Trespassing Across America
By Ken Ilgunas
Trespassing Across America by Ken Ilgunas takes one man’s
journey of hiking along the proposed XL Pipeline from Canada to Texas and turns
it into a deep philosophical journey at the same time. As crazy as Ilgunas’s
journey seems, it also has the appeal of a romanticism of the solo journey. The
battle of wild threats, territorial ranchers, and the weather alone is enough
to read/listen to this book.
Ilgunas, while working in Alaska, gets a wild hair to trek
along the proposed XL Pipeline to see what would be impacted by the environmental
damage from said project. Along the way he runs into quite a few friendly
individuals, hillbilly teenagers shooting their guns around his tent,
preachers, and close minded police. One sheriff officer even escorts him outside
of the county lines. The star of Trespassing Across America is Ken’s deep
thoughts upon the damage the pipeline would cause and how the people and environment
would be effected.
Andrew Eiden is the narrator for the entire hike. He does a
good job keeping all the stories engaging and calm at the same time. Allowing
the listener to focus on the deeper meaning behind the text.
In conclusion Trespassing Across America makes the
reader/listener take a deeper look into how America’s greedy thirst for energy
consumption could ultimately lead to a fallout of a future. With all the
battles that Ilgunas faced during his hike, he keeps his thoughts and opinions
very honest. Allowing the reader/listener to take away a different
understanding of the environment and everyone’s views.
You can download the audiobook from downpour.com here. Plus the book is DRM free!
Story: 4/5
Narration: 4/5
Overall: 4/5
Pros: A brave adventure with a deep philosophical thought
process makes the reader/listener think.
Cons: I wanted to hear more about the adventures and the
people Ken came across.
