A well written environmental book about the plight of Salmon set in the Canadian and Alaskan daylight, climate and wilderness. I felt the book could have had illustrations/photographs/maps to give a better feel of the people and places. However it was a great journey in a remote place to take my mind to. The book begins with the author's inspirations, Farley Mowatt, Jack London, and Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild (all great authors worth reading). He informs, in the introduction, how Columbus called the Native American Eskimo "In Deos", and that came to be known as Indian. The author used a sea/floatplane in Canada, which swapped floats for skis during differing seasons. I learned more about Salmon than I really wanted to from this book, but it was very educational in the environmental plight of the Salmon. I particularly enjoyed the encounter with the bear, and indeed the interesting and diverse characters who shared meals and stories. Also mentions of Izaak Walton, and Bill Mason (Canadian canoeist). ( )

Non-fiction, Alaska, Canada, Yukon, zalm, reisboek ( )

There are very few areas left in the world that haven't had some interference from mankind, but one of the true wilderness areas left is in Alaska. It is through this part of Canada and America that the Yukon River snakes its way to the coast and it is this 2000 mile river that Adam Weymouth is intending to canoe along. Even this remote wilderness is showing the signs of climate change and the results of our ruining the planet.

Weymouth is also there to track the King salmon, or chinook as they are known in Canada, as they head upstream from the Bearing Sea to carry out their last act before dying; spawning. They have been away in the Pacific and no one knows exactly where they go, or indeed how they find their way back to the same river and the exact pool where they were spawned themselves. When they have committed this last act, they die. The return of the salmon brought food for the various predators and economic activity along the river for the people that choose to live in this part of the world. However the thousands and thousands of salmon that used to almost clog the river up in their desire to reproduce are no longer there, changes wrought by us and climate change hade decimated the populations.

His account of his four-month journey was in reality split over two years as the river was impossible to canoe down during the winter. That doesn't lessen his desire to find the people with the stories to tell, and what stories they are. This part of the world attracts those that wanted to drop out of normal society. He meets the indigenous people too who have relied on the king salmon as an intrinsic part of their culture for thousands of years and who until recently have only lightly touched the earth. Weymouth takes time to talk to those he meets, tease out the stories and understand the shocking effects we have been causing on this otherwise unspoilt wilderness and the way that people who have depended on this natural resource are trying to change to reverse some of the changes. For a debut travel writer, he is pretty accomplished. This is a really enjoyable travel book with a sharp focus and I am looking forward to reading what he does next. ( )

Kings of the Yukon is by a British author who canoed the length of the Yukon River with a focus on the King salmon (called the Chinook in Canada). It's called the king because of the species of salmon the King is the most desirable, with lots of fat and thus flavor. In the past 20 years or so stocks have greatly fallen due to over-harvesting (mostly commercial) and it is changing lives and traditions. It's selling for $80/lb in my part of the world, if you can find it, too rich for me though I hope to try some before I or they die off. I eat the affordable pink which is apparently considered a trash fish among King eaters who feed the pink to their dogs! The book is well written and evocative of the place, I feel as though I have been there. This is a great way to experience a part of the world most of us will never get to. Life in native communities, their personalities and personal histories, I also found very interesting. The book rewards on multiple levels, deserving of its awards. ( )

King Salmon, tied to the culture of the people of the First nation, now making it's last stand in the Yukon. Everything one ever wanted to know about this king of salmon, the days when they thrived, and now their decline. The author sets out on a 2000 mile journey, mostly by canoe, down the Yukon River, starting in Canada and continuing on into Alaska. Along the way he stops, visits villages, talks to natives who have depended on the salmon, as but also as a way of life, tradition. He talks to homesteaders, some reality TV stars, from the various shows now on our television. He contrasts past information, with present day reality. Although climate change is s certainty in its effect on the salmon numbers, he finds it is much more complicated than that.

I enjoyed this book immensely, he is a great fact purveyor, but also an interesting story teller. His description of the river, the fauna, the different cultures and ways of life those he encounters I found engrossing. It is to be expected that those living in what is called the last fronteir, the last wilderness, would be hardy and a different type of character. He takes us back in time to Gold Rush days, when so much of where he passes, was in it's heydey, showing us know how changed, different things are, though the effects still linger. We even get to visit England, where salmon was once do plentiful, it was hunted by dogs. We even get to hear from Charles Dickens, his viewpoint of their diminishing numbers.

Regulations. Salmon farms, a shorter fishing season, now in place to try to conserve and multiply these Salmon, reversing the current trend. Alaska is the last place where it may, of should I say must, get it right, or we humans will have managed to eliminate another once plentiful species. My only regret while reading this book was that photographs were not included. Did appreciate the msp in the front, where I could follow his journey on the river, and the toens, villages where he stopped. ( )