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Summary: 2002 National Outdoor Book Award Winner
Review: "Rowing to Latitude" is the winner of the 2002 National Outdoor Book Award for Literature.
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Summary: An Armchair Traveler's Delight
Review: As a junkie of adventure travel books - especially those that feature the polar regions - I can highly recommend this work. I liked the author's intimate portrayal of her relationship with her husband and her refrain from romanticizing places she has visited. Ms. Fredston provides a refreshing view into an "alternative" lifestyle. She is one tough cookie.
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Summary: Great book for ANYONE who likes explorers...
Review: I am not a rower or boater. But, recently saw Jill at a booksigning here in Anchorage and she did a great job. I really enjoyed the book with it's lay boating descriptions, her philisophical pontifications and her really clear perspective of herself and the world around her.The book belongs in anybody's library that has memorable adventure-explorer dewey-decimal system.
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Summary: New Self-Realization
Review: I borrowed this book from a friend, and now plan to buy one of my own, to keep. My husband and I are both teachers..which has given us summers to float (or row) and travel around our beautiful state every summer. So, relating to Jill's adventures has really given me new realization of how capable I can be in my adventures too.
We met Jill briefly while poling for a friend in the midst of an avalanche rescue in Turnagain Pass...she came across as so brave & solid..now that I've read her personal insight...its nice to know that as an Alaskan woman, heading into the great outdoors, I can still have some fear of "what may happen" but it shouldn't stop me from taking every moment in that I can. She's a great inspiration. Having traveled the Yukon River and Inside Passage, Jill tells it exactly as it is...great job! I can't wait for summer!
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Summary: A Journey Into Solitude
Review: I came upon this book this weekend by accident and I can't put it down. I do not row and I am not an outdoorsy person, but the adventures that are described go beyond the external. Anyone who is interested in the meaning of life, personal relationships, taking the less traveled road, as well as glorious descriptions of places most of us will never see...will enjoy this book. I plan to buy several as gifts.
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Summary: Fantastic
Review: I can honestly say that normally I don't really care for books like this...basically it's an adventure journal with moments of introspection. I said basically because this book is much, much more. With a little caution I let the author, Jill (I almost feel we're on a first name basis), take me along for the highs and the lows of her adventures with her loving husband. Anything I say about it will probably not do this book justice. You don't have to be a rower, kayaker or even a nature lover to enjoy this book...the author has a little of everything for just about everyone. I only have two regrets: 1) I finished the book and 2) that it wasn't me that wrote this book!
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Summary: Inspiring, Adventurous, Real
Review: I just finished reading this book. I stopped part way through, because it was so good, I didn't want to finish it yet. Now, I'm going to name it as the book of the month when I host my book club next. This book is so fresh, so in-your-marrow real, so insightful, adventurous, and breathtakingly descriptive, it defies easy categorization. Ms. Fredston is a fantastic writer, and after hearing her words for the last 286 pages in my head, I sincerely would consider it a tremendous privilege and honor to meet her in person. She has sent me on a search for the woman in me who is so wise, so calm in the face of crisis, so adaptable, so loving, and so passionate about life and living it. I know I have emerged from this reading with a sincere desire to make my life what it is I desire, instead of waiting for "someday". I am thrilled to have her voice added to the voices of other women, so few, who lead us boldly into our dreams, fears, and wildest adventures. You must read this book, and if you have a daughter in high school or college, give her one as well.
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Summary: Fantastic
Review: I knew Jill and Doug when I lived in Alaska a number of years back and was excited that Jill was going to record their adventures, which I hadn't heard enough about. The book was engrossing and informative, and Jill's perspectives on both rowing and the Arctic are really smart and sophisticated. I had trouble putting it down when I needed to do other things! This isn't a book for people who avoid introspection and reflection, and it's a great introduction to some really interesting places and people.
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Summary: Smart and subtle
Review: I knew Jill and Doug when I lived in Alaska a number of years back and was excited that Jill was going to record their adventures, which I hadn't heard enough about. The book was engrossing and informative, and Jill's perspectives on both rowing and the Arctic are really smart and sophisticated. I had trouble putting it down when I needed to do other things! This isn't a book for people who avoid introspection and reflection, and it's a great introduction to some really interesting places and people.
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Summary: Fantastic voyage
Review: I picked up Ms. Fredston's book becasue I had visited the Yukon river and inland waterways of Alaska. She writes (or is edited) quite plainly and gives a wonderful travel itinerary with little bits of her feelings along the way. What I found most absent is the eloquence of description of the country and her formidable navigation with Doug Fesler, who seems only an appendage, albeit a deeply loved one. If this were only a "see what I did" magazine article, it would be appropriate, but not as a book. Perhaps reviewing each experience with more in depth would be appropriate.
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