Nahanni Journals

Reviews / Votes

"Settling in Alberta, [Patterson] soon got swept up with dreams of adventure and the search for gold in the sub-Arctic region where the Nahanni and Flat Rivers are located. His expedition would last two years, and he chronicled the entire journey in his diary. Editor Richard C. Davis says this book is not just a reflection of one man's quest for riches but it is also a mediation on man's impact on the natural world." Scott Hayes, St. Albert Gazette, Mar 12, 2008. "Patterson was an Oxford-educated Londoner who found his destiny in the Northwest Territories. The journals, written when he was in his twenties, reflect the youthful thrill of seeking gold and adventure in the wild." H. J. Kirchhoff, The Globe and Mail, Mar 22, 2008. "If you are old enough to have read The Jungle Book, Kim and Grey Owl's works, you will love this day by day garland of adventure stories. Having worked in 1943 on the Alaska Highway, I had heard the stories of the River with a Curse and welcomed this conqueror of Headless Valley." Ron MacIsaac, Lower Island News, Apr, 2008 "Patterson used his time on the Nahanni to explore, search for gold and adventure and generally just muck about enjoying life on the river. This is not your typical male adventurer laden with testosterone and swaggering under the weight of an immense ego. Instead, he is thoughtful, gentle, observant, even child-like in the way he expresses himself, and yet there is a side that hungers for adventure and revels in danger....The strength of Patterson's journals-and as a result Nahanni Journals-is that Patterson was also an accomplished writer. His journals, rather than being a static record of events, evoked a greater story, which he captured in the 1954 The Dangerous River. His journals add to that story, recording his thoughts, feelings and observations, alongside his experiences creating an intimate, enjoyable and uncontrived read....Given the different threads Davis includes in the book, Nahanni Journals has a broad appeal..." Rob Alexander, The Rocky Mountain Outlook, Apr 26, 2008 "Powerful, revealing stories perfect for armchair adventurers. Raymond Patterson is a Londoner who finds his journey to Canada's wild Northwest Territories provide adventure and outdoor challenges unlike any of his life. NAHANNI JOURNALS trace his journeys from 1927-1929 and has powerful, revealing stories perfect for armchair adventurers and travelers, catering to them. Highly recommended." 5-star review from Better World Books, May 6, 2008 "Ray Patterson is an iconic figure, strongly associated with the noble Nahanni River and his book, Dangerous River, remains a classic in northern writing. As any researcher knows well-to get the real truth you must go right back to the original source, the handwritten journals. As in a court case, these are the invaluable documents that tell it like it really was. In this case Richard C. Davis, a University of Calgary professor and his graduate students have done a superb job of getting to the true story of Dangerous River. And while they're puncturing a legend, they release a real person whose story is just as compelling and interesting. Davis provides a superb Prologue to this collection of the river journals of Patterson which made up his famous book. In a highly readable and informative way, Davis recounts the 'other story' of that trip, the real one where R.M. never did get to see Virginia Falls on that first trip up the Nahanni, much less being almost sucked into it as the book suggests.. His journals are written as an extended letter to his mother, with frequent personal and contemporary references that Davis and his class have all tracked down and covered. They are also revealing of a sensitive viewer with a lovely turn of phrase.. Proper journals from a trip give you a look into what really happened. You will not find an entry anywhere in Dangerous River, published 27 years later, about Patterson trying to figure out how to flip his canoe over his head to portage his canoe for the first time in a method which has been described to him! . There is also a fascinating bonus, completely left out of Dangerous River. Patterson's return trip that first year was a harrowing solo dash on deserted trails though a thick interior to beat the oncoming winter. This book features many original photos and 30 pages of annotations to explain every reference. Davis also tells the story of how the book came about-almost three decades after the fact-and it is a fascinating tale." Che-Mun, The Journal of Canadian Wilderness Canoeing, Spring 2008 In Nahanni Journals, Raymond M. Patterson's personal travel journals from 1927-1929 are published for the first time. Patterson...is best known for his book The Dangerous River, which recounts his travels by foot and canoe along the Northwest Territories' remote Nahanni River.... Through the journals, Patterson comes across less as a dominant hero of the wilderness and more as an inexperienced adventurer who, addressing the entries to his mother, marvels at the sight of moose calves and the northern lights even while he struggles to fend off mosquitoes and portage a canoe.... Davis' extensive introductory material delves into the context and history of Patterson's writings, and highlights how the journals reveal certain elements of The Dangerous River to be fabrications..." Paul Huebener, Canadian Literature, Fall 2009 [Full review at http://www.canlit.ca/reviews.php?id=14808] "Patterson's day-to-day records tell a different, arguably richer, story than the book, revealing other levels of his experience which offer lessons largely absent from the narrative.... Richard Davis's sensitive analysis of the journal's content and his integration of it with other aspects of Patterson's life make the journals doubly interesting and valuable, as does Davis's consideration of Patterson's accomplishments and writings in a broader literary context.... The world of blank spots on the map, the last vestiges of which Patterson explored more than 80 years ago, has truly vanished today. The discovery of more than what can be shown on a map, on the other hand, is inexhaustible, and great travel writing is about the exploration of this less tangible terrain, a country not only unconquerable by money, ambition, and bravado, but altogether inaccessible by those means alone. Patterson's journals recount his passage through this land. His full perception of what was around him and his recounting of it in his journals read as true and to the point as any perfect line through whitewater." W.T. Pfeffer, Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research, Vol. 41, No. 4, 2009 [Full review at http://www.bioone.org/doi/pdf/10.1657/1938-4246 41.4.522?cookieSet=1] "The [Nahanni] Journals will appeal to armchair travelers, historians of the Canadian Northwest, students of Canadian travel literature, paddlers, and anyone planning an expedition into the Nahanni country. There are passages predictive, descriptive, and cautionary. Highly recommended." John R. Abbott, Canadian Book Review Annual Online, 2009