Arctic Dreams

Rating:
Summary: What looms largest in this book. . .
Review: is Lopez's denial (by neglect) of the work of Gontran De Poncins, the last competent observer of the Eskimo.

Rating:
Summary: Arctic as Desert
Review: It's been some years ago now that I read Arctic Dreams. I found Lopez's writing powerful and gripping; I had to read more of his work and soon did. His use of the desert as a metaphor for the arctic brought to mind not only human desire to experience and transform landscapes, but also the sense of mystery that we attach to the environment--mystery that compels us to make known the unknown, whether through myth or exploration, and mystery that drives us to wax nostalgic when those landscapes are already comprehended and inexorably altered. Before the U.S. Civil War, some maps showed the Great Plains as the "Great American Desert." Within a decade, that land and its peoples had been transfigured in popular imaginations from a mythology of mystery to one of discovery and settlement. There is much to be gained from Lopez's deeply personal engagement with the Arctic and the ways his experience informs his elucidation of others' attempts, successful and not, to imagine, discover, conquer, and finally yield to this austere geography. In doing so, Lopez manages not to lose track of the sense of wonder and myth that nearly wells up from the landscape itself.

Rating:
Summary: Beyond the Pale; Notes from the Crytal Land
Review: Lopez' earlier slim volumes, "River Notes" and "Desert Notes" pale in coparison to this book which centers around an excursion into the Arctic, a region vastly unexplored (and, excepting Viking, Russian and Dane enterprises, unattainable beyond the sometimes invisible margins separating terra firma from the then-mythic Ultima Thule) and has only reached prominence until relatively recently in navigational history. The book reads much like a journeyman, the personal experiences mingling with sections outlining the cultural and historic (shamanistic to Cook and Peary), species and subspecie, the flora and fauna cirques, terminal moraines, and frazil of the crystal land. In many ways it also reads like a guidebook to the unknown, a sort of latter day spin-off to the wonderous adventure sagas on travel and exploration which played a critical part in books (and National Geographic) and other series' of the earlier part of the twentieth century. At still another level it presents a narrative which manages to economically convey the historic and environmental aspects which are arranged as if for magazine specials (of note are the lists of Specific Names and Places in the appendices sect.); concise, substantive and memorable. This is an enjoyable and enduring read, especially for long hot summers.

Rating:
Summary: Beyond the Pale; Notes from the Crytal Land
Review: Lopez' earlier slim volumes, "River Notes" and "Desert Notes" pale in coparison to this book which centers around an excursion into the Arctic, a region vastly unexplored (and, excepting Viking, Russian and Dane enterprises, unattainable beyond the sometimes invisible margins separating terra firma from the then-mythic Ultima Thule) and has only reached prominence until relatively recently in navigational history. The book reads much like a journeyman, the personal experiences mingling with sections outlining the cultural and historic (shamanistic to Cook and Peary), species and subspecie, the flora and fauna cirques, terminal moraines, and frazil of the crystal land. In many ways it also reads like a guidebook to the unknown, a sort of latter day spin-off to the wonderous adventure sagas on travel and exploration which played a critical part in books (and National Geographic) and other series' of the earlier part of the twentieth century. At still another level it presents a narrative which manages to economically convey the historic and environmental aspects which are arranged as if for magazine specials (of note are the lists of Specific Names and Places in the appendices sect.); concise, substantive and memorable. This is an enjoyable and enduring read, especially for long hot summers.

Rating:
Summary: I wish someone could write about Australia like this!
Review: Of all the books I've read on the artcic and antarctic, this stands out for its absolute precision of description. To see a landscape with Lopez' eyes, you would have to spend a lot of time looking, and absorbing what you saw, until you knew every inch of it with your eyes shut. So it's appropriate that when he describes things, the descriptions take time to write, they are precise, and thorough, and need to be read slowly. Any less would not convey the strangeness and unfamiliarity of the place. Lopez reminded me that many times, a day's aimless wandering about, just thinking about what you see, has as great a value as a day seeing the sights.
My edition has no photos, which is appropriate as the verbal description is superb. If you read this book, keep the internet handy, to use search engines to find photos of the places he and things he writes about. It's like having a limitless dictionary to hand, and with subject matter as unfamiliar as this, it helps tremendously. One could say that the book was 25 years ahead of its time.

Rating:
Summary: I wish someone could write about Australia like this!
Review: Of all the books I've read on the artcic and antarctic, this stands out for its absolute precision of description. To see a landscape with Lopez' eyes, you would have to spend a lot of time looking, and absorbing what you saw, until you knew every inch of it with your eyes shut. So it's appropriate that when he describes things, the descriptions take time to write, they are precise, and thorough, and need to be read slowly. Any less would not convey the strangeness and unfamiliarity of the place. Lopez reminded me that many times, a day's aimless wandering about, just thinking about what you see, has as great a value as a day seeing the sights.
My edition has no photos, which is appropriate as the verbal description is superb. If you read this book, keep the internet handy, to use search engines to find photos of the places he and things he writes about. It's like having a limitless dictionary to hand, and with subject matter as unfamiliar as this, it helps tremendously. One could say that the book was 25 years ahead of its time.

Rating:
Summary: Barry's Guidebook
Review: This is not just a great book about the Artic, but a handbook for how to move through and observe wilderness and areas of unspoiled natural beauty. Lopez knows more about the interdependence of the human and natural worlds than any other writer I know.

Rating:
Summary: Like reading a documentary
Review: Very well researched, packed full of information, great descriptions of the Arctic. However, it reads like an encyclopedia, so if you are looking for action and adventure or a lazy--easy to read summer book, look elsewhere. If you want an informative and interesting account of the life of birds, whales, muskoxen, and iceburgs of the Arctic, I can't think of a better book.