Media Scheduled After the Release of:
Tracking Lions, Myth, and Wilderness in Samburu
Valeria at ‘Fit For Joy’ has honored me with three podcast conversations. We speak online; we’ve never met. But we have met and connected in spirit, and that brings us to this conversation. The world continues to go crazier and crazier every day. I keep saying it can’t get any crazier. And then it does. So in this podcast, I speak of the Consciousness Revolution, a theme I brought up in Tracking Lions, Myth and Wilderness in Samburu. This is nothing complicated, but somehow it is eluding a huge portion of the human race. Peace, Love, Togetherness, Compassion, Empathy. Is that too much to ask?
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Steve Jordan is another kindred spirit. He played lacrosse in college, as I did, and has devoted his later life to fitness and enjoyment of physical activities, journeys into the unknow and into adventure. So, our conversation flowed easily to produce another great podcast.
Rocky Mountain Books published “Tracking Lions, Myth, and Wilderness in Samburu” so it was natural to do a podcast interview with Jillian, their wonderful publicist. Click here.
It warms my heart that my old paddling contacts, from my years as an expedition sea kayaker, have come forward to help spread the word about this book.
If you’re lucky in life, a ‘job’ can turn into a hobby and a friendship. This has happened with my gig with Feet Banks and Mountain Life. I love to write, and Feet gives me a platform to express my ideas as I see them, which makes writing even more fun. And Feet has been totally supportive of the new book, “Tracking Lions, Myth, and Wilderness in Samburu.” I feel that this podcast is like a conversation in a snow cave, hunkered down in a blizzard, just chatting.
In this Review/Interview, Jeff Moag, writes, “On the scaffolding of this travel-thriller Jon constructs a uniquely Turkian vision of human evolution, in which the shared myths that make us human have brought us to the brink of catastrophe, and also contain the seeds of our salvation.”
You were a foreigner at this tourist tent camp you call The Hotel At The End Of The World, but you brought an openness and stayed there long enough that you became almost a bridge between two very different worlds.”
Here’s a little piece I wrote for Fernie.com, the local website supporting my beloved town, Fernie, BC. It’s called “The Fernie Tribe” and brings the ideas in “Tracking Lions, Myth, and Wilderness in Samburu” back home to my hometown. Yes, tribalism, ceremony and Christmas dinners and all that fuzzy warm
From my friend Nancy Soares at Tsunami Rangers. “Tracking Lions, Myth, and Wilderness is “fundamentally about our human relationship with the wild places on this planet, about love of wilderness, and the essential value of a deep communication with nature in this modern climate-altered, oil-soaked, consumer-oriented, politically-chaotic, anger-filled world.”
Kevin is a back country canoe-warrior and spent more time outdoors than most of us. Because the Wilderness speaks in the same language to anyone who spends time out there, Kevin and I speak the same language. Watch this video we did together.
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I’ve worked with Eugene Buchanan for decades, not years, through too many projects to count. So, when he heard about the publication of Tracking Lions, Myth, and Wilderness in Samburu he stepped up to the plate again, for me, with this great article and profile on the Paddling Life website:
Ben Wittes is my nephew, also a Senior Fellow of the Brookings Institute. He is an insightful commentator on world affaires, with a wry sense of humor. I enjoy taking my Northern Rockies perspective to the Big City on the east coast. I thank him for seeing the value of this book and giving me air time. Click here to watch this fun episode.
My second interview with Valeria Teles, on the Fit For Joy podcast, is titled “Presence in the Now, Presence in the World.” Once again, Valeria finds the heart and essence of my message. In “Tracking Lions, Myth, and Wilderness in Samburu” I explore the power of myth, storytelling, and ceremony. But I also recognize the danger of having myth and ceremony hijacked for evil. Only presence in the NOW is universal, cannot be hijacked into anger, and will always lead toward that elusive concept we call enlightenment, which we will strive for, but never reach.
