Arctic Aurora: Canada's Yukon and Northwest Territories

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Summary: Miners, trappers, bush pilots, and the rare tourist
Review: Adventurer and nature lover John Holt shares his experience from nine trips into the arctic wilderness in Arctic Aurora: Canada's Yukon And Northwest Territories. John tells of encountering miners, trappers, bush pilots, and the rare tourist amid pristine natural beauty and havens for cold-water game fishing. Black-and-white photographs and sixteen-page selection of color plates enhance this majestic tale of exploration and putting personal survival and fishing skills to the test. Arctic Aurora is very highly recommended as informative and entertaining reading.


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Summary: He Does It Again
Review: Holt does it again. Artic Aurora shows us the intensity of the country and the love that Holt has for it. Reading the book made me, a man from the city sprawl of Delaware, want to go up and see the country for myself before it is touched by the outside world. Perfectly detailed, I couldn't put the book down. I felt that the added pictures that only hinted at the beauty of the land helped in imagining what it's like up there. I write this in that John Holt did what he does so well, give us a deep and honest look into the last of the untamed country. It's a must read for those trying to find the last great wilderness.

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Summary: Greatest contemporary book of the Arctic
Review: Holt takes you on a ride through the Northwest Territories and the Yukon with great humor and depth of thought regarding the land and the Dene, and Inuit who inhabit this beautiful country. He travels in a vintage 1983 Suburban which holds up to the rigorous roads, especially the Dempster Highway, a tough road with spectacular views. Holt's descriptions of the land are the best I've read in any book on the Arctic or any land for that matter. This book is filled with heart, mind and soul of the author. A great read!

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Summary: Full of his own virtue!
Review: I started out liking this book but was soon tired of its pedantic preaching. It gets tiring very quickly. Good heavy editing of the text (I'm the CEO of a publishing company) and a lot more photos would have greatly improved it. By his own admission and example his life is so void of virtue and character that he can only find meaning in escaping to the wilderness to some how start over again. He decries those in RVs as polluters and spoilers yet his virtue is enhanced as he dashes around all over the wild northwest in his Suburban. A SUV yet! My last complaint is that I like to pass on my outdoor books, good and bad, to one of my 14 year grandsons, as he and I hunt and fish together, but alas the R rated verbage in this made it fit only for the circular file! I would have preferred my money back!

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Summary: Blown Away
Review: In Arctic Aurora, John Holt has surpassed himself in this energetic, powerful book. This is the most impassioned title about the Far North, the last true wilderness on the continent, that I've read. Holt nails the beauty, the fear, the fierve wildness and the enormity of this incredible country like no other writer. Arctic Aurora holds its own with Dangerous River, The Rifles and Arctic Dreams. If you care about wilderness, buy this book.