The Raven's Gift

The National Geographic Award–winning explorer and scientist recounts his journey of spiritual healing in the Siberian wilderness. Jon Turk has kayaked around Cape Horn and paddled across the Pacific Ocean to retrace the voyages of ancient people. But, the strangest trip he ever took was the journey he made as a man of science into the realm of the spiritual. In a remote Siberian village, Turk met an elderly Koryak shaman named Moolynaut who invoked the help of a Spirit Raven to mend his fractured pelvis. When the healing was complete, he was able to walk without pain. Turk, finding no rational explanation, sought understanding by traversing the frozen tundra where Moolynaut was born, camping with bands of reindeer herders, and recording stories of their lives and spirituality. Framed by high adventure across the vast and forbidding Siberian landscape, The Raven's Gift creates a vision of natural and spiritual realms interwoven by one man's awakening. "[A] wonderfully-told story of Koryak life and [Turk's] own personal transformation." ―Henry Pollack, author of A World Without Ice and Uncertain Science . . . Uncertain World "[Written] with prowess, nerve, and precision . . . Turk attests to the innate powers of body, mind, and soul that are awakened when we immerse ourselves in 'Wild Nature'." — Booklist, starred review