40/2009. Pre-global warming. Pre-Nunavut. Pre-snowmobiles (though there are some references to 'snow machines'). A natural history, explorer's history, social history and appreciation of the Arctic, often beautifully written although a bit repetitive at 400-plus pages of regular intervals of sitting on tussocks of sedge (what?) watching vole skeletons and tumbleweek bowl across the tundra and thinking about the sparse vastness of it all. The animal descriptions are clear, the exploration narrative less so; the maps are mostly notional handwritten illustrations, poorly keyed to the surrounding text. Bibliography omits Jean Briggs' Never In Anger, the landmark study of Eskimo social habitus, which is puzzling since a main point of the book is that the Arctic, though thinly populated, is not empty or simple. (Amazon or trip home, c. 2001)

The descriptions of the Arctic presented here are quite beautiful. There is a lot of factual information about species, migration, peoples, and exploration. This is intertwined with the narrative of the author’s experiences which gives a wonderful and comprehensive view of this region. ( )

I've had the opportunity to spend some time in the Arctic, and no one gets the feeling of place so exactly right as Barry Lopez. Perceptive, sensitive, and extraordinary are all words that describe Lopez's essays. ( )

An astonishing view of the space, light and ecology of the north by thoughtful and gifted prose writer. ( )

This is a book about every aspect of the Arctic - the wildlife, the people who live there, and what it has meant to explorers and visitors through the ages. Its key message is that we must not dismiss what we don't understand. The Arctic is not a barren, primitive wilderness. Lopez opens our eyes to all sorts of things which are taking place, from the incredible adaptations of the animals which live there, the culture and history of the indigenous population, and the way all these fit together. He also cleverly analyses the way that we perceive places which are so alien to us - through a whole spectrum of preconceptions and prejudices ("we insist on living today in much shorter spans of time. We become exasperated when the lives of animals unfold in ways inconvenient to our schedules - when they sit and do 'nothing'").

This book is also an important work of ecology - written 20 years ago, it focuses on the threat from industrial development, rather than from climate change, but it is all the more relevant today now that the whole habitat is under threat. Lopez is hoping to persuade his readers that humanity can, if it chooses, stop the decline - we have "the intelligence to grasp what is happening, the composure not to be intimidated by its complexity, and the courage to take steps that may bear no fruit in our lifetimes".

I found this book extremely interesting, and full of fascinating details. It's not perfect - Lopez clearly knows his stuff, but sometimes there is too much detail - for example, on the history of arctic exploration. And some of the more mystical elements didn't work for me (although I see that one of the other reviewers much preferred these to the detailed descriptions of arctic animals, which I loved). However, like the landscape it portrays, the book rewards perseverence. ( )