polar regions

If you like to read about the incredible world of Arctic exploration, this is a book you must read! Pierre Berton covers almost 100 years of man's effort to discover the Northwest Passage and the North Pole. Although it is a long read (over 600 pages) the author's wonderful storytelling style keeps you eagerly turning page after page. Each account seems to have been well researched and the facts are there for the reader to absorb. It is amazing to read how poorly the British were prepared for Arctic travel, how they refused to learn from the native people, yet how much they achieved in spite of their attitude. This book has a good message for us all. We can learn from others! Those explorers who did so, were a lot more successful in the long run. The book ends with Peary and Cook's claim to the North Pole. It is quite an account of two men who were more consumed with their image rather than the truth. Who was the greatest of the bunch? You'll have fun picking your winner. I vote for Roald Amundsen! This is a great book!

This is (IMHO) one of the finest books ever written about arctic exploration (and I've read dozens). Berton is a superb writer, an unmatched storyteller, and a gifted chronicler of much-too-neglected aspect of recent history. The men and women of arctic exploration come alive under the author's perceptive pen, and before you know it you caught up in the world of Parry, Ross, Franklin, Back, Simpson, Amundsen, Cook, Peary, and host of lesser-known but intriguing characters. If you have a heart for history and the people that influenced it, you won't be able to put this book down! An added bonus is the respect with which the author treats the arctic native peoples, without whose help and support every kabloona (white man) who ever set foot into the arctic would have died tragically. I've read this book three times, and am looking forward to my fourth journey into the world of "The Arctic Grail."

This is one of the few books detailing the entire quest for the Northwest passage and North Pole, a quest which spanned almost a century. Beginning in 1818 after the end of the Napoleonic wars the oversized British Navy was sent on trips to ferret out the Northwest passage. The original man responsible for this was Mr. Barrow at the Admiralty. This portion of the books mirrors and serves as the backbone for Fergus Flemings 'Barrows Boys' which is a similar excellent account.

This fantastic volume goes onto describe Amundsons navigation of the passage and the mapping of the northwest territories as well as bear Lake and Slave Lake. The final chapters sum up the quest for the North Pole and the expeditions from all sides that set out to conquer the top of the world. Nansans voyage from northern Norway is detailed very well.

This is an excellent account and if you can find this book it is a very good read, full of adventure, suspense and containing many good maps of each voyage.