Customer Reviews

Ring of Ice: True Tales of Adventure, Exploration, and Arctic Life

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If you are intrigued by the allure that the Arctic has for some people, or are yourself unable to resist subzero weather at the top of the world, then Ring of Ice is a must. Stark has collected a truly diverse range of stories beginning with the comedy of errors endured by Georg Wilhelm Stellar, the German-born scientist aboard Vitus Bering's 1741 Russian expedition to the North American coast, and ending with the luminous prose of modern Artic explorers such as Barry Lopez.

Stark's informative introductions to each essay are both helpful and amusing. He has also sought to balance the primarily European writers and their points of view with those of the native Inuit people by preceding each essay with an Inuit poem. "The poems emphasize the Inuit ethic of sharing, egalitarianism, and incessant hunting, as well as the simple joys and fears of life." They are, of course, in sharp contrast to the accounts of the European explorers, who sought to conquer rather than work with nature, and usually perished as a result.

The book is divided into 4 sections (called books), but the progression of pieces is linear. The 1998 piece entitled "Tale of a Hunter's Daughter," is so pignantly written and captures the feeling of both the land and the woman struggling to make her way in it, that it is worth the price of the whole book. Of course there are other stand-outs, including "How Dr.Hayes Learned to Love Seal Blubber," "Nansen Strolls Farthest North," and "Cold Oceans: By Sea Kayak to Greenland."

Oddly enough, the poetry, which I thought was an excellent idea, is made inaccessible and difficult to read by the fact that it has been set in a script font that is too small to read comfortably. As a result, your eyes naturally gravitate towards the correctly sized, regular fonts used in the essays. This is really strange, given the time and effort that obviously went into the rest of the book, and I hope that Stark has made a very loud stink. It's hard to make yourself work at reading the poetry, which by its nature takes a little bit of work to appreciate. Otherwise a fine collection.

This is a wonderful book! Peter Stark has selected an extraordinary collection of vignettes from a wide range of original writings about the Arctic and its explorers. I've read many (but certainly not all) of his sources in their entirety, and enjoyed re-reading extracts of those that I have read before as much as I enjoyed reading for the first time those that were new to me. Stark has a fine eye, an encyclopaedic knowledge of the Arctic and a gift for weaving together these many tales into a fine, telling tapestry of Arctic adventure. Terrific!

Over the last two centuries expeditions have penetrated the Arctic and brought back important information - if they returned at all. This provides true stories of Arctic exploration and adventure, presenting the journals, letters and firsthand experiences of the explorers and natives of the region alike. An excellent addition for any collection covering world exploration.

Though I read it several years ago, the impact of this book is still with me. It helps me appreciate the life I have, and inspires me to push harder. The human tales in this book, many culled from actual diary or journal entries, are more gripping than perhaps any fiction I've ever read. If you feel you need a sense of perspective, this is one healthy dose. Reading it was a great way to transport myself from my day to day troubles and experience, again often firsthand, a completely different life situation. Highly recommended.