Islands Apart: A Year on the Edge of Civilization

by Ken McAlpine

Author Ken McAlpine stands in his front yard one night in Ventura, California, trying to see the stars. His view is diminished by light pollution, making it hard to see much of anything in the sky. Our fast-paced, technologically advanced society, he concludes, is not conducive to stargazing or soul-searching. Taking a page from Thoreau's Walden, he decides to get away from the clamor of everyday life, journeying alone through California's Channel Islands National Park. There, he imagines, he might be able to "breathe slowly and think clearly, to examine how we live and what we live for" In between his week-long solo trips through these pristine islands, McAlpine reaches out to try to better understand his fellow he eats lunch with the homeless in Beverly Hills, sits in the desert with a 98-year-old Benedictine monk, and befriends a sidewalk celebrity impersonator in Hollywood. What he discovers about himself and the world we live in will inspire anyone who wishes they had the time to slow down and notice the wonders of nature and humanity.

Genres: Nonfiction, Travel, Memoir

265 pages, Paperback

First published July 14, 2009

About the author

Ken McAlpine’s most recent novel, NEXUS, picks up where the page-turning JUNCTURE left off. Cerebral Jaws and riveting thriller, NEXUS unspools in a world rapidly moving beyond anything we know. Our oceans are changing. Very soon survival may be more than just a word on this page.

Ken McAlpine is the author of ten books; fiction, non-fiction and selected essays. Of his novel TOGETHER WE JUMP, USA Today said, “There’s a beautiful Forrest Gump feel to this book. The main character was a delight and I just loved his sad, wistful, wonderful tale.” His novel "Fog", an eerie maritime mystery that unfolds on the wreck-strewn coast of Cape Cod in 1882, was described by a reviewer as "one of the most intelligent, richly detailed, deeply felt and evocative novels I've read." His non-fiction works include the books "Off Season: Discovering America on Winter's Shore" (a Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers selection) and "Islands Apart: A Year on the Edge of Civilization," and several collections of essays.

Ken lives in Ventura, California with his wife and their two sons. He likes to stand in his yard at night looking at the stars, but he does not like to spend any time during the day doing yard work.

If you would like more information, please see http://www.facebook.com/kenmcalpineau... and http://www.kenmcalpine.com Thank you!

Reviews

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book more than I did; but, sadly, the parts didn't make a whole for me. McAlpine writes well but the pieces would have been better suited to publication in magazines. The intervening non-island essays felt like filler, and I didn't really get a "sense" of each island's individuality - a map of the Channel Islands (at least a rough one showing their relative size and distance was sorely lacking.

[Wendy Campbell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ken takes us on a wonderful journey: as well as sharing his week-long camping stays on each of California's Channel Islands, he shares his times with islands of people amongst us - like lunches for the homeless.

Ken's ability to not only BE with whatever environment he is in, but also to eloquently share what he experiences, is a profound gift.

As I read the last sentence I was very grateful to have been taken with Ken on his travels. The lives of all the beings on the various islands that he inhabited had been shared kindly and sensitively. It was a lovely journey:-)

[Ham · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book because it speaks to a lot of people in the nature and hiking community. McAlpine’s journey through the Channel Islands captures the beauty and rawness of these remote islands while talking about environmental conservation, human connection, and the search for meaning in an often chaotic world. I like how the book is a reminder of the balance we seek between the fast paced demands of “real life” and the peace of the world… however, it was pretty repetitive and I couldn’t stay fully engaged at a lot of part which explains why it took so long to finish this.

[Ken Colman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ken did a masterful job of moving from the islands and isolation to being with others in all parts of society. It was a journey of discovery of self that we all take and end up with more questions than answers. I appreciated the book and recommend it as a read for those searching for meaning in life and in this world.

[Johanna R]

A book made up of observations and theories of the author; yes he described his experiences both on the Channel Islands and contrasting back with "normal life," but there was not enough substance to balance out the inner dialogue.

[Tracey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the book with its reference to a place I love..

[Rebecca Gregory · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lovely book. I want to spend a week on one of those islands.

[Elizabeth N Moyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read for both the heart and soul

Wonderful background on the Channel Islands. Musings on Life, our World and our place in it were thoughtful, but not oppressive.

[Tamara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Islands Apart is a story of a man's quest to look at the world we live in from a quiet place.

