One of the most engrossing books I have ever read. Lopez touched upon many aspects of the Arctic that I was unaware of with a writers eye as well as that of a scientist's. Most of his philosophical insights were just that. He made me want to see these northern islands in person. The only turn-off was his bowing. ( )

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. ( )