Caroline Van Hemert

I told my husband about this book--a couple chose to take a 4,000-mile journey via boat, raft, canoe, foot, and skis across Alaska and the Arctic. He said, "Yeah, I wouldn't do that." Neither would I, which prompted me to say, "And that is why I love you."

But we do love a good adventure story. This book has that down, which allowed me to live vicariously through Caroline Van Hemert and her husband, Patrick. I didn't find the author insufferable as can happen when an outdoor enthusiast speaks show more to an indoor introvert such as myself. Van Hemert is also a biologist who has studied birds, so not only did we learn about what it takes to camp in the Alaskan wilds, but we also learned about the birds and other wildlife (bears!) along the way.

Along the way, the author looks back on her life and her relationship with her husband and ponders her future. I appreciate sharing that journey with her, and there is a nice surprise in the afterword.

I also appreciated the photos included with the ebook. What a beautiful place! That I will never visit! But I can in a book!

Here are some recommendations of other books:
Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
Out of Africa by Isak Dinseson show less

Caroline Van Hemert’s memoir recounts her adventures with her husband traveling from the coast of Washington to the Arctic Ocean. It is a blend of nature writing, travelogue, environmental observations, ornithology, and personal reflections. The author discusses her research with chickadees, which led to a desire to get out of the laboratory and out into the natural world. We learn about her background, family, relationship with her spouse, and the amazing journey of four thousand miles by show more raft, canoe, and small boat. This trip was filled with near misses of what could have been catastrophes. It is interspersed with descriptions of migrating birds, caribou, and other wildlife. The stark beauty of the northern wilderness comes across vividly. She also does a great job of describing the difficulties of such a trip – waiting out spells of bad weather, cramped camping conditions, the misery of mosquitos and other insects, the detailed planning required, and the impact of running out of supplies. It is a great book for an armchair explorer. I found it inspiring. show less

I love a good adventure story and if it involves ice I'm in. Caroline Van Hemert's memoir The Sun is a Compass is a beautiful and thoughtful exposition on her love of the Alaskan wilderness and the 4,000-mile journey she and her spouse shared over six months. The memoir transcends the typical story of man (or woman) vs nature, for Van Hemert also documents her struggle to find her life path--will she be content in a research career, what about children, how long will their bodies allow them show more to follow their hearts?

Working in the field as a student, Alaskan native Van Hemert became interested in ornithology, and in particular why so many chickadees beaks were misformed. Lab work was soul-deadening. She and her husband Peter, who at eighteen trekked into Alaska and built his own cabin by hand, had long discussed a dream journey from the Pacific Northwest rain forest to the Arctic Circle. Before Van Hemert decided on her career path they committed to making their dream a reality.

Their journey took them across every challenging terrain and through every extreme weather imaginable, bringing them face-to-face with predator bear and migrating caribou, driven near crazy by mosquitoes swarms and nearly starving waiting for food drop-offs. But they also met hospitality in far distant corners and saw up close a quickly vanishing ecosystem.

It is a story of a marriage, as well; how Peter and Caroline depended on each other while carrying their own weight--literally, with seventy-pound supply packs.

I enjoyed reading this memoir on so many levels. Van Hemert has written a profound memoir on our vanishing wilderness and the hard decisions women scientists must make.

I thank the publisher who allowed me access to an egalley through NetGalley. show less

“We all need to know that, somewhere, it’s still possible to lose ourselves in the wilderness.”

Invigorating, emboldening, and beautifully written. The Sun is a Compass presents a perfect blend of adventure/travelogue, personal memoir, and scientific observation as Van Hemert reflects on her youth, her relationships with her family members and spouse, and her stunning achievement in trekking 4,000 miles from the Washington coast to the Alaskan Arctic. Van Hemert’s journey and show more rediscovery of her passion for nature and ornithology is harrowing and breathtaking as she reflects on the stifling she’s begun to feel in a lab environment and contemplates the future that awaits her husband and herself. The wilds of the North that she experiences and describes are stunning in their stark splendor, unfathomable vastness, and unflinching indifference towards human life, all of which add to the sheer exhilaration of the journey. A thoughtful exposition, a remarkable story, and without a doubt a book worth savoring. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be in the mountains. show less