“Jenkins’s thoughts on ego, family, home, friendship, love, work, death and the soul include pithy ones like, ‘It can be hard to tell the difference between an outcast and a pioneer,’ and ‘Your sense of self is built or broken by the company you keep.’”—The Washington Post, “10 Books to Read in February”
“Jedidiah Jenkins is a beautiful, attentively humane writer whose vivid prose comes suffused with the noble belief that words really do matter, and that through them we can know and be known. There is wisdom in this book, as well as something rarer still: the genuine and infectious faith that the good life—what the philosophers call flourishing—is attainable, and that one really can improve. I couldn’t put these essays down.”—Thomas Chatterton Williams, author of Self-Portrait in Black and White
“Like Streams to the Ocean is as inviting, wide-ranging, and philosophical as an all-night conversation with a best friend, and as revealing and thought-provoking as the diary of a curious adventurer.”—Sasha Sagan, author of For Small Creatures Such as We
“It’s rare to find the level of honesty and authenticity that Jenkins brings to his audience. In a world of constant noise, his storytelling is piercing in an almost familiar way. He’s managed to home in on that single idea that we all relate to and truly make you feel a part of the experience. This is the type of storytelling the world needs more of.”—Chris Burkard, award-winning photographer, author of At Glacier’s End
Praise for To Shake the Sleeping Self
“With winning candor, Jedidiah Jenkins takes us with him as he bicycles across two continents and delves deeply into his own beautiful heart. Every page of this book made me ache to know what happened next. Every chapter shimmered with truth. It’s an unforgettable debut.”—Cheryl Strayed, author of Wild
“At once an adventure story and personal diary of the internal struggles and ultimate triumph of a deeply thoughtful gay man.”—The Advocate
