Subjects:  1. Arctic regions    2. Description and travel    3. Ecology    4. General    5. Latreille, Francis    6. North Pole    7. Photo Techniques    8. Photography    9. Subjects & Themes - Plants & Animals    10. Travel    11. Photographs: collections    12. Photography / Nature & Wildlife    13. Photography; Exploration; science    14. Travel writing   

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Reviews (7)

Mediocre Book About a Miraculous Place
Peter Matthiessen is most honestly characterized as a "writer's writer" in that his works most favorably impress literary critics more than they garner mass reader appeal. This effort is a mediocre travel memoir of two different voyages to Antarctica and for each trip the author fills the pages with interesting historical, geographical and natural facts. Unfortunatly this book has no "heart and soul". "End of the Earth" merely 'reports' two stories on Antarctica as if Peter Matthiessen could take it or leave it.The usual book jacket accolades recite "...he blends a vision of harsh beauty, a traveler's love of adventure, and a profound appreciation for the splendors and extraordinary wildlife of a forbidding yet fragile world of ice".If only that were true this could have been a great book.

Matthiessen does it again!
I've always enjoyed Peter's books, especially the Snow Leopard.I've travelled to many spots all over the world (unfortunately, not to Antarctica yet - although my husband is a pilot on "the Ice").His prose is a little drier and more austere, but then again, from what I hear from my husband and various travelers to Antarctica (including Shackleton and Scott), that is what Antarctica is like.I do enjoy Peter's environmentalist views, and I don't think there is any irony in the fact he wishes people wouldn't travel to the Ice - at least, not in large, damaging numbers.I think we need people like him to describe these things for us and WHY it is so important to protect these fragile environments.I have heard about many stories of many people - wealthy and otherwise - coming to the South Pole Station and other spots around the continent, stealing the geographic South Pole markers, leaving their trash behind, disrespecting the National Science Foundation rules and the Antarctic Treaty stipulations.There are all kinds of people in the world, and no one can stop them from making jerks of themselves - but we can read this book, be educated, and have a little healthier respect for such places, and in turn educate other people.
Worth it
The man wears his pretensions on his sleeve.OK, I could deal with that.His recurrent environmental proclamations are annoying, primarily because he glories in an expedition that invades the space he wants to keep pristine.Major contradiction.Read more

Subjects:  1. Animals    2. Antarctic Peninsula    3. Antarctica    4. Emperor penguin    5. Essays    6. General    7. Matthiessen, Peter    8. Nature    9. Nature / Field Guide Books    10. Nature/Ecology    11. Polar Regions    12. Wildlife    13. Nature / General    14. Bargain   

Subjects:  1. Adventure & Adventurers    2. Antarctica    3. Biography & Autobiography - General    4. Bledsoe, Lucy Jane    5. Children's 9-12 - Biography / Autobiography    6. Children's Books/Ages 9-12 Biography    7. Children: Grades 4-6    8. General    9. History - Exploration & Discovery    10. Juvenile Nonfiction    11. Juvenile Travel    12. Juvenile literature    13. People & Places - Polar Regions    14. Travel    15. Women adventurers   

Subjects:  1. Body, Mind & Spirit    2. Gaia & Earth Energies    3. Healing - General    4. New Age    5. Spiritualism - General    6. Body, Mind & Spirit / Gaia & Earth Energies    7. Gaia\'s Sacred Chakras,Margaret Bertulli,Trafford Publishing,03-1653,031653,1-4120-1275-9,1412012759,sacred sites,sacred places,archeological sites,guided meditations,chakras,Canadian Arctic,Glastonbury Tor,Gavrinis,Pyramids of Giza,Avebury,Chalice Well,S   

Editorial Review

Ron Naveen loves penguins more than anything. He has spent season after season studying chinstrap, gentoo, and Adélie penguins in their icy home ranges. Sixteen years huddled at penguin-eye level, avoiding guano blasts, vicious pecks to his groin, and falling to his death off slippery rocks--not to mention exposure. Yet this man feels happier among his beloved penguins than in the temperate north, the nominal home of his own species. He writes:Read more

Reviews (5)

First rate book on penguins and Antarctica
_Waiting to Fly_ by Ron Naveen is an enthusiastic, knowledgeable, and well-written account of the author's years of field experience with the penguins of Antarctica, mostly as a researcher but also before that as an expert guide leading tourists on expeditions to view the seventh continent's wildlife.
A must for serious penguin lovers!
From the first page, Naveen's love of the three brush tailed species of penguins comes through.Follow his account of years of working with chinstrap, adalaide and gentoo penguins in the Antarctic peninsula.Learn details about their habits and habitats as you read his entertaining account of his work.For the person who wants to know more than superficial penguin books tell you.

