To shake the sleeping self

Title:

Author:

Jenkins, Jedidiah.

Personal Author:

Jenkins, Jedidiah.

ISBN:

9781524761400

Physical Description:

viii; 331 pages ; 20 cm.

Abstract:

On the eve of turning thirty, terrified of being sucked into a life he didn't choose, Jedidiah Jenkins quit his dream job and spent the next sixteen months cycling from Oregon to Patagonia. He chronicled the trip on Instagram, where his photos and reflections on life soon attracted hundreds of thousands of followers and got him featured by National Geographic and The Paris Review. Jed now narrates the adventure that started it all: the people and places he encountered on his way to the bottom of the world, and the internal journey that prompted it -- the question of what it means to be an adult; his struggle to reconcile his sexual identity with his conservative Christian upbringing; and his belief in travel as a way to "wake us up" to our lives back home. As he writes in this account of his search for wonder and a life he could believe in, 'It's not about the bike. It's about getting out of your routine -- and that could look like anything."

Subject Term:

Cycling--America.

Self-actualization (Psychology).

America--Description and travel.

Genre:

Travel writing.

Summary:

Holds:

Available:*

Library	Material Type	Shelf Number	Status
Searching... Belmont	Book	910.4 J52	Searching... Unknown
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Summary

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * "With winning candor, Jedidiah Jenkins takes us with him as he bicycles across two continents and delves deeply into his own beautiful heart." -- Cheryl Strayed, author of Wild and Tiny Beautiful Things

On the eve of turning thirty, terrified of being funneled into a life he didn't choose, Jedidiah Jenkins quit his dream job and spent sixteen months cycling from Oregon to Patagonia. He chronicled the trip on Instagram, where his photos and reflections drew hundreds of thousands of followers, all gathered around the question: What makes a life worth living?

In this unflinchingly honest memoir, Jed narrates his adventure--the people and places he encountered on his way to the bottom of the world--as well as the internal journey that started it all. As he traverses cities, mountains, and inner boundaries, Jenkins grapples with the question of what it means to be an adult, his struggle to reconcile his sexual identity with his conservative Christian upbringing, and his belief in travel as a way to wake us up to life back home.

A soul-stirring read for the wanderer in each of us, To Shake the Sleeping Self is an unforgettable reflection on adventure, identity, and a life lived without regret.

This edition features a new afterword and a reader's group guide.

"[Jenkins is] a guy deeply connected to his personal truth and just so refreshingly present." -- Rich Roll, author of Finding Ultra

"This is much more than a book about a bike ride. This is a deep soul deepening us. Jedidiah Jenkins is a mystic disguised as a millennial." --Tom Shadyac, author of Life's Operating Manual

"Thought-provoking and inspirational . . . This uplifting memoir and travelogue will remind readers of the power of movement for the body and the soul." --Publishers Weekly

Reviews (1)

Kirkus Review

Or, evangelism and the art of bicycle maintenance on a long journey of self-discovery.Instagram personality Jenkins works a familiar trope: a challenging season of travel as a means of finding out what makes him tick and working out the big questions. Granted, his travel was far more challenging than most, as he decided to leave a job and a life that afforded him plenty of satisfactions in order to ride a bicycle from Oregon to the tip of South America. "It wasn't the job that chased me away," he writes of hitting the 30-year-old mark, "it was mortality." He adds, meaningfully, that he had plenty of background; what remained was to acquire experience, or "background and tools," with which to live his life henceforth. The trip took 16 months and brought him a built-in audience for this memoir as he posted photographs and observations to social media. In the company of an adventurous friend, Jenkins found plenty of occasions for that self-discovery, sifting through the wreckage of family crises, wrestling with sexual identity, and grappling with questions of faith and religious belief. "I think that you're scared, and that's bullshit," said his friend after a critical moment that managed to touch on most of these points. "I just want you to be free." Jenkins gets thereto that freedom, that is, and also to Patagonia. His account runs a little long, some of it a mere slideshow of impressions ("Mexico City is a beast"; "It was beautiful, the air was clean, the light angled just right"). Other moments are more successful, though. The author is especially good at eliciting wisdom, even if sometimes of a loopy kind, from the people he encounteredhis traveling companion in particular but also people like a young Argentinian woman who confided that she wants to do a road trip through the U.S.: "I want to see the empire before it falls."Jenkins' many Instagram followers won't be disappointed. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.