"The Starship and the Canoe is neither a wilderness survival manual
nor a book of blueprints. It is another of those rare books impossible
to define: the kind that seeks you in time. And you will know it, live
it, and consult it thereafter simply by name." --Chicago Sun-Times
"In the tradition of Carl Sagan and John McPhee, a bracing cerebral
voyage past intergalactic hoopla and backwoods retreats." --Kirkus
Reviews
Originally published in 1978, The Starship and the Canoe is the
remarkable story of a father and son: Freeman Dyson is a world-renowned
astrophysicist who dreams of exploring the heavens and has designed a
spaceship to take him there. His son George, a brilliant high school
dropout, lives in a treehouse and is designing a giant kayak to explore
the icy coastal wilderness of the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. Author
Kenneth Brower describes with stunning impact their lives and their
visions of the world. It is a timeless tale framed by modern science,
adventure, family, and the natural world.