Moderate Becoming Good Later: Sea Kayaking the Shipping Forecast

Product Information

Use this tool to build your own journey or choose from an exciting range of specially selected tours. Right away you get an idea of what sort of person Toby was, calmly dealing with bureaucracy, meeting strangers and instantly making new friends, Toby had that rare ability to find the most generous people just when he needed it. Moderate Becoming Good Later is the remarkable story of two remarkable people, Toby Karr and his sister Katie. Especially when it struck a personal chord - Toby visited my hometown and "his experience" was worth half a page of flat text. It’s a book I will keep on my bookshelf and remember and refer to when visiting some of the places in the future.

I will also admit to being drawn to the book because it was written following the death of Toby Carr - had it not been for that, I probably wouldn’t have looked at it. Courageous, uplifting and exquisitely written, Moderate Becoming Good Later is a tale of the indefatigable resilience of the human spirit, the unbreakable bond of family, the life-affirming kindness of strangers and the perpetual freedom of exploring the unknown. One of the most moving and affecting books I've read in a long time, it is profound, thoughtful, fascinating and, above all, beautiful. A mesmerising and poignant story that shares how the sea can bring together people, places and purpose.

This incredibly moving story weaves together one family's story and shows the sense of hope and love that can be found through adventure even when things don't go according to plan.

There are barely any descriptions of the places he was in which makes the book very unemotional and one-dimensional.

But the goal of kayaking all areas was unfilled due to his untimely death at the age of 40 from cancer. This is an amazing book, so well crafted by Katie from his notes, audio recordings, blogs and messages and it was a pleasure to have had a chance to have read it and join Toby on this adventure. Lyrical descriptions, engaging reporting of meetings with the people he meets on his travels, scary episodes in rougher seas that ordinarily would give me nightmares, all come together to make this a thoroughly delightful and compulsive read. It’s exciting to read of bravery and fortitude but for it to be told with such humility and optimism, is truly inspiring. Toby Carr, knowing he’s got a life-limiting condition, sets out to do something a completely healthy person would think twice about.

On her year-long journey through loss, frustration, creation and storytelling, Katie was able to put into practice her training in expressive arts therapy and talked the talk on storytelling, as she had so often encouraged her graduate students to do. A manifesto for living, loving and laughing full-heartedly, whatever life's storms and forecasts bring. The expedition also gave him space and time that he desperately needed, to reflect on the death of his brother from the rare genetic condition that they were both born with, and to process the personal challenges that life had set him over the years.A beautiful, poignant but ultimately uplifting reminder to us that life is an adventure and we need to snatch every minute before it's gone. Obviously, I understand how hard it must have been to finish writing a book someone else started when Katie didn't even experience what her brother lived through but at the very least, maybe it would've been worth it for her to go to the places he went and try and picture what he felt by being there, instead of looking at photos on Google. The reason for 3 stars is I found the first and last thirds enjoyable but the middle 100 pages ish I found repetitive in their descriptions and sometimes lost where we were, how he got there, where the car suddenly appears from, even which year it is.

The ending is moving even though I knew it was coming I was rooting for a different ending for Toby. It is all about one man who goes sea kayaking, I never imagined how I would be so captured with this story but it is so engaging and I didn't want to stop reading. They chapters about the kayaking were interesting, particularly in terms of the people he met along the way, but for me, the most interesting chapters were at the beginning and end.It is sad he never got to see the book but I think he would be very proud of his sister showing the world what an amazing man he was.