BYU Radio, in Salt Lake City runs a podcast interview series called “Constant Wonder.” This is what I have sought after all my life, the Wonder of the planet, the Wonder of the people living on this planet, the Wonder of this life we have mysteriously been given the opportunity to live.
I lived in the Four Corners area of southwest Colorado and still travel there frequently for recreation, so when the new book came out, it was natural to reach out to people in my old and current stomping grounds. Which let to my wonderful interview on the podcast “Write on Four Corners.”
wonderful stuff is, yes, fuzzy, warm and wonderful, but beware the larger extension of tribalism lest it gets away from ourselves.
This is my second interview with Todd Howard, and both times I feel as if the sacred ‘Salish Wolf’ is speaking in the background. Hello Mr. Wolf. Here we speak about overcoming barriers, among other things.
Check out this Book Review from my friend Bryan Hansel at “Paddling Light.” Read here.
“Tracking Lions, Myth, and Wilderness in Samburu” is set on the East African savanna, in a semi-desert, with no water or kayaks in sight. Yet my old media contacts in the water world have supported me in this newest journey. There are many ways to approach wild spaces, or Mother Nature and the reciprocal communication with the Earth is the same whether you are walking in the park, or kayaking from Japan to Alaska. Join me and John Chase on his “Paddling the Blue” podcast.
I’ve done two podcasts so far for "Tracking Lions, Myth, and Wilderness in Samburu". One with Valeria on ‘Fit For Joy’ (posted below) and the other with Arjun and Jay on ‘Rising Laterally’. The hosts have emphasized different aspects of the book. It makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside that the book is rich and diverse enough to appeal to different people in different ways. Arjun and Jay threw challenging and probing questions at me. I had to scramble for answers, which was fun. For more punch, they renamed my project: “The Origins of Myth and the Dark Side of Fiction.”
Valeria calls her journey a “Quest for Well-Being, which seems simple enough, until we ask, “What is the essence of the Quest we seek?” And, “What does Well-Being mean, anyway?” In this podcast, host Valeria Teles, asks seemingly straight forward questions, but when I set out to answer them, I realize that she is probing deeply into Presence, Joy, Compassion, Love, and yes, Well-Being.
I had fun with this and I hope you do, too.
Todd Howard is the guide, inspiration, and managing director of:
Pacific Rim College for holistic medicine, mindfulness, and sustainable living;
Anchor Point Men’s Leadership Training; and
Salish Wolf Podcasts.
We had an inspirational podcast conversation on “Arctic Expeditions, Siberian Shamanism, and the Magic of this Moment.”
This one is listed on the internet as “Daybreak Alberta with Russell Bowers.” But it is really an interview with my dear friend, Angie Abdou, a fellow writer in my beloved community of Fernie, BC. Check out this radio interview by clicking here. And while you are clicking away, check out Angie’s books here.
Older Media From ‘Crocodiles and Ice’ and ‘The Raven’s Gift’
Ed Rackley did a couple of interviews with me, for Paddling Magazine, about my adventures on the ice, in a kayak. Those were some of the finest and fondest moments of my life, moments that formed me as a person. Moments that I will carry to my grave. Certainly the ice has been one of my greatest teachers. Thank you, Ed, for chronicling this. To travel with me, under Ed’s insightful questioning, read, “Lessons From a Life on Ice” and “Jon Turk: Uncut”.
Future Primitive - Podcast
Joanna Harcourt-Smith, author of "Tripping the Bardo with Timothy Leary: My Psychedelic Love Story", interviewed me. Special energy passed between us in that conversation. Perhaps it’s a shared experience of embracing the void, each in our own way, and then, amidst the terror and the ecstasy, seeing the vision of a peaceful place. Maybe that is just words and it’s something even deeper. I don’t know. But I invite you all to join us on this journey.
