Polar Regions Books

while this is a wonderful book and is absolutely haunting, it (i believe) cheats the reader out of the ending. the happy ending supplied by the author is inauthentic and detracts from the story.
however, the alternating chapters are heart-wrenching and what this boy went through was absolutely devestating. kids should know about the atrocities of the past, however bad.

A marvelous book. Smiler's Bones is exciting and funny, tragic and inspiring. The author dives deeply into this fascinating story of a real boy, expanding it and painting in long-forgotten details of Minik's life, until the reader is left at last with both a vivid sense of life in turn-of-the-century New York and the glaciers of Greenland, as well as an expanded sense of what it means to be alive in any era. At the age of forty, I found it very moving, and I suspect the young reader just beginning to emerge from an obsession with Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew would find it utterly engrossing. Highly recommended.

I just finished Smilers Bones and it was great. It was hard to get into because it kept going from present to past without telling you. Also, it was hard to figure out the Eskimo language. But it was really good once you got into the book. It's a story about the explorer Peary and how he brought six Eskimos from Greenland to New York city and put the on display at the Museum of Natural History.They all die but the youngest boy, Minik. It's really the story of his survival. The other part of the book thats good is learning about Eskimo customs. A little bit of a surprise ending. It's also a true story. Read the authors notes at the end of the book. Definitly worth reading.

All of Harper's "touch me" books are fantastic! It's a delight to watch the enjoyment little ones get from these lovable books.

My 3 year-old nephew loved this book so much that I've bought copies from this series for each of my other nephews and nieces (I have 13 ages 5 and under!). These are beautiful books with sweet stories and wonderful pictures. The entire series is adorable! Definitely recommend.

This is a beautiful book with "fuzzy" highlights. The paintings and colors are lovely on their own and the flocking adds a very pretty depth. The flocking is very well done indeed. It is really too bad that the story, what little story there is, lacks any poetry. Children will love the visual and tactile experience but buy something else also for the words.

This fascinating Travel Guide was written by long-time Longyearbyen, Spitsbergen resident and tour operator Andreas Umbreit. The book covers the Svalbard archipelago, Jan Mayen Island, and the Russian-owned Franz Josef Land Islands, giving such important information as the geology and geography of the islands, the climate, wildlife and conservation, history, and practical information. The later covering such useful information as getting there, tours, health and safety, and so forth. As an added bonus, the book contains quite a few, breathtakingly beautiful color pictures from that Ultima Thule.

Overall, I found this to be a fascinating book. The author gives a lot of information on the islands, focusing primarily on Spitsbergen. Indeed, even Longyearbyen city is discussed, giving such useful information as accommodations, getting around, shopping, eating, and so forth.

Now, even with a place as small as Spitsbergen, it is quite likely that the author missed out on some locations. Or, perhaps, being a tour operator, he focused on those locations that he gives tours of, and knows best. But, that said, I think he did a very good job of covering a good deal of information on those islands. I really enjoyed this book, and don't hesitate to recommend it to anyone interested in those northern islands.

This book is a great source for curious minded people who wonder about those hidden Islands within 500 miles of the North Pole!

It is amazing to note that this island of Svalbard, most commonly noted as an obscure territory in the game "Risk," has such an astonishingly warm climate due to the same Mexican Gulf waters that fueled Hurricane Katrina! Its capital city is Longyearbyen and the highest temperature ever recorded here was 21.3 degrees Celsius, confirmed in this book and elsewhere. That's approximately 70 degrees farenheit and in proximity to the North Pole equal to that of Washington, DC in relation to Boston,Massachusetts. Interesting to note, eh?

I think there's multiple purposes of using this book, whether planning to camp out in this warm haven in the far north or learning what's at the top of your sphere, purchase this now!

I purchased this book as a travel guide however it is more suited for those arm-chair readers. Having just returned from this region on an Artic cruise, many of the landings on my itinerary are not covered in this book. And many of the destinations in this book are rarely visited so I would not recommend this book as a travel guide to Svalbard. You will find more useful information on the search engines.
The author devotes too many pages on technical information rather than as a practical guide. Other travelers on the cruise had the same comment about this book being impractical.