ALL THERE IS TO KNOW ABOUT PENGUINS
THERE IS SOOOOOO MUCH HERE - THE HISTORY OF PENGUIN RESEARCH IN THE ANTARCTIC PENINSULA, TALES OF THE LIVES OF THESE FUZZY ANIMALS, AND A MEATPHYSICAL GLIMPSE AS TO WHY PENGUINS AFFECT US SO HAPPILY, SOPOSITIVELY. NAVEEN'S STORIES ARE TOTALLY ENGAGING, WEAVING IN MYRIAD FACTSAND DETAILS ABOUT CHINSTRAP, ADELIE, AND GENTOO PENGUINS, BUT NOT TO THEPOINT THAT THE READER IS OVERWHELMED. ONE IS TAKEN SOUTH, FAR SOUTH, TOWHERE PENGUINS GRAB YOU AND NEVER LET GO. LOTS OF FUN READING - AND A MUSTFOR ANY ANIMAL LOVER. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Birds & Birdwatching - General    2. Counting    3. Essays    4. Nature    5. Nature / Field Guide Books    6. Nature/Ecology    7. Penguins    8. Polar Regions   

Reviews (10)

A Gripping, Well-Written Tale
I had only heard bits about the crash of the airship Italia back in 1928, and now I am fully informed upon reading this book.
Many thanks, Wilbur Cross
I see that most of the readers given this book 5 stars. I given it 4 stars as I think only a few books deserve the highest rating. However, let me say this is one of the best book I ever read about Arctic/Antarctic exploration. I found the book in a recess of the library here at South Pole Station, where I'm wintering over, so that you can understand my interest in the matter, but I'll buy it because I want to own it. Good, but misnamed story, about a dirigible crash in Arctic
Even though they flew over the pole, the airship actually north of the arctic circle, but near some Norwegian islands. This book however, is recommended as the definitive account of the Italia disaster, and also a personal history of General Nobile. It gives some insight to him standing up against Mussolini and his Facists (Nobile was basically apolitical; he just wanted to design and fly airships and be left alone), which caught up with him after the rescue. The book really picks up after the crash and when the rescuers start to pour onto and over the ice floes. This was the biggest search since the Frankin disaster, fortunately for the survivors, there was now modern equipment such as airplanes and icebreaking ships available. Author Wilbur Cross interviewed Nobile in Italy and many of the other survivors. Recommended for anyone interested in Arctic survival, a lot of it is reminiscent of "In the Land of the White Death", though for anyone wanting to know about the circumstances of Roald Amundsen's death should look elsewhere, as it's barely mentioned except to say that his plane was overdue, and some of the Norwegian people were hostile to Nobile after the rescue since the Italians did practically nothing to rescue their own people.Read more

Subjects:  1. 1885-    2. Aerial exploration    3. Arctic regions    4. Aviation - History    5. Expeditions & Discoveries    6. History - General History    7. Italia (Air-ship)    8. Nobile, Umberto,    9. Polar Regions    10. Special Interest - Adventure    11. Travel    12. Travel / Adventure   

Reviews (21)

Really two stories in one book.
Krajick has written one of many books detailing the hunt for diamonds in the Canadian North.Unlike several of the other writers, Krajick devoted the first part of this book to the land itself.In a fascinating historical journey readers get to follow early explorers and native inhabitants across the most unforgiving wilderness on earth, with stops in the American Southwest, Africa, and South America thrown in to heighten the story.
Fascinating
This book illuminates the possibilities of the frozen north unlike anything else I've read.
What's required to find a multi-billion dollar mine
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Subjects:  1. Earth Sciences - Geography    2. Earth Sciences - Geology    3. Essays & Travelogues    4. History - General History    5. North American    6. Polar Regions    7. Special Interest - Adventure    8. Travel   