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Canoe and Kayak Magazine - Article
Erik Boomer and Jon Turk reflect on their expedition around Ellesmere island, their friendship, and the importance of living your passion.
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Canoe and Kayak Magazine - Article
Profile: Jon Turk: Expeditioner, author, seeker
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Pique News
PIQUE News Magazine, out of Whistler, did this write up about Crocodiles and Ice:
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We Don’t Die Radio Show
I had a wonderful interview with Sandra Champlain from the “We Don’t Die Radio Show.” To me, the important issue is not whether we “die” when we “die,” but whether we are open to life as we see it in This World and whether we approach “death” without fear. I talk about my failed journey to the Other World with Moolynaut and my metabolic collapse after the Ellesmere Expedition.
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Paddling Light
Dec 22, 2016: Here's a long, comprehensive review from Bryan Hansel, at Paddling Light.
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Mountain Life Review
A review of Crocodiles and Ice
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Spirituality and Health
An article I wrote called "Crawling to Ecstasy" from the Nov/Dec "Spirituality and Health.
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Tsunami Rangers Extreme Sea Kayaking Adventures
A review of Crocodiles and Ice by Nancy Soares: "To me, it’s all about connection and compassion…Once we lose one or the other, or both, the world becomes a much less pleasant place, and a more dangerous place, to live in." – Jon Turk.
After reading this book the first thing I thought was Wow. This book should be read. Why? For one thing, it’s a really good read. But as I started to write this review I looked at my notes and then at the blurb on the back of the book. One word caught my eye: sanity.
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Tell Us Something Podcast
Today’s podcast comes to us from Jon Turk and is titled "Don't Do Anything Stupid". Thank you for listening.
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Deep Wilderness Podcast
I'm running a podcast series called “Deep Wilderness”, with Spaghetti on the Wall Productions. This is ongoing. A new podcast goes up once a month or so, and the old ones are archived. So check in anytime. As of mid-March, 2016, we were on Episode 16.
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Excellence Reporter: The Meaning of Life
So, I get an email asking me to write a short essay on "The Meaning of Life". Nina, characteristically, tells me that there is no meaning to life. Fair enough. Well, plumbers fix pipes; writers write essays. It's games played by our think-too-much-know-it-all brains.
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Life Out Loud with Junie Moon
Had a wonderful 45 minute conversation in March, 2016, with Juni Moon on her site "Life Out Loud with Juni Moon". We talked about The Tundra, The Hunter, and The Shaman and the importance of these archetypes in the Koryak worldview:
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Future Primitive Interview - Podcast
In the summer of 2013 I did an interview with Joanna Harcourt-Smith, one of the most insightful conversations I have had in a long time. It is now posted on the site Future Primitive. Just the name of their organization is so thrilling and evocative. I hope and believe that we will work together repeatedly in the future.
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Hemispheres Radio Show
I did a great radio show with Jim Banks at KGNU in Boulder, Colorado in January, 2015. From the KGNU website: “On Hemispheres this week host Jim Banks interviews Jon Turk, world explorer, kayaker, and skier. Jon discusses indigenous cultures in northern Siberia, the Soviet era destruction of these cultures, and the shamanic spirituality that still survives on the frozen Siberian tundra.
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From my readers
I urge you all to share your ideas, your own experiences, and your visions, with me and all of my readers.
“I’m going back over parts of The Raven’s Gift again, appreciating your capacity for friendships across time and space and landscapes. I’m enjoying the podcasts and thinking deeply about the energy and drive of physical adventures and the energy and drive of spiritual adventures. I am grateful for your willingness to write about both kinds, to ask questions and to wonder out loud. Storytelling makes a wonderful bridge. Blessings on all your journeys and seekings.”
“As ever, I have enjoyed reading all that flows from your magic pen. I don’t ski, but I have loved reading all of your articles for Powder Canada. Full of good advice to those who do ski or trek the great outdoors in winter. Doesn’t matter what you write, whether they be the heart pounding moments of danger, the exhilaration of personal accomplishment, or quietude in moments when you are at one with nature, your talent is in the words you choose that magically carry the reader along on your adventures as if we are there with you (again, and why, I have read and cherished every book you have written).”
