Spindrift

A wind-swept Peter Reason peers out of the back cover of this beautifully written account of his wilderness pilgrimage at sea - he retired from his position at the University of Bath in 2009 where he was a leading figure in action research. As such, this book represents a new departure as an experiment in autobiography and travel writing. The voyage covered in the book begins in Plymouth, sailing across to Kinsale in Ireland and then round the west coast and back. The deeper agenda of his journey is about how we experience ourselves as a member of the community of life on Earth, building on the work of other ecological thinkers such as Thomas Berry, David Abram, Brian Swimme and Gary Snyder, whose works are referred to. Consistent with his earlier academic interests, Peter explores the practice of participation more directly in his relationship with the sea and the land. The vividly described daily events of the voyage are interspersed with autobiographical reflections involving not only his family but also significant conversations with like-minded thinkers. His doctoral studies in the United States are vividly evoked, as is an early visit by Henryk Skolimowski, who invited people to go out into the university grounds and find a tree or flower with which to enter into dialogue. His encounter with Thomas Berry and the importance of a new story is fundamental, and the reader gains a very distinctive sense of his presence. Readers who are sailors will resonate particularly with this book, but its message is one that deserves a wide readership, not least because of the quality of the writing.