Ken McAlpine journeys to all 5 of the Channel Islands for a week stay at each island. In some of his visits he is completely alone and in others he meets people like himself that want to get away from what can sometimes be very hectic lives. In Mr. McAlpines visits he describes what it is like to be on the islands. It is extremely interesting to hear about the different fauna and flora on each of the islands. In his time on the islands Mr. McAlpine finds the solitude he had been searching for and takes the reader along for the same journey.

When the author is not spending time at any of the Channel Islands, he visits other venues that provide him more insight into the world we live in.

The first place he vists is a beach located in Santa Barbara. There is a section of the beach that is known as Arlington West. In this area of the beach there are crosses that represent each of the military men and women who have perished during the war. Mr. McAlpine spends time with some volunteers who are in charge of laying out, and naming the crosses of the fallen victims. In this chapter it becomes apparent how very close we are to death in life.

The next stop is a monastery located in the Mojave Desert. The Author encounters a 98 year old man named Father Eleutherius. This genteleman planted a sequioa tree in the middle of the desert. You can sense from the conversations between the Author and Father Eleutherius that the Father is very content with his life and watching his tree grow from a small sapling to a beautiful tree. You can also feel the Father's pride in giving something to this world that is both beautiful and healthful to our environment.

In the chapter Almost Famous, we learn the story of what life is like for an impersonator on the streets of Hollywood, California. The Author spends time with a Jack Sparrow impersonator whose real name is James. In this chapter , the author makes the reader ponder what will we live behind when we are no longer on this earth? It was a very thought provoking chapter.

Lunch in Beverly Hills, takes us to the All Saints Lunch, a place for the homeless to come to eat a good meal. The Author spends a week at the shelter meeting the homeless and learning about their lives. Mr. McAlpine immerses himself into the homeless culture by portraying himself as a homeless man. The person in charge of the shelter, Michael, understands what the Author is doing and gives Mr. McAlpine insight into the lives of the homeless. Michael explains that a lot of the people who come to the shelter live the lives of the homeless because they have chosen to do so. A lot of these people are able to work, a lot of them are very intelligent but they would prefer to live as they do. This chapter really opens up the readers eyes to what it is like living as a homeless person.

In the final chapter, The World to Come, the author visits with a Nursery School in Ventura California. This chapter brings us to life as it begins and all that we have to look forward to.

In final, I found Islands Apart to be a very interesting story. One that will open people's eyes to life, the peace that life gives us, the sadness that we sometimes see, the joy we can feel and what the future holds. It is a story that I would definitely recommend.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I live in Ventura County and randomly found this book at the Camarillo Library while searching for travel books for Southern California. Since I've camped at Santa Cruz Island and visited Anacapa, I was immediately intrigued by the subject matter - that a man decides to spend a year visiting the islands in the Channel Islands National Park as well as different places in Southern California, discovering how to "slow down and notice the wonders of nature and humanity".

It was a quick read, but a long digestion. :) If you like Steve Lopez, then you'll definitely like this author as well. He presents information, offers a few points of thought, but allows the reader to draw their own conclusions.

After finishing the book, I was a little disgruntled to find no mention of San Nicolas Island, so I Googled "Channel Islands" and learned something else - that while the Channel Islands consist of 6 islands (Santa Rosa, Anacapa, San Miguel, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz and San Nicolas), Channel Islands National Park only includes 5. San Nicolas is owned by the U.S. government and is used as a military base and is *not* part of the Channel Islands National Park. So while it would have been really cool to include the Island of the Blue Dolphins, the author couldn't have gone there.

I liked the idea of "one chapter on the islands, one chapter on the mainland." The island chapters were excellent - each island had their own unique qualities as well as commonalities (oh, the winds - I don't miss those, either), and the park rangers deserve all compliments they received in the book and more - they do an amazing job of educating, saving and preserving both the islands and the hapless tourists who descend upon them. The mainland chapters were really good, but they seemed a little lost, as though while the author wanted his readers to be able to draw their own conclusions, he really wanted to be able to find answers himself, but couldn't.

There were several memorable quotes from the book, but one in general on the importance of checking in with the rangers from his stay on Santa Barbara Island (where he was literally the only person on the island) made me laugh out loud:

Back at park service headquarters in Ventura I had seen the sign taped to the wall of the dispatcher's office: "You may know where you are. And God may know where you are. But if Dispatch doesn't know where you are, you and God better be very good friends."

Overall, I highly enjoyed the book and it makes me want to take a trip out to all the islands, but especially if I could score a bunkhouse at Santa Barbara *grins sheepishly*.

