You could say that Crocker Snow Jr. has been writing his latest book, about the tiny island off the coast of Nantucket called Muskeget, ever since his father flew him there some 70 years ago.
Muskeget: Raw, Restless, Relentless Island, is the product of a journalist with a keen eye for detail, and an appetite for adventure.
His eye for detail was honed during his years as a foreign correspondent at the Boston Globe.
His appetite for adventure was passed down from his father, an aviation pioneer, who piloted 140 different types of planes, beginning in the 1920s. The plane his father loved the most was the one you see in the video, his private single engine North American Navion.
He logged 900,000 miles on that plane -- some of them shuttling his son, Crocker Jr., to and from Muskeget.
Now, more than 70 years after his father purchased Muskeget for $15,000, Crocker Snow Jr. is the steward of the island, which, each winter, becomes the largest breeding ground for Gray Seals in the United States, and where the author witnesses and documents the forces of accelerating climate change, some obvious, some not.
He joins us on this episode of At Home With Authors in conversation with fellow adventurer Rob Cocuzzo, author, most recently of The Road to San Donato, and Editor of N Magazine.
Why read this book about Muskeget now, given all that's going on in our nation and the world?
"The species control the place," Crocker tells us. "Nature is in charge there, and you're a very small part of it....You've got to roll with whatever you encounter."
Does that make him feel more relaxed or more anxious?
"Definitely more relaxed. More spiritual."
We could all use a dose of Muskeget.
