Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: Seasons of Life and Land

Average customer rating:

Environmentalists versus Big Oil interests

Beautiful book, sad exhibition

Entire US Congress Should read this Book

captures the essence and grandeur

why I want to see this book

Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: Seasons of Life and Land
Subhankar Banerjee
Manufacturer: Mountaineers Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Nature & Wildlife | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
Photo Essays | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
Conservation | Environment | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
Ecology | Environment | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
General | Conservation | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
Alaska | State & Local | United States | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Arctic Wings: Birds of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

Midnight Wilderness: Journeys in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

A Naturalist's Guide to the Arctic

Caribou Rising: Defending the Porcupine Herd, Gwich-'in Culture, and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

Where Mountains Are Nameless: Passion And Politics In The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

Accessories:

Rayovac SPHLTLED 3-in-1 LED Head-Lite

ASIN: 0898869099

Book Description

It is a land of pristine wilderness, pulsing with life even in the depths of white subzero winter. Entirely unscarred by roads or signs, it is the place in all Alaska where the polar bear most often prefers to den. It is host to more than 180 resident and migratory bird species that journey from six continents and all fifty states to nest and rear their young. Because of the massive herds of Porcupine caribou who converge upon the coastal plain to calve each spring, it is known as "the American Serengeti." To the Gwich'in people, who call the refuge their home, it is "The Sacred Place Where Life Begins."

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is a touchstone for all people, one of the few remaining ecosystems on our planet unaltered by human impact, where true wilderness can still be experienced. But now the refuge is showing signs of global warming: immense McCall Glacier, measured to have lost more than thirty feet in depth in the last forty years; the northward march of the dwarf willow, moving at a pace not seen in 8,000 years; the alarming decline of the muskox, forced to forage where their calves are vulnerable to predators. And the refuge is further threatened by oil development, which would forever unravel the delicate pattern of nature found here.

Award-winning photographer Subhankar Banerjee devoted two years of his life to documenting the land, its wild species, and its Native peoples. With Inupiat guide Robert Thompson, Banerjee traveled 4,000 miles through the refuge on foot and by raft, kayak, and snowmobile during all four seasons. With more than 200 breathtaking color images, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: Seasons of Life and Land makes this case: leaving the refuge intact in all its mysterious beauty is vital to the survival of this unique ecosystem. Banerjee's photos are paired with six essays and a foreword by former president Jimmy Carter.

Customer Reviews:

Environmentalists versus Big Oil interests.......2005-01-06

If you want to read a book about the environmentalists fighting big oil interests in NE Alaska, this book is for you...As was promised, it has very little to do with a computer scientist/photographer who supposedly quit his day job and barely avoided bankruptcy to write/photograph this book...The author is nothing more than a pawn of the Sierra Club to save the environment in NE Alaska who has thrown in some very nice pictures for effect...It's obvious that he has been heavily financed by outside interests with their own agenda...They are worried about drilling for oil and saving the pristine area...That doesn't stop them from driving their gas powered quad runners/snowmobiles through the previously pristine tundra...To top it off the Alaskan Eskimos show there appreciation for the animal kingdom by having their children dance on top of a dead whale while wearing a L.A. Lakers jersey...This book is hypocrisy at its finest...No thanks...

Beautiful book, sad exhibition.......2004-05-05

I bought this book because there was no other way to understand the photos that were on display at the Museum of Natural History. I was not alone; several people walked around Banerjee's exhibition with their books in hand. The curator had removed all descriptive labels, and the introductory plaque emphasized how small the Arctic refuge is compared to other such reserves throughout the country. The photos were mounted in a corridor leading to an elevator. It was poorly lit, and crowded with people passing through. It was in the back of the building, and hard to find. It was a startling contrast to the Eliot Porter exhibition in one of the main exhibition halls above the ground floor. That exhibition was well designed, well described, and included copies of books like "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson, hardly a neutral text. The only message I could take away was that environmentalism is "safe" to the Smithsonian curators only when it's at least 30 or 40 years old.

The treatment of Banerjee's photos was so troublesome that Congress held hearings on the matter. But no news report could compare to the feeling of being there, near the elevator.

