At the same time, hounded by restless spirits, I began wandering the globe, visiting people and places that were so far from my childhood upbringing.  Over the decades, I have kayaked across the North Pacific and around Cape Horn, mountain biked through the Gobi desert, made first climbing ascents of big walls on Baffin Island, and first ski descents in the Tien Shan Mountains in Kyrgyzia.

     For thirty years, my life moved in two paths, which at first seemed separate and disconnected.  The academic side wrote 25 highly acclaimed environmental and geoscience textbooks, while the adventurer in me raced off to the wildernesses of the world as soon as my deadlines were met.

     Recently, I've realized that my life has been a synergistic whole.  My new book, The Raven's Gift, outlines five expeditions to northeast Siberia and my deep friendship with Moolynaut, a 100 year old healer and shaman who lives in the small village of Vyvenka.  Her great and enduring lesson is that the tundra, and all the wild spaces of our planet, provide the foundation for spiritual healing and physical well being.  Thus science and humanism coalesce.  I was recently honored to have an email exchange with Henry Pollack, a world-renowned geoscientist and co-winner of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore.  He endorsed my book and my work with the words, "The tension between his own logical scientific background and the mysterious shamanistic wisdom of his healer is at the heart of this wonderfully-told story of Koryak life, and of his own personal transformation."

      A few words about my personal life.