Review by Choice Review
The story of the search for navigable passages in the Arctic, both the Northwest Passage and the Northeast Passage, is well known in the historical literature. This immense and grand saga of human endeavor, principally based in English, Scottish, Norwegian, and North American (both Canadian and American) efforts, is a record of endurance, perseverance, cost overruns, and downright foolishness. Imperial rivalry and ambition lay at the root of the many expeditions here chronicled. Reputations and lives of the key players and their associates were on the line. The authors seek to portray the experiences, intentions, and results of selected main voyagers against the larger and current known scientific data of the Arctic. By doing so, they make more realistic our understanding of the immense difficulties faced by these pioneering explorers. So often the search for the Arctic grail has been told as a tale of utter futility. The authors correct this, giving warm appreciation to the deliberations of near-frozen mariners. Conceptually this work is promising, but the tale is a venerable and even overworked one. Although the bibliography reveals few sources hitherto unused, an index and fine maps add value to a well-written and illustrated text. General readers and researchers. B. M. Gough Wilfrid Laurier University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
The forbidding Arctic has long been a subject of fascination to explorers, both actual and armchair, and to writers documenting its exploration. Unfortunately, Officer, an engineering professor at Dartmouth, and Page, a science writer (co-authors of Tales of the Earth: Paroxysms and Perturbations of the Blue Planet), don't add much to the subject by way of excitement. They do, however, provide ample, well-researched detail as they examine the Arctic and chronicle the explorations of a number of 19th- and 20th-century expeditions to the region. The opening chapter provides a good starting point with an in-depth look at Arctic weather and its impact on explorers. The sun, for instance, cannot be used to measure time, because its relative elevation to the land doesn't change. Subsequent chapters discuss numerous specific expeditions, including those of Robert Peary, William Edward Parry and Martin Frobisher. The various groups faced similar hurdles on their treacherous journeys and shared an astonishing bravery and resilience in the face of danger, illness and death. But despite deaths by scurvy, chance meetings on the ice and the almost unnatural allure of the Arctic for these explorers, the book becomes tedious. One expedition melds into another, and explicit details regarding the routes and daily routines accumulate in the authors' unimaginative writing. These minutiae will be important to scholars, but the book will be more redundant than enjoyable for the lay reader, despite its extraordinary subject. Illus. and photos. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
The chances of most readers getting anywhere near the North Pole are slim to none. And even though this feat is accomplished on a regular basis by rich adventurers who fly to the top of the world and have their picture taken while standing in the area where all the time zones of the world converge, it is still something of a challenge to battle the elements. That's why this book is of such interest to the average reader. Officer (engineering, Darthmouth) and freelance science writer Page use humor and suspense to tell the story of the various attempts to explore the Arctic and the stories of other men who defied the cold, the winds, and the lonely expanses to explore this inhospitable land. There is a good deal of scientific fact mingled with the human history, as well as some interesting bits of trivia. The authors have done an admirable job in chronicling these fascinating stories without turning the book into a dry tome. This winning fusion of adventure, suspense, and history is recommended for all public libraries. Joseph L. Carlson, Lompoc P.L., CA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Choice Review
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Review by Library Journal Review