Subjects:  1. (1914-1917)    2. 1874-1922    3. Children's 4-8 - History - General    4. Children's Books/Ages 4-8 Nonfiction    5. Children: Grades 3-4    6. Explorers    7. History - Exploration & Discovery    8. Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition    9. Juvenile Fiction    10. Juvenile literature    11. Language Arts - General    12. Readers - Chapter Books    13. Shackleton, Ernest Henry,    14. Sir,    15. Survival    16. Travel    17. Juvenile Nonfiction / Language Arts / General   

Subjects:  1. Arctic Star (Offshore cruiser)    2. California    3. Children: Young Adult (Gr. 7-9)    4. Description and travel    5. Juvenile literature    6. Northwest coast of North Ameri    7. Voyages and travels   

Editorial Review

As Apsley Cherry-Garrard states in his introduction to theharrowing story of the Scott expedition to the South Pole, "PolarExploration is at once the cleanest and most isolated way of having abad time which has been devised." Cherry-Garrard's Read more

Reviews (43)

Gripping story!
This is an inspiring, suspenseful story full of rich detail about what life on The Ice was like for these brave men who spent almost 3 years there in the early years of this century, when sails were still used on ships.The beauty, richly described by Cherry; the torturous conditions at times, how they kept busy and sane during the long long dark winter....I was completely enthralled even though I knew at least the rough outlines of the story before I began.I highly recommend it.

Too cold!
These guys travelled in temperatures that you wouldn't think humans could survive for more than a few minutes. Some of the places they went were perhaps the worst I could imagine. I remember thinking these guys were K-Raz-ee.It's well worth the read.

Required reading for anyone interested in Antarctic history
I'm not quite sure who originally wrote that one of the convenient things about Antarctica is the fact that you only need to read a dozen books to know the history of the place and that, as an added bonus, you get the first-hand accounts of the original explorers.
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Subjects:  1. (1910-1913)    2. Antarctica    3. British    4. British Antarctic ("Terra Nova") Expedition    5. British Antarctic ('Terra Nova    6. Discovery and exploration    7. Expeditions & Discoveries    8. History - General History    9. History: World    10. Polar Regions    11. Special Interest - Adventure    12. Travel    13. Geographical discovery & exploration    14. Travel / Adventure    15. True Stories   

Reviews (3)

RVing
I enjoyed this book, I was planning an Alaska trip, and now will include Canada.

Tells it like it is!
by Peggi MacDonald, a full-time RVer Travelling companion for Arctic RVers
RVing into Canada's Arctic Written By Liz and John PlaxtonRead more

Subjects:  1. Canada    2. Travel - Foreign    3. Travel    4. Recreation   

Reviews (1)

gold rush era on the koyukuk
A very interesting book on life in a small river trading town on the koyukuk river. It shows the prevailing attitudes of the day between the local native people and the miners, from a white persons point of view. Somewhat patronizing by todays standards, but fairly liberal views for the time it was written. The characters are all real people some of whom were still living when I read this book. The book does skip around a bit and some chapters drag, but in general it's entertaining. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Alaska    2. Description and travel    3. Eskimos    4. Frontier and pioneer life    5. History - U.S.    6. Koyukuk River (Alaska)    7. Literary Criticism    8. Literature: Classics    9. Reference    10. United States - State & Local - General   

Reviews (23)

Not enough information for a book
This is an amazing story.However, most of the book is about writing the book.I don't care who he spoke to and where he read things.He should just tell the story.However, there isn't enough material for a book.Quite a disappointment.

