INSIDE PASSAGE: Living with Killer Whales, Bald...

INSIDE PASSAGE: Living with Killer Whales, Bald Eagles and Kwakuitl Indians by Michael Modzelewski (HarperPerennial: $9). Impatient with the artificial distractions of contemporary America, Modzelewski found a life that was both more primitive and more civilized on a tiny island off the coast of Vancouver, where he fished, kayaked and savored the beauty that surrounded him. Unlike the authors of many back-to-nature tomes, Modzelewski never tried to pit himself the environment, but sought to move with its rhythms: “The Inside Passage is real dream country . . . the world around constantly flows in many levels, swirling deep fathoms into you, loosening holdfasts and safeguards, stirring up sediment, provoking protean change.” He shares the frisson of excitement he felt when he touched the back of a killer whale, an exhilaration he experienced running on the beach and watching an eagle overhead: Their shadows merged, creating the image of a winged man.