Stephen R. Bown's Blog: Stephen Bown's random author musings, page 4

Rasmussen was a beautiful writer

It was “a beautiful and exciting time,” Rasmussen wrote of the departure on one of his expeditions, “with races from morning till night. One sledge after another shoots across the ice like a swift bird flying out into the darkness and ahead beckon the skullcapped peaks and slit glacier tongues.”

Visit my Facebook Author Page for some images:www.facebook.com/srbown

White Eskimo arrived!

At last, I get to hold a copy of White Eskimo in my hand. It arrived in the mail today, although the official publication date is still weeks away. It's rewarding to work with such great and talented designers and editors to create the final tangible product. The publishing process never gets old.

New website - White Eskimo

My brother Dave just redesigned and updated my author website with info about the forthcoming White Eskimo, including an excerpt and some early reviews. Always good to have a brother who is a web designer! www.stephenrbown.net

Wade Davis endorses White Eskimo

A big thanks to Wade Davis, former Explorer in Residence with the National Geographic Society and author of many books, most recently Into the Silence, for his endorsement of White Eskimo!

"In the history of Arctic exploration Knud Rasmussen stands alone, a brilliant anthropologist, an explorer of relentless determination, an entrepreneur of adventure, and a man who moved effortlessly between cultural worlds because he was truly a child of both. A full account of his life has been long overdue and this compelling book is a marvelous tribute to an extraordinary explorer and the lands and peoples who made him great."

Dogsledding

Here's an early excerpt of White Eskimo that my publisher posted on TheDodo.com: https://www.thedodo.com/learning-to-d...

White Eskimo chapter head

A poem collected by Rasmussen that I just decided will be the chapter head to chapter seven of White Eskimo. Quite thought provoking.

Glorious was life
In summer.
But did summer bring me joy?
No! Ever was I so anxious
For the skins and rugs for the platform.
Yes, I was ever anxious.
ayi, yai ya.

Great Inuit poem from Greenland, 1931

I came down
Where the ocean lies before the shore
And looked out over
The small lands in the north
Lying blue under the clear sky,
And I thought:

Someday, when I am tired, And lie down to rest, Someday, when I die, All this that I see

Will be the same to others,
And the air will arch blue
And quiver in the heat
In just the same way
To those who live when I am gone
But I became faint

At all this beauty

Collected by Knud Rasmussen, Greenland, 1931. This poem and many others will be featured in my upcoming biography of Rasmussen titled White Eskimo: The Incredible Journeys and Timeless Stories of Knud Rasmussen

Unusual philosophy

I came upon this quote from an Inuit Angakoq while researching my biography of the famous Danish ethnographer and explorer Knud Rasmussen.

"All true wisdom is only to be found far from the dwellings of men, in the
great solitudes; and it can only be attained through suffering. Suffering
and privation are the only things that can open the mind of man to that
which is hidden from his fellows."

Igjugarjuk, recorded in Alaska by Rasmussen in Across Arctic America, c. 1924,

Leadership secrets of Roald Amundsen

Here is the link to a webinar I did (slide show and voice) on Amundsen's management and leadership techniques:
https://vimeo.com/86635515

Radio intervew

I really enjoyed talking about Roald Amundsen with Tim Danahey in Colorado. He is a great interviewer with many interesting questions. He appreciated the importance of Amundsen being one of the first to rely on private financing to support what had traditionally been state sponsored expeditions.

http://danahey.com/book-hour-the-last...