Good material, unsuccessful book
The story material has great potential. In the 1740s, four Russian sailors are shipwrecked on one of the more remote parts of the Svalbard archipelago. They survive for six years before being rescued. Of course, Svalbard is not the Antarctic, there is lots to eat there and people have been living there at least seasonally since the early 1600s, but still, it makes for a pretty interesting survival tale. It's not only a question of how they fed themselves, but also of how the four of them got along with each other for six years. It also raises the politically sensitive issue of the early Russian presence on Svalbard. And interestingly enough, though the story of the Russian sailors has survived, the location of their camp has been forgotten.The author decides to try to find it, does a fair amount of library research with the help of various assistants, makes a largely unsuccessuful trip to Russia, and assembles another group of four men (hence the double meaning of the title). They arrange to be dropped off by a cruise ship in one area where the Russian's camp might have been, and spend a couple weeks in an old trapper's hut fending off polar bears and squabbling amongst themselves.
The genuine article
This is an exceptionally fine book, first, as a chronicle of the 18th century survival of four men marooned in the Arctic for six years and second, as a memoir detailing the author's interest in this remarkable survival and where that interest took him. The author avoids the sensationalism and fictionalization that plague so many historical adventure accounts; his scrupulous honesty gives us a real understanding of the difficulty in researching such an episode in human endeavor as well as some profound insights into the nature of such endeavors - this book is the genuine article! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1699-1774    2. Description and travel    3. Discovery And Exploration (General)    4. Edge Island (Norway)    5. General    6. History    7. History - General History    8. History: World    9. Le Roy, Pierre Louis,    10. Polar Regions    11. Survival (after airplane accidents, shipwrecks, etc.)    12. Survival after airplane accide    13. Survival after airplane accidents, shipwrecks, etc    14. Voyages And Travels    15. History / General   

Editorial Review

The harsh ice-bound landscape that is Antarctica has been the subject of constant fascination and study since humans first set foot on this frozen continent in 1821. This tome is a cross between a popular science book and a picture book. Mike Lucas's lucid prose is informative and concise, but the bulk of the volume is devoted to color illustrations. More than 50 photographers, including the author, contributed to the project. There are some breathtaking studies of the white wilderness and its inhabitants by Gerald Cubitt, Ken Findlay, and Roger Mear; Bruce Herrod's portrait of a scientist with a frozen beard sends chills down the spine. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Loved it.
This is a great book, with quality research and writing and some pretty amazing photos. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Antarctic regions    2. Antarctica    3. Arctic Ecology    4. Arctic Islands And Antarctica - History    5. Military - Naval    6. Pictorial works    7. Polar Regions    8. Subjects & Themes - Plants & Animals    9. Travel    10. Travel - Foreign   

Reviews (2)

Wonderful, Entertaining Book!
This book gave Anarctica the personal touch.While most factual books leave a reader with an unreal sense of detachment, this book personalizes and brings us closer to the experience a traveler would have if they visited Antarctica.I loved the account of our author being visited by Emperor penguins and how she described the different kinds of ice to be found there.I was able to get a clearer picture of the place and identify what travel must be like there.I've heard of skidoos and some modes of travel before, now I have some sense of how it feels to use them.The photgraphs enhance the author's account and I am glad to be able to share this book with my students.I learned more about Antarctica from this book and am willing to believe they will too.

Interesting with lots of details
This short interesting book gives insight into the day to day lives of scientists stationed in Antarctica as well as explaining some of the types of research that is done there. Overall, this is an excellent book. It only left me with one burning question - who on earth is Daniel?? This is not a goodfirst choice if information is needed to write a report about the continent itself. But for additional information it is a wonderful choice. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Adventure & Adventurers    2. Antarctica    3. Biography    4. Biography & Autobiography - General    5. Biography/Autobiography    6. Children's 4-8 - Sociology    7. Children's Books/Ages 4-8 Nonfiction    8. Correspondence    9. Description and travel    10. Great Britain    11. Juvenile Nonfiction    12. Juvenile literature    13. Letters    14. People & Places - Polar Regions    15. Social Studies - General    16. Travel    17. Travelers    18. Wheeler, Sara    19. Invalid Code    20. Juvenile Nonfiction / Adventure & Adventurers   

Reviews (1)

