Alaska Books

As this is the true story of my wife, Dawn and her brother, Lanny, I found it most interesting. The story of their lives growing up in the heart of Alaska is almost unbelievable. This is a great book to read to your children. If you have always longed to visit Alaska, here is your chance - through the eyes of true homesteaders...

Books like these are precious and few. It's the true story of a family living the dream of homesteading in the Alaska wilderness. It's not filled with all the evil, adversarial images of today's adventure books. It is kind, heartfelt and the kind of book to read to your children on a rainy day. These are the kind of people I want my children to emulate, and they show a way of life that we can all only benefit by experiencing. Don't miss this diamond!

I found this book a month ago and have shown it to most of my friends and leave it out for others to discover. It is a delight ... a photographic treasure. The images of places that I know and love are special to me. But so are the ones of yet-to-be found (by me) places. Natalie's work surely conjures up a dream. It is a book to be shared with everyone.

Natalie Fobes makes us feel as if we are reviewing an old and treasured picture album. The technique could not be better for the subjects, which have often been seen under the bright light of the Alaskan summer sun or the gray of its long winters. Here you feel that someone put together a collection of personal photographs just for your viewing pleasure.

thats to bad they have wound the series down. my Brothers really like this series. my personal favorite would have to be number four, but still, they are all great. My self and My brothers aren't the only ones in my family who like them though. My mother and my Grandmother do. I would suggest it for anyone wanting a good book to engross yourself in for a few nights. great reading.

I am sorry this is the last book of this series. I have really enjoyed all of the stories. It seems that as soon as the heroes reach some sort of settling down stage, the authors end the books. I would like to see some more stories about Zach Cobb and his brothers. I hope Mr. Walker will reconsider and write some more.

This is a well written, easy to follow book that provides a lot of information about the Iditarod. Beautiful pictures make the reading even more enjoyable. It's broken into chapters so it can be read bit by bit, but it reads like a novel and I read it practically all in one sitting! I would definitely recommend it for anyone looking to learn about The Last Great Race!

Iditarod; The Great Race to Nome, is a informative book with abundant and excellent pictures to supplement the text. Iditarod; The Great Race to Nome, provides information about the gold rush, early sled dog races, and how the Iditarod dog sled race got started and more! It also includes tidbits of information about various topics that relate to the Iditarod, such as mushers. Wonderful pictures make the book even more memorable and worth buying. Overall this book is a great and informative book for all ages and is a personal recommendation if you need information about the Iditarod.

Innocents In The Arctic: The 1951 Spitsbergen Expedition by Colin Bull (who was awarded the Polar Medal by Queen Elizabeth II and the Antarctic Service Medal by the U.S. Government, and who has made more than twenty-five polar expeditions during his distinguished career as a glaciologist) writes with personal expertise because he was the cook and glaciologist on the trip that saw ten naive young Birmingham men venturing north to the nearly uninhabited, ice-covered island of Spitsbergen in 1951. The scientific progress of this that ensured was despite misfortunes caused by calamitous weather, an unworthy ship, and an entertaining by ill-informed approach to arctic survival. Bull's realistic, deftly written insider story of arctic adventure is especially recommended reading for armchair adventurers, arctic exploration historians, and polar enthusiasts.

Actually I am Colin Bull - Gillian is my wife and is the person who painted that outstanding portrait of me for the back flap of the dust jacket. If I hadn't thought the book was worth five stars I wouldn't have published it. I just hope that you gain as much fun and enjoyment from reading the book as I did in writing it. Exactly half of my test group of six readers bought ten extra copies each fro me - as long as I signed them. So far I have found two typos! Fauno set me a note today : Greetings, I read your Sptsbergen book and I loved it. The picture are great, especially the moonrise one. Carry on, F.C. So I sent her an 8 x 10 color print of "Moonrise over the Strandflat"

This book was amazing. It goes much further into the idealism of "going into the wild" then the story of Alex himself; unlike the movie. Recommend to any person ever willing to pass on the idea of society and return to our roots.

This book was okay it wasn't all that great, but if you like an autobiography then this is the book for you.

Unfortunately, I find this to be one of the most idiotic stories I have ever read. It is the story of a young man with no respect for the enormity of nature. His story is akin to waiting on a beach to watch a category 5 hurricane make landfall. I feel sorry for Chris' family
I love Krakauer's other books.

this is the story of chris mccandles. candles inherits money, then lights it on fire out of principle. he then travels the country excoriating people for not doing the same. in between stints working at mcdonalds, he ventures off into the wild with nothing but a gun and fishing pole. after almost dying repeatedly, he decides alaska is the only wilderness tough enough for him. he walks down a trail off the highway, wades across a stream, then starts writing a journal. he gets hungry and decides to go back, but is blocked by the ice-melt swollen stream. not realizing that getting upriver to a crossing point is now a matter of life or death, he goes back to his campground. something very bad then happens to him and he can't get out. the best parts of the book are the several chilling accounts of how seemingly innocuous mistakes cost some very tough people their lives all alone in the wilderness. the author will make you feel like you're about to die, that's how well written it is.