[Meg · Rating 3 out of 5]

So, I won this book as part of the Goodreads book give-away, and hence am reviewing it before its actual release.

Given that, I might be tempted to be nicer in my review, particularly if this were a first-time author. But he's not; McAlpine has one prior book and has allegedly won writing awards and such. So I'm going to assume he can take my brief summary of Islands Apart, which is that this is a book about a privileged white man who gets dissatisfied with society and gains his first inkling that not everything is completely good, so he makes his first venture to actually care about nature and those without money. He pretends to do so with spiritual depth, and then is mostly ignorant that he largely fails.

The two other things I found frustrating about this book:

1. Nothing in the description/introduction/first chapter sets you up to expect the second chapter, which has nothing to do with being on the Channel Islands. The entire premise of the book is described as the author doing his own version of Thoreau, but on the Islands. The reader, however, suddenly finds themselves reading bits of interviews conducted with Vets for Peace members in urban Southern California. Every other chapter continues in this fashion, telling the author's experience with various people in locations mostly around LA. I found it distracting.

2. Related to the first point: McAlpine clearly prefers to write about people. And he is much better at it than at writing about nature. Even his story about the Islands all focus on the people we meet there; his description of the landscape and animals lacks imagination and detail. The chapters focused on his interactions with others in LA are actually better done than those focused on the islands for that reason.

But, I will say this for it: the chapter on street performers in LA is quite interesting, and his portrayal of one performer's life and dreams is heart-wrenching. That chapter saved the book for me, and I think McAlpine should have written a book solely about this one man. I'm sad this book wasn't it.

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

The subtitle of this book was misleading. I pictured the author living alone, like a castaway, for a year. Not so. He spent a week on each of the Channel Islands (the California ones, not the English Channel ones), separated by weeks of investigating "fringe" lifestyles or situations. Despite getting something different than what I was expecting, I still liked the book very much. To me, McApline has the perfect writing style for this type of non-fiction. It wasn't objective, but it wasn't so personal as to render forming my own conclusioins impossible. McAlpine seems like a genuinely nice guy, and that comes across in this book.
I also enjoyed reading about his time on these islands that are (mostly) without modern creature comforts. I like being alone in the great outdoors, and he gives an appreciable nod to communing with nature, without being so out there that you'd expect him to start up a hippie commune at any moment. In fact, if anything, his camping misadventures might prove irksome to the hardcore outdoorsman, but that really isn't the focus of this book, and to me, it was relatable and enjoyable to read.
I also liked the different situations he explored. Ones that stick out to me several weeks after having read the book are: visiting a weekly war memorial on the beach, spending time at a monastary (sounds like fun, other than the eating in silence part), and shadowing a Captain Jack Sparrow impersonator in front of Grauman's Chinese Theater.
Overall, a quick read with enough meat to keep it interesting, but a light enough style that I didn't have to work too hard for it.

[Jenny (Reading Envy) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dear Mr. McAlpine,

I would like to have your life. I have read two of your books at this point, and each one has supercharged my weird desire to travel to obscure, cold-weather, bleak places, and I have now added the Channel Islands to my list. I was actually reading Off-Season: Discovering America on Winter's Shore the day I went to Block Island in February, so this is no joke!

P.S. As your name is McAlpine, I can only imagine that you are obscurely related to the larger MacGregor clan, so I think we might be related. When you decide to travel to Scotland for your next cold weather adventure book, TAKE ME WITH YOU.

Ahem, sorry about that. These kinds of books just make me itch to see more, do more, and not the normal stuff. I preferred the chapters about the islands, and didn't care much about the wider point of the impact of society and business and technology (for a much better read on those topics, read The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains). So I pretty much skimmed the Hollywood and Beverly Hills chapters in order to get back to the bits about the islands more quickly.

"You have to be out there to understand the place."

"The island becomes your world."

[Alisha B · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think what McAlpine was trying to do was to show that there is a deep desire in all things, in people and in nature, to know that there will be some piece of them left behind after they die. To know that they won’t just fade into oblivion. It is why we have children. It’s why writer’s write, cavemen drew, why the park ranger’s work so diligently to preserve the foxes and murrelets and the ugly scrub that’s native to the islands. It’s why the xantus murrelets continue to lay eggs in caves where rats destroy the embryo within before it’s even had a chance to firm up. What’s more, in an effort to ensure we continue on, we do what we can to control what little bit we can, whether by planting a tree in the desert or by working long hours to invest every cent possible in a future hoped for.

Full review: http://thekoolaidmom.wordpress.com/20...

