Paddle Whispers

If you are in a meditative mood and have a passion for wilderness this book will speak to you. It’s a book you will pick up again and again and just open randomly and enjoy what you read. The pen and ink drawings are beautiful. I’ve ordered all his other similar books.

This book spoke to me so vividly that I felt thaI was the one on the trip. Mr. Wood's kinship with nature is contagious and his writing powerfully evokes and awakes that same love and longing in the reader. Right up there with John Muir and Sigurd Olson, but better because he is still here and still writing.

This book brought me through placid rivers, unexpected weather squalls, and the sweet meditation of canoeing through the Boundary Waters.

little writing

...books at capturing the essence of the north woods - the way it should be. If you are familiar with Sigurd F. Olson, then turning these pages will be a pleasant experience. If you have read THIS SIDE OF A WILDERNESS, by Daniel J. Rice, then you know of the unspoken sacrifice and challenge that occurs behind the scenes in order to live the wilderness life. I recommend this book to anyone who savors time alone in nature.

I love this book. It came up missing and I discovered it under my son's bed. He has an instinct for good books and when they come up missing I look under his bed first. That is where they go when he turns off the light and night when his eyes will stay open no longer. I recommend this simple beautiful book. It captures the sense of the Boundary Waters or the lakes of the Canadian Shield.

On a canoe trip in the Boundary Waters last summer, I remember reaching the end of a mile+ long portage, flipping down the canoe from my shoulders, and, bearly breaking stride, plunging into Basswood Lake. My guide told me then of Paddle Whispers and of Douglas Wood's similar aprreciation for a well earned swim.This summer, as I trained to be a guide, I finally got a hold of Paddle Whispers. Some nights I would read it aloud in the tent, pausing to listent to the cry of the loon or howl of the wolf. Wood's discriptions of everything I have felt on a canoe trip are so clear, even a non-canoeist could feel as if they were there. Reading Paddle Whispers is a great comfort to me when I get "Minnesota Sick".For anyone who's tried to explain to others the "why?" of wilderness travel, especially canoe trips, this may be the answer! Must read it!!!!PS- I don't like reading too much but I love this book, I think that says something!

This is not a how-to book about the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW). (For that look to Patricia Bell's superb "Roughing it Elegantly.") Instead, Paddle Whispers explains why we go into the BWCAW, with its often attendant miseries, at all. The BWCAW is a wonderful, magical place and Douglas Wood captures its essence in all its glory in this masterful work. It's a quick read as well, and so is a wonderful introduction for the person wondering why so many find the BWCAW irresitible.This book will transport the BWCAW veteran back into the midst of his/her favorite memories of past trips, and will provide inspiration for those considering their first adventure in the wilderness. For those who never intend to experience the wilderness first-hand, Paddle Whispers is a wonderful, spiritual, inspiring work in its own right.A must-read for everyone, I purchased many copies as gifts for friends.

Excellent book for all the dedicated paddlers out there highly re commend this for your outdoors person in your life