Bruce Kirkby is a Canadian writer, photographer and adventurer whose journeys span 80 countries and include traversing Iceland by foot, Mongolia by horseback, Arabia by camel and the Blue Nile Gorge by raft. Along the way he’s been shot at in Borneo, taken hostage in Ethiopia, and imprisoned by Myanmar’s army. His writing has appeared in publications including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Outside Magazine. He is listed among 'the nation’s top modern day explorers' by Canadian Geographic.
"Kirkby deftly and emotionally describes the stakes. Raw and
moving, it is the family’s interior journey, and Bodi’s especially,
that displays the curative powers of adventure.”
*The New York Times Book Review*
I was blown away by the audaciousness of this epic family voyage,
desperately wishing I was there with them. Kirkby’s writing offers
a vivid exploration of culture, geography and relationships, but
also, more urgently, of how we choose to live- and whether that’s
possible to change.
*Author of Endure: Mind, Body and the Curiously Elastic Limits of
Human Performance*
“An uplifting travelogue. Poignant and gently
provocative.”
*Publishers Weekly (starred)*
Family adventure doesn’t begin to describe what transpires in these
pages. Kirkby and his remarkable family have built a bridge between
the Rockies and the Himalaya, and in so doing spanned the gap
between autism and Buddhism. In addition to being a manifestation
of deepest love and devotion, this book is a time-bending journey
through a landscape and culture that filled me with envy and sorrow
by turns, while showing me things I have never seen described in a
lifetime of reading. We are lucky to have someone as brave,
generous, and open as Bruce Kirkby abroad in the world.
*The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival*
"As it explores an ancient—and dying—Tib etan Buddhist culture,
this delightful book also tells a timely, heartwarming story of a
family’s search for peace away from the din of modern culture.
Soul-refreshing reading for armchair travelers and spiritual
questers alike."
*Kirkus Review*
Bruce Kirkby’s chronicle of living in a remote Buddhist monastery
with his family is by turns hilarious and enchanting. What a
beautiful ode to impermanence, to the families we choose and the
families we find and to the complicated wonders of a different, and
fast-disappearing way of life.
*Author of Lands of Lost Borders: Out of Bounds on the Silk
Road*
In an era when countless demands make it increasingly easy to
ignore people and engage instead with devices, Blue Sky Kingdom
provides a much-needed call back to the physical world.
*Author of Amazon Woman*
A rollicking journey, full of insights on cultivating a nourishing,
fully present life amidst so much noise and distraction.
*Co-author of Peak Performance and The Passion Paradox*
By any standards, it’s a big adventure to travel the slow way
across the world to a remote corner of the Himalaya and live there
for months in a spartan Buddhist monastery—but taking young
children along ramps it up to another level. Written with zest and
clarity, Bruce’s account is compelling, moving, funny and above all
honest, sharing hardships and frustrations along with the joys and
ultimate rewards.
*Maria Coffey, author of Where the Mountain Casts its Shadow*
Insightful and adventurous, Blue Sky Kingdom offers a road map on
how to learn from the world ... There is wisdom in this book. Open
it and let your imagination soar.
*Acclaimed American Aplinist*
"Bruce Kirkby has lived the dream of the modern globe-trotting
adventurer: crossing Arabian sand seas, sea-kayaking Iceland and
Borneo, traversing Northern Mongolia on horseback. In Blue Sky
Kingdom, Kirkby's wife and two young sons join him for a
different kind of journey—to an isolated Buddhist monastery, yes,
but also to the elusive and fragile heart of wisdom that we all
hope to glimpse in this lifetime. What a heartfelt, lovely and kind
book this is."
*Daniel Duane, author of Caught Inside*
In Blue Sky Kingdom, Bruce Kirkby not only takes us far across the
world and deep inside a rarely seen culture, but also allows us an
intimate view of his family, all while writing with tender honesty,
penetrating insight and a delightful lack of bra-vado. Kirkby
gently reminds us to breathe, embrace the unfamiliar and celebrate
even the smallest of moments.
*Author of Rowing to Latitude and Snowstruck*
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