I took the book home with me, trying to understand whether or not the poor installation was due to poor material or to poor museum administration. Banerjee's photos, and the stories and writings around the photos, are greatly compelling. The story of how hard he worked to get those photos, and of how in the process, he became a better photographer, stood out to me. I highly recommend the book, but I hope I have helped some enthusiasts know just how controversial the notion of natural beauty can be, and how the Smithsonian does play politics. Apparently, reading Banerjee's book can be considered an act of protest.

Entire US Congress Should read this Book.......2004-03-31

The entire US Congress should read this book before voting to allow oil drilling in ANWAR. The pictures alone make this book worth owning. I am ordering another copy for my daughter in Boston and will share my copy at a family reunion in April. It will be an important part of my extensive library.

captures the essence and grandeur.......2003-09-30

I am struck not only by the photographs but also the essays that convey just a sprinkling of what the ANWR is really like. But, what a sprinkling. I have had the opportunity to spend a lot of time in the ANWR and many photographs are ones from places I haved hiked and people I have met. Many of the rivers shown are rivers I have been on. What I have not done is been there in the truly cold times and his photographs and words do great justice to those times. The drawbacks are few and perhaps it is nitpicking but there is a concentration of pictures taken on the Hula Hula. While the Hula Hula is a wonderful river to do, the Jago covers the heart of the calving grounds and the pictures there were in short supply. However, the pictures are inspiring and the only thing not captured is the sense of vastness that one gets setting foot in the ANWR. But, I have never seen a photograph that can capture that. For those who may never set foot in the ANWR, or even for those who have been there, this book is a must add to anyone's collection. The book does make me want to seek out the hot spring on the Okpilak River, however.
Kongakut, Icy Reef, Bernard Spit, Jago, Hula Hula, Kaktovik, Arctic Village, the bird life and animal life --all places I have been and things I have seen, and a wonderful book with which to revisit those places.

why I want to see this book.......2003-09-17

The is not a true review: indeed, I have not yet recived the book for Amazon.

I just came home from a dinner with Peter Mattiessen at the University of Tulsa, at which he spoke passionately of the phyiscal and finacinal effort Mr. Banerjee undertook to create this work, the reaction in Congress to the book, the pressure upon the Smithsonian and the American Muesum of American History to quash display of Mr. Banerjee's photographs, and his personal fears of deportation or worse by the Justice Department under the Patriot Act. A most frightening portral of the reach real or reasonably feared of this Adminstration when an individual, spcially an alien, dares question its motive. As Senator Stevens(R)Alaska, chair of the Senate Appropriate committee was reported to say to his colleages after Banerjee's testimony, and the Senate voted 52-48 against drilling in ANWR, "I know who you are and you will pay".

Book Description

Eagle Blue follows the Fort Yukon Eagles, winners of six regional championships in a row, through the course of an entire 28-game season, from their first day of practice in late November to the Alaska State Championship Tournament in March. With insight, frankness, and compassion, Michael D’Orso climbs into the lives of these fourteen boys, their families, and their coach, shadowing them through an Arctic winter of fifty-below-zero temperatures and near-round-the-clock darkness as the Eagles criss-cross Alaska in pursuit of their—and their village’s—dream.

The Winter Wilderness Companion: Traditional and Native American Skills for the Undiscovered Season

Average customer rating:

Winter living...in the great outdoors
Great view of modern DIY traditionalism
Misleading title
Great things come in small packages.
Winter Camping Can Be Fun and Comfortable

The Winter Wilderness Companion: Traditional and Native American Skills for the Undiscovered Season
Garrett Conover , and Alexandra Conover
Manufacturer: International Marine Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Conservation | Environment | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

Instructional | Hiking & Camping | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

Arctic | Ecosystems | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

General | Winter Sports | Sports | Subjects | Books

General | Sports | Subjects | Books

Book Description

The Winter Wilderness Companion is a unique and inspirational guide to outdoor skills from authors named to Outside magazine's exclusive list of 12 Twentieth Century Heroes for a New Millennium. This revised edition unlocks the winter wilderness in all its invigorating beauty. It includes step-by-step instructions for making and using snowshoes, toboggans, tents, and clothing.