After watching and liking Sean Penn's movie version of this story, I didn't think I needed to read the book. My daughter told me otherwise. She said, the book has things that are missing in the film. And the book idolizes the hero less than the film does. She is right.
Krakauer was first hired by an outdoors magazine to write an article about the death of the young man in the Alaskan wilderness. He got hooked by this case, he says. One assumes after reading the book that the main attraction to him was the obvious similarity of Chris McC to himself: he tells us of his own daredevilish solo mountaineering adventure in Alaska, which he survived only by accident. Just as Chris failed to survive by accident.
JK identifies so strongly with Chris that he is sure that there was no death wish, no hidden suicide involved. He digs deep into the person that C. might have been, based on his diaries and on interviews with those who knew him. He tells us of other, similar cases, of survivors and of some who perished. He develops theories about the personalities of the type, without accepting some of the standard pet models, like the Oedipus version. He thinks that C., like not a few of those seduced by the wild, seems to have been driven by a variety of lust that supplanted sexual desire. The man enjoyed his 'suffering', the hardships from surviving in nature, and he did not want to die in the experiment. He even tried to proselytize and told others that joy of life comes from encounter with new experiences. (Which, by the way, I would partly buy into, but I know many many who think that their pleasure comes from avoiding surprises and new things.)
The role of the narrator Krakauer is missing in the film, which takes away the philosophical background and reduces it to a good plain story.
The film gives us Chris as a charmer who does odd things. The book is not quite so enthusiastic about him, shows more of his downsides, his monomania, his self-absorption, his impatience and unforgivingness. In short his overlong adolescence. The man died before he grew up.
Why did he die? Survival in the wilderness is tough, and he probably never believed in the concept of mortality as far as it concerned himself. He was not incompetent, but he made some stupid mistakes and had some bad luck.
And definitely Alaska does not seem to be the best place for eremitic experiments. Good thing to know for Hermits.

This small-format lavishly-illustrated book accomplishes everything it attempts. The posters are reproduced nicely, although in postcard size. To readers with questions about the actual canine work of a race, this book explains quite a lot. Siberian huskies are the stars of "the last great race," and there are many modern-day improvements to their lot - food-warmers, airlifted straw drops (for their sleeping comfort) and more. The Van Zyles' dogs are varied and gorgeous. Jon Van Zyle is a handsome bearded man who appears - with great success - in some of the posters. Jona Van Zyle offers a wealth of information. The drawings are romantic and even heroic - without being kitschy. For example, the piercing blue eyes of a Siberian husky are actually hauntingly beautiful in real life - and a Van Zyle painting might confirms that. A great look at beautiful, hardworking dogs by two people who love them.

Jon Van Zyle's Iditarod Memories, Alaskan artist Jon Van Zyle has captured the twenty-five years of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race year by year with his commemorative posters celebrating the triumph, heroes, historic tales, and spirit of this classic dog sledding event. With true-life Iditarod stories by Jona Van Zyle, this 64-page book is a fitting memorial testament and celebration of human and canine endurance, courage, perseverance, and accomplishment, as well as "must" reading for anyone who has ever thrilled to an Iditarod event.

Your guide book "The Kenai Canoe Trails" was an invaluable resource on my son's and my canoe trip through the Swan Lakes route and out the Moose River. The detailed maps of the campsites and portages were absolutely accurate and very needed on this route. Other tips like, "hip boots recommended" proved wise advice! Thanks for hleping my son and I have a great Alaskan vacation.

I've canoed the Swanson Lake system in the Kenai canoe trails for years, and this is by far the most useful guide to this area. I've never met Mr. Quick, but his book offers very detailed information on such matters as the character of each portage trail, the location of campsites on the various lakes, the presence or absence of fish, and so on. The information provided is highly accurate (even if Quick does overlook a campsite or two). One might quibble with some of his recommendations on gear, portaging methods, etc., but such matters tend to be subjective among experienced outdoors people, and this book isn't primarily intended as such a general how-to guide anyway. "The Kenai Canoe Trails" is highly recommended for anyone planning -- or even dreaming of -- a trip into one of the most wild and pristine wilderness canoe systems in North America.

This book was one of the few that has kept my preschoolers with special needs focused until the end. They were spellbound by the illustrations and loved the traditional eskimo story. About a month later, one of my little preschoolers found it in the libray and wanted to check it out, remembering the story from class. Well done!!

This beautiful childrens story will touch the hearts of all ages. This is a moving story of a Yup'ik child's first ice fishing trip with his revered "Apa". The richness of the illustrations draw you into this compelling rite of passage tale, giving the reader a glimpse into the life of a Yup'ik family in Alaska.

My son wanted a book on eskimos...this was the best find I could have hoped for as Kumak and his village spend their day fishing and helping one another as only a fishing village can do. My son celebrates the victory as he jumps up and down on the final page yelling, "Hurray for Kumak!" We even had to go out and buy fishing poles so he could demonstrate just how exactly the amazing fishing stick twitches "this way" and "that way." A read-aloud that is great fun and teaches children about families, communities and other parts of our globe.

On a spring day in the Alaskan Arctic, Kumak announces "Good day for fish" and packs his family, along with Uncle Aglu's "amazing hooking stick" into their dogsled for a day of ice fishing on the nearby lake. This Iñupiat variant of the traditional tale of the enormous turnip demonstrates that it takes a village to catch a fish. An endnote explains Bania's inspiration for her tall tale.

Bania's watercolor and pen-and-ink illustrations, depicting the icy Arctic setting, provide readers with authentic details of the Iñupiat culture and show the joyfulness of the characters.

Two-year-olds through nine-year-olds enjoyed this book and were captivated by Kumak. They appreciated the dialogue and repetition of numerous phrases. The ending especially intrigued the children.