Lost and Found in Alaska: Memoirs

by Joel D. Rudinger

It was a photograph in a Time magazine article about The University of Alaska that sparked the imagination of a young Joel Rudinger and led to a life-changing, four-year adventure in the newly-added 49th state. Lost and Found in Alaska is packed as full as a camp duffel bag on a forty-day hunting trek through the Alaskan Range, as challenging, yet satisfying, as a graduate instructor’s first day of class. The real-life characters in this tale could have sprung from the imagination of Jack Fairbanks Annie, Hal (who wept when he heard “Danny Boy”), the beautiful half–native Bobbi, who stole this young man’s heart, or the odd women who would lock a fellow in their basement. Even an appearance by a ghostly canine. And what North wilderness saga would be complete without hot apple pie and coffee, disorienting twenty-four-hour nights, minus eighty-degree winds, gigantic mosquitoes attacking hardy gandy dancers, and a disastrous earthquake? Like most of life’s difficult times, however, the author learns that even the most mundane acts, such as sorting mail or shoveling manure at a dairy farm can present a worthwhile lecture. If a college degree takes four years, Joel Rudinger’s four years in Alaska advanced his education exponentially in hard-knock lessons and moments of “What was that brilliant micro-second visible flicker of light? I was never religious, but I felt that this was a profound spiritual moment. I now and forever would be a part of this wild land.” —Christina Lovin, author of A Stirring in the Dark, and What We Burned for Warmth.

340 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 21, 2020

Reviews

[Larry Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a photograph in a Time magazine article about The University of Alaska that sparked the imagination of a young Joel Rudinger and led to a life-changing, four-year adventure in the newly-added 49th state.
Lost and Found in Alaska is packed as full as a camp duffel bag on a forty-day hunting trek through the Alaskan Range, as challenging, yet satisfying, as a graduate instructor’s first day of class. The real-life characters in this tale could have sprung from the imagination of Jack London: Fairbanks Annie, Hal (who wept when he heard “Danny Boy”), the beautiful half–native Bobbi, who stole this young man’s heart, or the odd women who would lock a fellow in their basement. Even an appearance by a ghostly canine

[rick white · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book

This book was a great story for anyone in

terested in Alaska from a new perspective. The writer shows Alaska from a educational person perspective rather than a substance living or home steaders perspective. A bit different than the usual Alaska books I have read.

[Larry Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here is a lively and poignant memoir of a young man's early days in 1960s Alaska.
"Lost and Found in Alaska is packed as full as a camp duffel bag on a forty-day hunting trek through the Alaskan Range, as challenging, yet satisfying, as a graduate instructor's first day of class. The real-life characters in this tale could have sprung from the imagination of Jack London: Fairbanks Annie, Hal (who wept when he heard Danny Boy), the beautiful half-native Bobbi, who stole this young man's heart, or the odd women who would lock a fellow in their basement. Even an appearance by a ghostly canine.
"And what North wilderness saga would be complete without hot apple pie and coffee, disorienting twenty-four-hour nights, minus 80 degree winds, gigantic mosquitoes attacking hardy gandy dancers, and a disastrous earthquake? Like most of life's difficult times, however, the author learns that even the most mundane acts, such as sorting mail or shoveling manure at a dairy farm can present a worthwhile lecture. If a college degree takes four years, Joel Rudinger's four years in Alaska advanced his education exponentially in hard-knock lessons and moments of spirituality: What was that brilliant micro-second visible flicker of light? I was never religious, but I felt that this was a profound spiritual moment. I now and forever would be a part of this wild land."
~Christina Lovin