My 8-year old avid reader was thrilled to receive this gift and read it almost immediately.

This book is good for the kids, it skips some of the material covered in the movie to keep it short. The movie is great too.

Congratulations to shackleton. And the pictures were great!! My favorit part was where they slid down the maountain.

There are two ways I know I like a book. Of course, the very action of reading it is the primary. The secondary is the number of little slips of paper sticking out from between the pages. The papers earmark pithy passages, insights, and/or incredible language. Oxenhorn's Tuning the Rig was festooned with so many florets by the time I sailed through this fantanstic tale of life at sea that if it were a food, it'd have to be broccolli. For affifiandoes of appreciable writing, stories of the sea, or adventure, Tuning the Rig is a running-fast read. If there's one complaint I have it's the introduction. While its message is utterly sincere (Oxenhorn died tragically and young just after the book was published) its writing style seems diametrically opposed to that within the pages. Neveerthless, from dockside-to-dockside I really liked this book.

Mark Clement, Author of The Carpenter's Notebook, A Novel
The Carpenter's Notebook -- A Novel

I sailed to the Arctic on the Regina Maris in 1997, a couple years before Oxenhorn took his trip. Not quite the book I would have written, but I started out with greater expectations of discomfort and hardship. After all, it was the Arctic. Nonetheless, Oxenhard paints an accurate picture of life on a tall ship on the frigid edge of the world, and, more importantly, gives a true recounting of the deep personal changes that take place in everyone aboard on such a voyage. I sailed with many of the characters in the book, and would disagree with the more negative of Oxenhorn's descriptions of them, nonetheless, he does give a good feel for some of the friction that occurs on a long trip under difficult conditions with no privacy. Its a great pity that the good ship Regina Maris no more. I believe that everyone who sailed on her to the frozen north came back a deeply changed and better person. This book is perhaps the next best thing.

The late Harvey Oxenhorn secured an enduring legacy through his captivating, detailed account of his apprentice voyage on the tall ship, Regina Maris. He painstakingly chronicles all facets of life during the nine weeks spent traversing from Boston to the Arctic Ocean, recounting sights, sounds, encounters, and experiences at sea and on shore in various ports from Newfoundland to Greenland and back again.

The result is not one of those irritating "look, look at me" travel books or the ramblings of a self-absorbed trekker who intimidated his editor into leaving in the most boring of details but a refreshing recap of life at sea, warts and all..

Mr. Oxenhorn, motivated by a journey of spiritual discovery, soon finds his preconceived notions of life at sea challenged not only by the mundane, repetitive tasks that consume most hours, but also by his inexperience and fears that he must confront whether scaling the vertical matrix of ropes and sails or keeping watch in the middle of the night in all kinds of weather and knowing that his decisions and observation will affect the well-being of the crew and ship.

As the story unfolds-and more so as a novel than travelogue-Mr. Oxenhorn constantly finds surprising aspects about his crew mates that force him to reconsider them, and himself, in the context of this expedition and extrapolates from these experiences a growing sense of self-mastery and awareness of interdependence.

As he recounts late in the book, "But again, the main point wasn't the rules themselves. Nor was it to demonstrate someone's authority. . . Rather, it was to break down the habit of mind that makes exceptions and desires special treatment. To replace it with a heart called unity."

Though this notion may sound a bit like the process used to mold soldiers in boot camp, his ruminations regarding interdependence reach a deeper resonance when he argues, both convincingly and cogently, that "We have made ourselves responsible for the life that ours depends on, from copepods to whales. To think differently about these animals is to think differently about ourselves as well. From now on, we must all stand watch. One tribe. One family. One crew."

