The Quest: One Man's Search for Peace, Insight, and Healing in an Endangered World

by Tom Brown Jr.

The author relates his search for spiritual enlightenment in the wilderness under the guidance of an Apache shaman and explores humanity's mystical relationship with nature

Genres: Spirituality, Nature, Outdoors, Self Help, Philosophy, Nonfiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1991

About the author

Tom Brown Jr. was an American naturalist, tracker, survivalist, and author from New Jersey, where he ran the Tom Brown Jr. Tracker School.
In his books, Brown wrote that, from the age of seven, he and his childhood friend Rick were trained in tracking and wilderness survival by Rick's grandfather, "Stalking Wolf" (whom Brown stated was Lipan Apache). Brown wrote that Stalking Wolf died when Brown was 17, and that Rick was killed in an accident in Europe shortly thereafter.
Brown spent the next ten years working odd jobs to support his wilderness adventures. He then set out to find other people in New Jersey who were interested in his experiences. Initially Brown met with little success, but was eventually called on to help locate a crime suspect. Though the case won him national attention, he and authorities in the Ramsey, N.J. area were subsequently sued for 5 million dollars for charging the wrong person. Despite this controversy, he was able to build on this exposure to develop a profession as a full-time tracker, advertising his services for locating lost persons, dangerous animals, and fugitives from the law. According to People magazine, "He stalks men and animals, mostly in New Jersey."

Reviews

[Jeffrey Dill · Rating 3 out of 5]

I absolutely support the message and purpose of this book; that is, to encourage mindfulness and accountability for the world that we all live in that we are destroying through our actions and inactions.

However, it all seems a bit rambling and far-fetched. The far-fetched pieces of it being that a.) a grown man could remember in vivid detail large passages of quotes from someone he knew as a child and b.) that many of the things that he did as a child could have really happened (i.e. I don't know too many 12 year olds who, supposedly, went on 40 day vision quests).

[Kara · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars for the message of this book, not necessarily the writing style or the veracity as it's not meant to be judged in that way. Read it as a parable or a Socratic dialogue instead of an autobiography and it starts to reveal a lot more to you. When Brown claims something impossible about Grandfather's abilities, I just think of how the authors of the Bible would claim that so-and-so lived to be hundreds of years old as a narrative device to indicate their long lasting influence. Brown (I suspect) does the same and makes wild, far-fetched claims, not because they're literally true, but as a way to add emphasis to the real lesson he wants you to learn.

Also: this was a... spooky reading experience for me, to say the least. Many of the lessons Brown imparts in this book (published in 1991 and apparently taught to him in the '60s) were the same beliefs of a Zuni man I got to speak with on a long train ride just earlier this year. Like, eerily eerily similar. The Zuni man said to me, in a blasé way that said he'd come to peace with it, that the earth and its people are currently in the midst of another great extinction. (There have been four others in the past, apparently.) He said a great spiritual war is ongoing, characterized by psychological warfare and the destruction of the earth, and one of the great demons of this extinction is the demon of distraction. I didn't really understand what he meant at the time—now I do, after reading this book.

The Zuni man also told me he came from a tribe of warriors, and said "a soldier only does what he's told; a warrior follows his heart." Another point of confusion that became crystal clear after reading this book.

The impossible feats of Grandfather sound so so far-fetched but, well, the Zuni man told me similar things had personally happened to him. Miracles of healing and stamina that he seemed so casual and humble about, just stating facts instead of trying to make me marvel. He wasn't a shaman or anything, either, literally just a normal guy working normal jobs who's also apparently witnessed miracles and totally accepts them. Again, this parallels the structure of the book. My logical brain can't believe it, but, c'mon... why would he lie about these things to a girl on the train he would never see again, especially when everything else he told me was true and backed up with pictures or lined up with historical events? How could he lie about something in a way that lines up so perfectly with what Brown wrote about 30 years prior, allegedly taught to *him* by a man who knew them 100 years ago? How could Brown, from Jersey, have had knowledge of the same things that a random 2025 Zuni man, from the Zuni nation in New Mexico, also has knowledge of? It feels so improbable. Unless...

All this to say that I believe in the deeper truth of this book and that, at the very least, I believe that Brown is not making *everything* up. Is the story embellished to hell and back? Yes, but only to prop up the truth of the message. Brown even calls himself a 'coyote teacher' in the preface, basically saying to the reader at the very beginning not to take everything so seriously and just step back to absorb the deeper meanings. It worked well for me, even if it doesn't for everyone.

Regardless, no other book has reached so deep inside me and plucked the chord of my soul like this before. I cried again and again from the experience. I'm so amazed I randomly found this book for 50 cents in a thrift store because this is the kind of book that demarcates your life into a Before and After.

Whether you believe in it 20% or 100%, this is a truly inspiring book that will help you reconnect with yourself, with Nature, and, to use Brown's term, with the-spirit-that-moves-in-all-things. The message was urgent back in 1991 and it's even more urgent now. Rest assured I will be watching to see if Grandfather's third prophecy manifests and striving to live my life in concert with all things. Can't exactly afford not to, at this point!

ETA: the person who owned the book before me underlined the prophecy that would portend the destruction of civilization, did some math, and wrote "2032, 1 week" in the margins. So, cool!!! Thanks for the prediction, stranger! Definitely added a touch of fear and realness to my reading experience!!

[Burkey · Rating 5 out of 5]

tom has his critics, hell im one of them at times, but no amount of bickering will change that this book tells a truly passionate story, and may strike a chord....

[Green · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some great nuggets of wisdom to be found in this book, with the latter half turning into a Tom Brown ego-fest. Both parts typical of the man.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good story and message, unfortunately it seems rather made up.

[Don Gubler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tom Brown is extraordinary and his writings have always caused me to marvel and wonder. He has insights into realities of life that most of us can't even guess at.

[Belle Meade School]

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