassles gave him the perfect excuse to back out of the gang; thus he reneged on his lifelong commitment. (Apparently, motorcycle gangs are a lot like the Mafia; he muses, "You better have a damn good reason to leave.") From then on Rezendes began a furtive spiritual quest that led him into the woods, following the paw and hoof prints of wild animals.

Like Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Rezendes teaches the art of animal tracking and stalking, all the while making the link to the clean, observant Zen mind. "Stalking meditation demands that we pay full attention to every footfall, every breath, every sound we make, each nuance of landscape, wind, humidity," he writes. "Stalking gives us the opportunity to move away from the tiny perspective of thought and self into all-encompassing awareness." Rezendes, a renowned teacher of seminars and workshops, uses personal tracking stories to emphasize the importance of focused observation. But more importantly, his storytelling challenges readers to be spiritually accountable in the wild as well as everyday life.--Gail Hudson

About the Author:

Recognized as one of the country's leading animal tracking experts, Paul Rezendes has taught thousands of children and adults the language of the forest, deeply committed to helping people to not only observe nature, but to connect with it and themselves in a profound and often totally new way. He is the author/photographer of the highly acclaimed guide Tracking & the Art of Seeing: How to Read Animal Tracks and Sign, a stunning photography book coauthored with his wife, Paulette M. Roy, Wetlands: The Web of Life, Martha's Vineyard Seasons, and a series of Lighthouse Companion Guides for New England and Long Island Sound. Paul is also an internationally published nature photographer whose photos are featured in hundreds of calendars, magazines, books, brochures, and promotional materials each year. He retired from teaching tracking in 2004 to devote his energies full-time to his photography. He lives with his wife in a remote forest on the Millers River in Athol, Massachusetts.

About this edition

• Publisher: BookSurge Publishing
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 1439231044
• ISBN 13: 9781439231043
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 238
• Editor: Wapner Kenneth