Mr. Oxenhorn takes great pains to present his facts and details with care, clearly having spent many hours researching and documenting his observations about everything from various seabirds, to the construction and operation of tall sailing ships, to traditional navigational methods involving sextant and compass and stars. His narrative jumps to life as he describes what it is like to be sailing on a wooden ship among "tabular icebergs twice the length of football fields and seven stories high."

The point of the expedition was to study whale populations, and the author provides enough information about whales, their place and role in the marine environment, and how humans have affected (almost always badly) the balance of nature. He provides just enough details about how the research is conducted, what key findings are made, and what sort of future might be in store for the whale populations. Mr. Oxenhorn does not come off sounding like a overzealous, gung-ho Greenpeacer hunkered down in a Zodiac; rather he applies the same sort of calm logic to why we must carefully manage the oceans as agrarian essayist Wendell Berry proffers.

Likewise he captures both the ugly and shining sides of human behavior and interactions aboard ship and shore, pulling no punches even from his characterizations of Captain George Nichols, with whom Mr. Oxenhorn butted heads----and came away chastised more than once----the mates, or his peer crewmates. More than once, I cringed at some of these depictions, wondering if the author might be overstepping his rights, but he never fails to reveal the good, sometimes surprising, qualities of his shipmates.

If I had been Mr. Oxenhorn's editor, I might have asked for more explanation of some of the nautical and sailing terms that pepper the chronicle, maybe a glossary for those of us who will never experience firsthand such an adventure. The map inside the front cover is useful, but not nearly detailed enough, and without including the longitude and latitude lines, a puzzling lapse I would attribute to the publisher, it's not easy to track the voyage sequentially. (Most chapter titles follow this convention, for example, "17 July. 63◦N/54◦W."

Those minor points aside, "Tuning the Rig" is the kind of book that causes you to postpone your own chores while you read about the myriad tasks of "field day" or the duties of the "galley slave." I cannot say that I now have the urge to spend two months at sea on a tall ship, but I am grateful to Mr. Oxenhorn for his splendid account. Had he not been the faultless victim of an automobile crash, Mr. Oxenhorn, who is also a published poet, might have made quite a name for himself.

This hard-cover book, translated from Danish, is a fascinating look at an obscure treasure. Clothing found in the ancient settlements of Greenland (1000 A.D.) is discussed, color photos and drawings explaining construction details of the garments are included. It is a beautiful book and anyone interested in clothing or textiles of the middle ages will consider it a must-have.

It is rare that more than a few shreds of fiber survive from an archaeological site. Thanks to the unique climate and soil conditions in Greenland, we have a number of whole garments that have survived from about a 200-year span during the middle of the medieval period. Until now, most of that information was known in detail only to specialists. Ms. Ostergard's book collects the information she and her colleagues have derived from the Greenland finds and presents it clearly and succinctly, with full color photographs and line illustrations describing the weave, cut, pattern and techniques used to sew the items in meticulous detail. This book is a permanent asset to the study of medieval costume, an instant classic and, thanks to its clarity of writing and layout, useful even for the costumer.

superb. The binding is good, the paper is good, the editing appears to be good, the content is way coool. The pictures (printed on a very fine semi-matte paper) are very clear; there are diagrams of almost every weave discussed, and clear discussions of all the weaving tools found in Greenland and some other Norse sites, as well as the material, dyes and finishing methods. Two garments are diagrammed on graph paper (a hood and a dress). The writing is clear and interesting and accessible, and the writers clearly care about the people who were behind the artifacts they are examining.
My only additional desire would be for a summary of the recent research on the history and demise of the Greenland colony (and maybe an explanation of the two-page statement in Inukitut (?)).

If you are a costumer or a scholar or a fan of weaving in different circumstances from the ones we enjoy now, this is a rewarding and fascinating book.

This is a really wonderful book about Antarctica. I have yet to find such a thorough book on the subject that was also easy to read. I learned things I haven't heard before and the book clarified points for me that I had questions about. I love the True Books, they are a great series.

My daughter (almost 5) these books as an introduction to Geography (recommended in the Core Knowledge books). We've both learned a lot!