Customer Reviews:

Winter living...in the great outdoors.......2002-12-30

After living and camping for 10 years North of the treeline I have recently moved to the forest country of Canada's NWT. I have been on a steep learning curve made much shorter by this wonderful book. I have retrofitted a couple of kids toboggans and my wife and I have been out nearly every day practicing the techniques and equipment found in the book. All I can say is good, solid advice from people who know what they are talking about. My favourite writer since Rustrum!

Great view of modern DIY traditionalism.......2002-01-19

One reviewer says he didn't like this book's subhead. To me, it's the part of the title that really describes the book. The subhead tells you it's not a typical winter book, but a unique one that shows how wilderness travel is really done up in the northwoods...using methods that have been passed down thru generations. However, their materials adapt to the times whenever that seems best. Thus they're happy to use roll-up plastic sleds, in a "traditional" way. Note that the subhead doesn't say "re-enactment" or "historic" travel. Traditional travel in their sense means how local northwoods people camp today. That seems to be their drift, anyway. As a result, I appreciate the coverage of both snowmobiles and snowshoes. They go together. Now, canvas tents might not be right for everyone, but I appreciate them for long, cold, group outings. I think that for such use, they're best. Trust these folks and their local, ethnic sources. I liked the realistic, inclusive style of this book. This is not pricey vacation resort travel. This is do-it-yourself make-do homebrew travel. I notice that there wasn't much emphasis on the fancy new snowshoes, but instead on the wide variety of traditional models that are still available if you know where to look (not in the yuppy shops that you find far from the boonies). In deep offtrail open area snow, if you plan to travel, you need some nice long, narrow Alaskans. I find the modern shoes to be suitable for crust, gullies, trails...conditions I don't shoe in. Or hardly anyone I know. The recent takeover by hightech shoes is silly. I also appreciate seeing the lady author with her string of gunshot grouse...not a common image in today's backpacking books. But a common one in traditional northwoods living. This is a one of a kind book. No other contemporary book is as practical or personable. This book has character...ever rarer in publishing.

Misleading title.......2002-01-15

While the title The Winter Wilderness Companion is accurate, the sub heading of Traditional and Native American Skills for the Undiscovered Season is the part I found misleading(after I purchased the book of course).
I had expected the book to be more along the line of The Indian Tipi or American Indian Archery written by Reginald and Gladys Laubin(both five star books in my view). Not even close. Info on EPIRBS and contact info for LL Bean and Steger Mukluks wasn't what I wanted in a book with this title.
Although there is useful winter camping information it falls into the elementary catagory and group travel sounds like the old British Himalayan expedition style. If you read any Bonnington pulp you'll know what I mean.
Anyway this is just one New England winter travelers opinion.Its your plastic, but I'd spend my $14 elsewhere.

Great things come in small packages........2002-01-01

When I first looked at the Conover's book, I admit I put it back on the store shelf and went on to other things. My wife had just given me my third pair of backcountry skis, and I wasn't too hot on plodding around on snowshoes. A few minutes later, I picked the book up again, and flipped through it some more. I sat down in a chair by the fireplace (reallly nice store!) and started reading snippets, and knew I had to buy it. I ski and I camp in the winter. Not the way the Conovers describe, but now I am looking forward to trying their "traditional" methods. My circa 1981 snowshoes have seen much more use since reading this book. My wife and I have invested in mukluks, because, as the book states, they really do keep your feet warm in really cold weather! This little book is just crammed with useful information for anyone who ventures out in the winter cold and snow, whether it's for a hike or for the night.

Snowshoes are enjoying a resurgence in popularity right now, and "The Winter Wilderness Companion" can help new snowshoers get more out of their gear. But the book's true worth lies in the possibilities it opens for getting beyond the local park and forest, and using traditional (some may say "old-fashioned") gear and skills to stay warm and survive with style in the winter backcountry. Imagine hiking through a -40 degree forest, setting up camp, and having a +60 degree tent to retreat into for the night!

"The Winter Wilderness Companion" can open your eyes, and open your mind to a whole new way of enjoying a whole new season of outdoor fun in a grand, old way. It's compact size makes it convenient to carry with you, too! In 30 years as a ranger, ski patroller and search and rescue volunteer, I feel it is one of the very best books on winter travel and camping I have ever had the pleasure of reading.