“The mystical connections with the shaman elder woman were fabulous. Thanks for this evolution in your story telling which has taken you and your readers, including me, beyond adventure and into wholly new realms….into the mystery and not just the mysterious. thanks, Jon!”
“Thanks for writing The Raven’s Gift. The book is a gift of mystery, wildness, and reconnection. Made me realize that I have become domesticated, and I don’t need to be. I’m surrounded the wilderness of Colorado mountains, Anasazi mesas, and live in the strange Navajo desert land of Shiprock – now I feel like I am free to be myself in those places, and to be happy with what I have and where I am. Gratitude to your teachers!”
“I liked how you projected your spiritual message of taking good care of the earth, enjoying solitude more and being more connected with ourselves and the earth. And I loved how you started off your talk with the logic and magic signs. I hope to live my life with magic daily no matter what I am doing. Thanks again for spreading an inspiring message.”
“Jon, I have just finished your book, The Raven’s Gift, and I am still wiping away the tears. It is one of the most beautiful stories I have ever read and I want to thank you for letting the world know about Lydia, Moolynaut, Goshe, Misha, Oleg and the others, and the reindeer people. My heart is filled with love for Moolynaut and Lydia, and their people, and I don’t even know them.”
“I finished The Raven’s Gift breathless. What a wonderfully compelling and personal account! Parts beautiful, parts profound, parts spiritual. You are a model of an unconventional life and now with this testimony of one who follows a path with heart. I used to muse while hiking of walking out of the 20th century into a time and place inhabited by Native Americans say 700 years ago. Aspects of The Raven’s Gift felt as if you’d done that with the Koryak people. Thank you so generously sharing this with us all. Maryon Attwood: Somewhere in Email-Land Jon, I finished your book, The Raven’s Gift, this morning. I cried all of the way up the side of the mountain with you and karen as you took your wife’s ashes up to float on the air currents with the raven and the essence of the spirit of the bear. Your world of adventures in the cold and the snow are very different from mine but there was a lot that felt familiar.”
“I have 42 pages dog-eared (thank god it is my book and not the libraries) that I want to read and highlight! I truly believe that the only way to save this magnificent earth is to get more people back to “wild nature”. We need to lead simpler lives connecting us to “the magic” of the everyday. The reindeer people had it, Moolynaut had it – because they lived simply – and talked to the animals, got energy from the sacred stone and kept the native healing work alive.”
“Your work to bring your book into the world is very inspiring. I know that it is hard to travel so much, but your message is important, and your stories are a call for people to wake up to the world in a different way than they perceive it now….We humans are so out of touch with what we need in order to sustain life, but there are some of us who will go down continuing to turn towards what is real, holy and good. I think your stories point people to a deeper meaning. It encourages people to accept and embrace the thing they are encouraged by our culture to deny. I can’t tell you exactly what that thing is, but your stories are pointing to it the way a compass points North. From Russ Lawrence: Chivay, Peru The Raven’s Gift made me think of the gift I received as a child, though I didn’t recognize it as such at the time. Of course I read incessantly, and in the course of my reading I naturally came across stories featuring magic, elves, fairies, and other features beyond the realm of my experience. I found it confusing, and always wondered, did they really exist? I was a stubborn, proud kid, though, and I never talked about these things with my parents or teachers, reasoning that I could figure it out for myself. I just kept reading and encountering more, so my powerful 10-year-old intellect reasoned that magic must be possible, or it wouldn’t be so present in so many forms. Since that time, the only unshakeable belief that I’ve carried is the belief in the possibility of nearly anything. Magic? Sure. UFO’s? Could be. Moolynaut, Kutcha, and the spirits from the Other World healing your pelvis? If you say so.”
