Tall tales and other thoughts from storyteller, sailor and nomad Dennison Berwick. "Kuan Yin" is his 32-foot go-anywhere home.
Posted in Books/Language, Life skills on Jun 10th, 2010
Journalist Michael Pollan has written three books on food. His newest (published in paperback in December 2009) is called “Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual”. It’s a list of guidelines about food – real food, how to identify it and know what is not food, but what Pollan calls “edible food-like substances”?
How conscious are you about [...]
Posted in Life skills, Solitude on Mar 4th, 2010
If you haven’t already heard of the Alaska National Wildlife Reserve, at the north-west tip of North America, chances are very good that you will be hearing a lot about the Reserve from oil companies and politicians pushing to get the area opened up to drilling for oil. But here’s a great new documentary about [...]
Posted in Sailing on Mar 1st, 2010
Constant training and upgrading of skills is one of the ways to improve safety and enjoyment sailing. And there are plenty of places to learn about many aspects of sailing. Obviously, the best place is out on the water. But often that’s not possible right now, or you want to bone up on something in [...]
Posted in Life skills, Reportage/Stories on Feb 13th, 2010
At school, my maths teacher (Major Melluish, a marvellous man) told my parents, “Dennison must realize that mathematics is not a debatable subject.” Really? So perhaps that’s why I’ve come so late in life to an understanding of the mathematical wonder of the exponential factor. Never heard of it? Well, it’s the genie that’s running [...]
Posted in Sailing on Feb 6th, 2010
Constant training and upgrading of skills is one of the ways to improve safety and enjoyment sailing. And there are plenty of places to learn about many aspects of sailing. Obviously, the best place is out on the water. But often that’s not possible right now, or you want to bone up on something in [...]
Posted in Sailing on Jan 28th, 2010
Storms at sea are likely to be only a small part of the total experience of even long-distance sailing, but it’s what most non-sailors immediately ask about and what novice sailors most worry about. Not surprising because the experience of high winds and big seas is likely to be both terrifying and exhilerating.
Here’s a really [...]
Posted in Reportage/Stories on Jan 25th, 2010
“You are what you think,
Having become what you thought,”
according to the Buddha. He might also have added, “You are what you eat, having become what you ate.”
When you start to think about it – what a lot of us put in our mouth and swallow is actually pretty shocking. It’s as if there there’s a [...]
Posted in Sailing on Jan 22nd, 2010
Constant training and upgrading of skills is one of the ways to improve safety and enjoyment sailing. And there are plenty of places to learn about many aspects of sailing. Obviously, the best place is out on the water. But often that’s not possible right now, or you want to bone up on something in [...]
Posted in Reportage/Stories on Jan 5th, 2010
A short video of a tram journey through the noisey streets of Kolkata. Tram routes are being cut back as private cars take up more and more room on the already crowded streets of this great city. Enjoy the ride while you can!
Posted in Reportage/Stories on Jan 3rd, 2010
I was fortunate this year to be in Chiang Mai, in northern Thailand, for the annual celebration of Loy Krathong, on the full moon of the 12th month in the traditional Thai lunar calendar. This is usually in November. “Loi” is “to float” and “krathong” is a little raft traditionally made from a section of [...]
"Serendipity" is the art of finding something valuable or delightful when you're not looking for it. It's how you might also define living life as an adventure - which is something I seek to do everyday - and accepting whatever happens.