Beautiful descriptions, but not much else
This rambling memoir details two trips that the author made to Antarctica with Victor Emmanuel Nature Tours, which specializes in birding trips.Peter Matthiessen beautifully describes several scenes from the Antarctic, which made me long to visit this stark landscape filled with life.
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Subjects:  1. General    2. Nature    3. Nature / Field Guide Books    4. Polar Regions    5. Travel    6. Wildlife    7. Antarctica    8. NATURAL HISTORY, COUNTRY LIFE & PETS    9. Nature / General    10. Travel writing   

Subjects:  1. (1925)    2. 1874-    3. Arctic Islands And Antarctica - History    4. Arctic regions    5. Discovery And Exploration (General)    6. Earth Sciences - Geography    7. Expeditions & Discoveries    8. History - General History    9. MacMillan Arctic Expedition    10. MacMillan, Donald Baxter,    11. McDonald, Eugene F.    12. Polar Regions    13. Science    14. Science/Mathematics    15. Travel    16. b. 1886   

Subjects:  1. Antarctica    2. Children's 4-8 - Sociology    3. Children's Books/Ages 4-8 Nonfiction    4. Children: Grades 2-3    5. Juvenile Nonfiction    6. Juvenile literature    7. People & Places - Polar Regions    8. Science & Nature - Earth Sciences    9. Science & Technology - Earth Sciences    10. Travel    11. Juvenile Nonfiction / People & Places / Polar Regions   

Reviews (9)

Great book!
This book is really cool, although those who don't like pictures of slightly (but not much) decayed bodies will not like some of the pictures. I personally think they are cool and amazing. I really enjoyed the way the author put what they thought happened into a story.

The Photos Alone Are Worth the Stars
After seeing a clip on the Franklin Expedition in a documentary on mummies, I rushed to the library to see if there was a book on the subject.The only one available was this book in the juvenile section.At first I was disappointed, but, noticing a photo of the preserved body of one of the sailors, I checked it out.For a kids' book, this one is pretty cool.The first part of the book is a fictionalized (and very sanitized) story of chief stoker John Torrington and his friend and stoker Luke Smith on the HMS Terror. William Braine and Thomas Hartnell (John's brother) also make appearances.This story leaves the reader with questions that the author will answer in the second section describing the disinterring of Torrington, John Hartnell, and Braine and the information their well-preserved remains revealed.The photos are amazing and make this book fascinating for all ages. The first illustration of Torrington in the fictionalized story has him wearing the same articles found on his corpse (an intriguing, if a bit creepy, touch).The reading level and, at times, disturbing content is probably appropriate for kids 5th grade and up.

a picture is worth a thousand nightmares
My mother gave this book to me when I was ten, which was a very long time ago. Those images of the mummies, so well-preserved that they don't look like mummies but like still-living human beings in some eternal pain we can't imagine -- they gave me nightmares then and they can still chill me to the stomach. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1786-1847    2. Children's Books/Ages 9-12 Nonfiction    3. Children: Grades 4-6    4. Franklin, John,    5. Juvenile literature    6. Northwest Passage    7. Polar Regions    8. Sir,    9. Voyages and travels    10. Arctic regions    11. Franklin, John   

Reviews (17)

Alone Across the Artic
Excellent true story, well told with many explanations so the reader understands what is going on.

GREAT, great story!
This is a great book that will inspire you to be a stronger, more adventursome person than you might otherwise be. I like the way the author incorporates diary entries from her expedition, and also the text inserts including helpful background information that might otherwise have bogged down the flow of the story. I bought both this (the version for adults or teens) and the companion book, Big Enough Anna, which tells the same story in a manner appropriate for young children. Both are fantastic, and I plan to give copies to friends as gifts. Way to go, Pam Flowers!!!

Hard to put down
I needed something to read during the benchmarks, so I ran to the library during passing time and grabbed the first book I could find on mushing (I'm an addicted musher). I had a hard time putting it down. The pictures were wonderful, and the story was great. It was a pretty fast read, I finished it that day, but I enjoyed it. I've reread it twice since I bought my own copy. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Alaska    2. Arctic regions    3. Biography & Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Canada, Northern    6. Dogsledding    7. Essays & Travelogues    8. Flowers, Pam    9. Polar Regions    10. Travel    11. Travel - Foreign    12. Winter Sports    13. Women