“I read your book, the raven’s gift and i was…in love, and so thankful to have had the opportunity to meet your story, live is such a magic…i bought your book ‘occasionally’ in Brazil just looking for something to read in a travel and after a few days i was there with you in tundra, you just teleport me to this hole new world and after read all of it i felt more than never that our life is bigger and more so much more that we think. With all respect i never heard about you but that book just caught my attention at the first sight, it seems that i was supposed to read you book anyway…i really just want to say thank you! thank you…And i wish with all my heart that you have love and peace for that rest of your eternal life!”
“I read The Raven’s Gift in planes, in airports, on the beach, in coffee shops, bars, and living rooms. I got chocolate on it, red wine, and tears. I wept when I read the chapter that took Chris from you and this world. I was awed at your ability to turn those events into that intensely emotional piece of writing, and happy to know that the Raven also helped to heal your heart.”
“There are moments in your life, when everything just comes together, the answer appears to a question you’ve been pondering for awhile and then the peace washes over you, where before there was conflict and strife. Simon’s story about the albino deer changed my perception so profoundly. If you see him, please tell him it brought peace to my soul. Your book is changing my perception…again and I am so grateful.”
“I have just finished reading “The Raven’s Gift” and I cannot tell you what an impact it made on me. It was the most beautiful books I have ever read. I was so moved that it stayed with me for days, I just kept reviewing it in my mind… The wolf is my favorite animal and when you spoke of how the Koryak people “spoke” to the wolf, I just wanted to cry.”
“Your book, The Raven’s Tale was a joy to read. A book filled with true magic and wonder. It deeply affected me, and taught me much. I found your writing to be pure and from the heart. One now filled with magic and wonder. To me, this is the only way the world works.”
“It was a honor hearing you talk today. I myself am trained as an engineer and to be frank my training and logical mind make it hard for me to believe some of your interactions with Moolynaut and the Raven Spirit. However, my skepticism aside, I know that seeing is believing and I perhaps have to undertake a journey/experiment of my own to verify for myself the existence, beauty, and power of the – for a lack of better term – the metaphysical world.”
“Thank you for having Jon Turk come to ACES. His presentation shook me to my core. Laughter and tears cascaded through my soul. His stories and images ignited memories, stirred up feelings from unexpected places, and touched my heart. His talk inspired a deep sense of wonder.”
“The first thing I notice about ‘The Raven’s Gift , is that the book has the quality of lightness … it feels like a feather. Thank you so much for adventuring , and exploring and sharing the magic and logic, internally and externally . We humans are all indigenous people. We are all deeply connected to nature. Those who feel differently are hallucinating. Your work is helping us move out of Hallucination into Dreaming again.”
“You should see my copy of The Raven’s Gift. The spine is bent out of shape from reading the book in bed; some pages have food stains on them from reading the book in restaurants (nachos and books should never be enjoyed at the same time); and the book’s cover is worn from being stuffed in and pulled out of my travel bag. In other words, The Raven’s Gift has been a great companion! I assume people reading this review will already know, in general, what The Raven’s Gift is about, so I’m not going to repeat that information here. Instead I’ll say this: The book will surprise you. It will make you care about a culture you’ve never heard of before. It will challenge your belief system. You’ll never look at a raven the same way again. You’ll definitely laugh, and you might even cry. Jon Turk is a wonderful writer. His words flow off the page, making it easy to enjoy the story without being distracted. Even readers in warm climates will find themselves reaching for a sweater as they follow Jon on this unusual and touching Arctic quest. Highly recommended!”
“I read about one book every two years, some I don’t even finish, but I’ve been reading your new book and can’t put it down. It has opened my imagination in many ways. Ben and I went for a cross country ski and I kept imaging I was crossing the Siberian tundra! It is also nice to read about Chris and be reminded of her gentle nature.”
