Customer Reviews

The New York Times North Pole Was Here: Puzzles and Perils at the Top of the World (New York Times Books)

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This is a great example of well-written, entertaining, informative non-fiction for kids and teens. It's a great blend of science, history, culture, and travel commentary. Revkin gives the perfect amount of science about the North Pole without bogging the reader down. The photos were great, as were the New York Times articles scattered throughout. Very readable and attractive book.

I love to read anything about the poles! They just fascinate me; I mean who doesn't fantasize about the ends of the Earth? This book covers both the legends and lore of the northern most point as well as the science of the cold and white place. A good read for both the young and old.

After moving 400 yards an hour on an ice floe at the top of the world for three days, Science Writer Andrew Revkin looks down from a helicopter. He watches the icy expanses recede far below while he weighs questions and answers about global warming, and the challenge of presenting these to young readers who are often lured in other directions by iPods & computer games.

Tomorrow's scientists need to be 'shook up' and know there are still discoveries to be made; they can be the ones inventing new techniques needed to retrieve & examine rock core samples from deep below the ice. (See pictures on page 66). They can be detectives competing with the changing ice for answers to frustrating puzzles about the rising seas, for example.

The editor has used engravings and diagrams along with the latest photographs to give an impressive smattering of the history of arctic exploration. The double-spread of a lone seal on pages 100-101 should have been placed to better advantage, to help make Revkin's point about the loneliness of the Arctic where the silence is often interrupted by questions about the future of mankind. This is a excellent, stimulating book for all ages to read and discuss together.

The polar regions have always drawn explorers and it is our luck that the New York Times sent Andrew Revkin to the North to look for ways of stirring the public. We must each take an active interest and help stimulate youthful curiosity by showing the techniques used today. It is not enough to feel the exhilaration of travel without becoming responsible global citizens. In a recent interview by Gwen Iffel on PBS, Revkin cited the "slow drift" of events that do not receive adequate coverage by the media, as for example the recent announcement that the first whale species in China is now extinct. Consider also the projection that by 2040 the Arctic Ocean could be blue for the first time in a thousand years.

Already the levels of contaminates in the bodies of Inuit persons living in the North is beyond acceptable. The Pole is indeed moving . . . can we be instrumental in putting the puzzle pieces back together and work toward unity for the good of the Earth and our children's future?

We must not lose generations of the ingenuity of bright young minds to Wars and the Pestilence of mediocre minds.

Andrew C. Revkin, The North Pole Was Here: Puzzles and Perils at the Top of the World (Houghton Mifflin, 2006)

Given the title of this book and a bubbly blurb from eco-wingnut Bill McKibben, I was expecting the usual knee-jerk no-brain "OMG THE WORLD IS BURNING UP" nonsense. To say that what I got was a pleasant surprise would be an understatement in the extreme. New York Times columnist Revkin, who has been writing about environmental issues (with, given the article snippets presented in this book, a surprisingly clear head), spent a few days at the North Pole with a research team and reports on what he saw and the conversations he had. (The seemingly alarmist title is explained by the fact that the polar ice is in constant motion; you can't stick a pole in the ice and say "the North Pole is here," because the pole will move a few miles a day.) These are intercut with North Pole-related articles from Revkin and other Times columnists.

Revkin buys into the "climate change is happening" rhetoric, but he repeatedly goes out of his way to point out that humanity has no way of knowing how much-- or if-- it contributes, and how much is natural cycles. That alone makes this a must-read for kids interested in global warming. In addition, Revkin is fascinated and awed by the simple majesty of the Pole, and interested in the history of humanity's attempts to get there, and it all makes for good reading. Fun for the adults in the family as well as the kids. ****

timely topic, but book isn't exactly dense. more of a children's primer on Arctic issues.

While intended for a young audience this serves as a very basic introduction to Arctic exploration and scientific study. Scientific and political issues mentioned could have been a good springboard for young adults to understand that scientific methods can serve as a process to follow when trying to answer difficult questions. Additionally, it is unfortunate that Mr. Revkin did not include even a passing mention of Dr. John Rae (Fatal Passage). This is a good book to provoke discussion and does little to answer the "big" questions. Mr. Revkin also might consider using a paradigm from Paracelsus that all substances are toxic - its the dose that differentiates the poison.