[Tracy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book discussed the fast paced life we all live and how we don't take the time to sit and reflect in our busy lives today where we are always online or running from errand to errand. Ken spent a week on each of the Channel Islands off the coast of California and painted a glorious picture of solitude and peace. His descriptions of the islands were vivid and I felt like I was right there on the island too. I enjoy escaping to the mountains at least biweekly so I really related well to this story. There were several stories interspersed between the island tales about trying to find some peace and solitude within society. I really enjoyed Ken's conversational writing style and the book Islands Apart.

[Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first book I won off a Goodreads giveaway. It was an interesting story about the author who decides to spend time out of his day to day life visiting different islands of the Channel islands, and he does this without the technologies that most of society depends on, such as cell phones and internet. He meets people who have gone through hard times, and not just visits with these people, but becomes apart of their everyday life. I really enjoyed this book, and the author's writing style kept the book running smoothly. Reminded me alot of another book I read, Tales of a Female Nomad. Good book!!!

[Leslie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the focus of this book a little distracting. Is it a book about the author being "on the edge of civilization" or a book about a guy who goes camping for 5? different weeks on the Channel Islands and then is around the homeless, meeting street performers etc? I thought both topics were interesting but the title gave me the impression that this would be about the author's revelations on each island. While I enjoyed the book and was interested in other things he has written, I wished this had packed more of what it promised...where were the insights and revelations? He clearly had some in civilization but the parts about the islands could have been more developed.

[Stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I took this back to the library after carrying it around for three weeks and barely getting into it.

I liked the information about the islands, and about the wildlife (especially the only-found-here-and-nowhere-else foxes) but I just couldn't get into the rest of the writing.

Note to publisher: some kind of map of the Channel Islands would be a good idea in this kind of book.

(And I skimmed but saw not one mention of the so-called "lost woman of San Nicholas Island ... which you'd think might be a good story to recount in a book about people, people alone, and people on islands.)

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this book. I, as many other native Californian's, was not very familiar with the islands Ken McAlpine stays on. I found the book very enlightening and interesting. I love that he went to each island and talked about history of it, wild life, botany native to each island. He not only gives you a lot of neat facts ( I am sure the reader has never heard) but there is also an endearing story. I also liked how it was almost like reading a few different short stories. It was a really easy book to read. I would definitely recommend it!

[Jennifer Campaniolo · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author, a journalist living in southern CA, decides to spend a year staying on-and-off the Channel Islands so he can experience life without cell phones, Blackberries, or internet. He also spends time with people experiencing some of the world's sorrows like war and poverty. The narrator is funny and engaging, and there's definitely a "fly-on-the-wall" quality to reading about his unique experiences.

[Tiffany Malcom · Rating 3 out of 5]

The problem with reading travel books is that they just add to the list of places I want to go! This one follows a guy who spends a week on each of the Channel Islands (off the coast of Southern California . . . not that I knew that before, but now I do). He's not the most interesting writer in the world, but he made me want to go there!

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading each chapter, and the book struck me a bit in the same way that Omnivors Dilemma did in that way. I felt that each section was a bit disconnected. Overall, it was a good read and I would recommend it to someone who has a knowledge of the area, as I found it more enjoyable, knowing where he was referring to.

[Andrew Ludke · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's an interesting idea, what would it be like to live away from the distractions of the modern world? I am a thoroughly entrenched techno geek. I work as an automation systms engineer and have many of the latest gadgets when theuy come out. The author sets out to find some space inside and out to sort through whats important.

[Carole · Rating 3 out of 5]

This author was recommended by a friend in Ventura, CA for summer reading, and I enjoyed the book with its commentary on the Channel Islands and various other places in Southern California, I didn't always find the writing moving. I will probably dip into at least one more of his books to see if I grips me more than this one did.

[Stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I appreciate what the author was hoping to gain from his experience, I found that I didn't have great deal of interest in the book when I started reading. Perhaps it was timing; I might try this one again at a different point.

[Dayna · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't like the non-island bits; I started to skip them as I went along. And even the island sections were too short and didn't give enough of a sense of what he went through. Too many wrapping up chapters with lessons. Eh.

[Katherine Duncan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, it is a non-fiction and it renewed my appreciation of the islands we get to enjoy! I am ready for another visit and will go with more thought on what I am encountering.

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read especially when sitting on the back of a boat at the lake

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this in a weekend...since I leave in Ventura I am drawn to the islands but have not taken on what Ken did. It was a real read and an honest experience.