Retired Now
After 50+ years of writing, I am retired now.
A writer must verbalize experiences — turn the present into words, and in doing so loses presence in the moment. As I slide into old age, all those words spinning in my head drive me crazy sometimes. Below you can see my most recent book and throughout the website, I continue to post my life’s work. But, it’s time to journey into a new phase. I’ll take a few speaking gigs — maybe — but mostly — as I already said, I’m retired now.
Tracking Lions, Myth, and Wilderness in Samburu
A provocative look at the vital connection between human beings, the natural world and meaningful knowledge.
Top Ten Adventures of the Year
Best Expedition of the Year
First Place for Print Journalism
New York Times Front Page
Conrad Anker, North Face alpinist
" In an age when adventure is a sales tool, Jon Turk looks into the inherent value of wild places. How have sacred places transformed the individual and society? With first-hand experience ranging from the tropics to the arctic, Jon shares the importance of finding the wild in our daily lives."
Recent Media
This video summarizes my most recent book, Tracking Lions, Myth, and Wilderness in Samburu. More videos, chats, and etc are posted on my Media Plus page.
The powerful cerebral ability we call Consciousness provides us humans with all the tools to survive, innovate, procreate (and cause all sorts of trouble on this planet). So why are non-pragmatic activities -- art, music, dance, play, and myth – so ubiquitous in every society on this planet? In this podcast with Valeria Teles, I argue that our extremely efficient pragmatism also drives us crazy (and incidentally causes so much trouble for all the other creatures on this planet) that we need to escape from our own think-too-much-know-it-all-brains. Listen here, or just go out and ride your bike and don’t listen to me talk at all.