“I just wanted to thank you for your time upon this planet and your marvelous life. I was taking a road trip from Santa Barbara up to Glacier NP and I came upon your book. I read it when I got back and was transfixed. I leave it on my coffee table so that everyday I have a reminder that I am in a lucid dream. That the “awake” world and the night dreams are really all one story in the never-ending story of our lives. The inner and outer worlds are one! I loved loved loved your story and your bravery and your insights and your grasp on your own lucid dream now, especially through watching the loss of someone you loved so dearly. We are all one, and as we each continue to awaken, mother earth will radiate peace. For we are dreaming this into existence!”
“The Raven’s Gift is a remarkable combination of travel/adventure, anthropology, history, and a very personal account of your own spiritual journey. I applaud your courage to discuss very personal aspects of your trip and your life as it really makes the book a work that touches other lives. In my opinion, this is among the top ten books that I have read in my lifetime.”
“Heartfelt laughter and tears. The Raven’s Gift is the gift of your heart and soul to all who will listen. I listened and you touched my soul deeply. I laughed when I read your comment on the ravens “shooting the shit.” A comment my father so often made. My heart danced when you mentioned (more than once) that Moolynaut told you that all you needed to do was “believe.” The night after my mother transitioned her voice came to me with a message. That message was so gentle, so clear, so reassuring: “Bren, it’s wonderful. Just Believe.” Thank you so very much for sharing your heart, your soul and your wonderfully inspiring adventures.”
“I wanted to thank you for morphing my perceptions of death into something that is simpler for me to comprehend. Im sure you’ve heard the word “inspirational” once or twice throughout your writing career but you truely are an inspiration for me to continue my life without regret and forever with the influence of my father always at my side.”
“These Comments in response to a workshop at The Peace House on April 24, 2010 I received a beautiful message the next day from one participant thanking us for this offering. In one comment, she said she loved the way you listened with your whole body! And she said her whole next week was so balanced and happy. Another wrote a note saying that her “inner child” was overjoyed and that she found the whole experience very healing and helpful. Both indicated they would like to expand on these experiences and so I am exploring the idea of an more ongoing series. For me, it was a joy to just “play” with the teachings and as you said…the day was easy. Perhaps a closer resemblance to our tribal families who just “live” these experiences every day. One of the highlights was seeing, feeling and hearing everyone dancing in the dusky light of the new evening…really a riot of a moment…still makes me giggle.. Thank you Jon for your offerings…it really was a joyful moment…”
“I have just finished reading your book, and am still under its spell. Thank you for putting your experience into words. It was both moving and reaffirming to read –and yes, entertaining–as well as very much in synch with my state of mind lately, which may be encapsulated in two quotes I found recently: One from Einstein roughly paraphrased, “There are two ways to live life, one as if there are no miracles, and the other, as if everything is a miracle,” and the second from Pema Chodron, “Impermanence is a principle of harmony. When we don’t struggle against it, we are in harmony with reality.””
“The mix of the content and the genuineness of your delivery system made for a delicious evening for everyone.”
“When I think of a religion, cosmology or whatever, that has people drawing on walls rather than going to war, that reveres and enters the spirit of birds, bears and trees, that to me seems perfectly logical! Though I experience magic, I find it hard to put in words. I think most people of our culture somehow just can’t admit to magic, so the universe did us a favour by putting you and Moolynaut together!”
“In all my years of reading books, your style and content is by far my favorite. This book is astonishingly great. I love your word choice, how your string the past and the current narrative together, we are right there with you all and our souls stir with a deep sense of remembering with each flip of the page.”
“My wife says we call storytellers bards –
but they have to sing –
you were singing!
Traveling Salesman?
traveling talesman?
talesman like – talisman
talisman like – touchstone…
like touch – magic – stone
or
touch feather?
touching feather – touching wing –
other wing touches other world –
brings back something from the mystery –
only that makes the mystery somehow more mysterious
even if more personal.”
