Sound Off

CBC Radio host Grant Lawrence chronicles childhood misadventures and an adult renaissance with the lovely/barren wilderness of coastal BC in his hilarious and touching memoir Adventures In Solitude. With an effortless storytelling style, he balances well-told anecdotes (nude potlucks, lost and lonely hippies) with the often-tragic history of the remote Desolation Sound, about 90 minutes north of Vancouver but accessible only by boat. It's a story familiar to many Canadians who've balanced big city living with a love of wilderness adventure, but few of us can claim to have startled innocent eco-tourists while shirtless, bleeding and wielding a machete.