T. H. Baughman's Before the Heroes Came (Antartica in the 1890's) is an important look at the era before the Heroic Age of Scott, Amundsen, and Shackleton. This very slim volume shows the build-up of interest in the Antartic and the politican and scientific forces coming together to propel both the noble and the foolish onto the triumph and tragedy that was the Antarctic after the turn of the century. This book is essential for those with a passion for this frozen land but will leave those looking for another arctic adventure story a little cold. The writing can be a little dry at times and the procession of scientists and sailors whirl by a little too quickly. But for those who want to fully understand man's need to explore the Antarctic, this book will prove essential.

This is a great book, trust me. The Kirkus review is right in giving Baughman praise for his work. Baughman's reasearch is exact and through. The writing style is informative, but is done in a enjoyable narrative that makes the book easy to read. Having studied under Dr. Baughman ( I already got my degree so this ain't puffery) and taken an Antarctic history class from him, I can honestly say that this book is a useful tome for all interested in exploration and students of history alike.

Beyond Cape Horn: Travels In The Antarctic is a personal experienced based account of the wonders of Antarctica's landmass and the ocean surrounding it. Written by the late scholar and three-time Antarctic explorer Charles Neider (1915-2001), Beyond Cape Horn is drawn from his third navigation in 1977 of the Antarctic seas on a mission to observe the habitat of the Southern Ocean as it was changing in response to increasing commercial activity. Neider surveys the land, the water currents, the natural life that flourishes in spite of the cold and otherwise inhospitable climate. A vivid and memorable account which is enhanced by extensive interviews with Antarctic explorers such as Sir Charles Wright, Laurence Gould, and Sir Vivan Fuchs (the first man to cross Antarctica's landmass), Beyond Cape Horn is an exceptional blend of personal memoir and scientific treatise which is particular recommended for those who appreciate travel, exploration, and the magnificence of untamed nature.

Once past the alarmingly dull first chapter - a detailed treatise on Antarctic law which combines the style of a superannuated college professor with that of an assiduous low-level bureaucrat - "Beyond Cape Horn" settles into an enjoyable though disjointed read.
Neider's book is a happy democracy in which all facts are equal and each anecdote merits the same amount of space and generous allotment of adjectives. He does not sift the wheat from the chaff, prioritize, or even impose much order. An account of Shackleton's Endurance expedition, a vivid depiction of life aboard an icebreaker and interviews with members of the Scott and Byrd expeditions jostle for space amid a list of condiments available in the base mess hall, a biographical paragraph or three on every explorer who ever ventured near the Antarctic regions, and a meditation on the life of Rachel the Husky. (We also get a blow-by blow description of the men butchering a seal for Rachel.)
There is something endearing in this. Neider is like an enthusiastic hobbyist, full of information and bursting to tell us all about it. He draws us in, whether he is watching killer whales at play, examining gorgeously-colored caverns of glacial ice, or musing on the moral probity of a helicopter crew filming a penguin "in a panic which [they themselves] have caused."
And it is hard to dislike a writer who refuses to take sea-sickness pills because Darwin had none on the Beagle.

This will surely become a keeper "coffee table" book fo any mildly interested reader. Photography is unique and extremely well presented, and the writing is equally acceptable. Enjoy if you can find a copy!

As a big fan of Eliot Porter's color nature photography (so real it's surreal), I bought this book for his unique take on the strangest continent on the planet. That Porter was nearing 75 years of age when he went to Antarctica on this NSF sponsored venture makes his accomplishment all the more amazing. This is some of his best work. One only wishes, now that he's a decade gone, that there were 50% more pictures...

The travelogue/diary style text dragged at times for me, though especially those who share Porter's interest in bird behavior will maybe find some useful information in it. There's a little bit of interesting history, as well as some geology, but few insights into how these remarkable photos were made or the deeper thoughts of the man who made them. This is probably good, because if Porter had spent his time being a great writer we probably wouldn't have as much extraordinary photography.