Winter Camping Can Be Fun and Comfortable.......2000-12-05

Snow camping can be at once beautiful, uplifting and unforgiving. As a Scoutmaster in the northwest, I've enjoyed passing on skills to both youngsters and their parents. The Conovers do an excellent job in this book on several counts. They pass on their appreciation for the wilderness, particularly when it's mantled with snow. At times their writing is lyrical in describing the beauty of the winter wilderness, and their satisfaction in living a simple life in such a setting. In an era when success is defined by how many possessions one has accumulated and how far they've separated themselves from the natural world, the Conovers offer a compelling vision.

But this work also offers excellent strategies for not only surviving an outing in the snow-covered wilderness, but making it thoroughly enjoyable-even for the novice. Step by step, they offer excellent tips and strategies for handling everything from food selection and cooking, campsite and clothing selection to travel methods. They explore the advantages of adapting native techniques, and provide readers with contacts and practical directions.

Customer Reviews:

Philosophy from the north slope.......2004-03-04

Having read Mr. Wright's first book, Koviashuvik: Making a Home in the Brooks Range, I was anxious to read this. Although much of the book is his philosophical viewpoint about "life explanations", a great deal of the wonderful Alaskan serenity and harshness comes through. I am sad to say, this writing was neither entertaining nor left me soulful. I think the author has grown old and yet as wise as he clearly is/was, doesn't fit well into 21st century solutions. I take homage at his reference to the northern lights and Billie talking to him with the same voice, and will just have to live with his first Koviashuvik stories. By the way, did anyone ever find the thief who cleaned out the cabin?

I live in Alaska. I couldn't have read a more enjoyable book.......1999-05-11

Sam's book, written from his cabin 100 miles north of the arctic circle, is a contemporary adventure story par excellence. I'm a recent University graduate in sustainable agriculture now living in Alaska. I appreciate Sam's view of living with the land, not just upon it.

Wrights philosophy of life........1999-04-20

Edge of Tomorrow By Sam Wright Reviewed by Frank Kadish

Few people are able to synthesize their lives from being born and raised in the west, to being a scientist, to become a minister in a free thinking liberal church, to an be outdoorsman and to put into practice his philosophy by combining it with living off the land as our ancestors did. My wife bought the book at our meeting of our group interested in communing with nature. I spent the last three hours reading it in one gulp. It has been as satisfying an afternoon as I have had in many a year.

Sam structures his philosophy and experience with the calendar and the events of the year in his in his cabin just below the Arctic Circle. His wisdom comes thru the stories he tells and the parables that he creates. With his wide-ranging experience in life, his story becomes an adventure of the mind.

Customer Reviews:

Realistic pictures.......2006-01-28

I have read the other reviews and understand why others have problems with the text. The pictures alone are WONDERFUL - so realistic and makes you feel you are right there with her use of color. I HAVE heard of all the animals she mentions as I teach kindergarten. These are very familiar animals used in other Arctic books I have read to my kids. I will be truthful in that the text doesn't lend itself to be asked "TO READ AGAIN AND AGAIN!" If you want the book for the pictures, you will be pleased. The book's entirity I would leave for first grade through fourth who could study the use of her wordings in the story. I rated the book higher because it is a very good book if used with the right age of children.

Wording is poetically written.......2005-10-02

I gave this book a 3 because my 5yr old loves it. He's fascinated with the animals only. He will not sit through the entire book as I read to him. I think partly because the words are too poetically written for a young age group. This is one book that he can't memorize page by page. Some of the animals in the book, I've never heard before (for instance, caribou, lemming, ptarmigan.) The book isn't exciting to me and this is one I dread reading to my son.

This book is better than a one-star!.......2001-06-25

A very quick read, granted, but the illustrations are beautiful. This is the kind of book youngsters will want to look at again and again. I haven't compared it to Yolen's other books, so maybe I would give it less, but for now it deserves a 4.

"Welcome to the Ice House" by Jane Yolen.......2000-03-25

Owning wonderful "Alphabeastiary" and "Owl Moon" by Yolen mistakenly led us to this book. Text is barely verbal and vacant, certainly not any great addition to our science collection, as Booklist review tends to indicate. Splitting a sentence between four pages is not our idea of reading. Any parents who are reading for literary enhancement should find something else. The star we give is for illustrations, nothing more. The illustrator should have put as much effort into the interior as she did the cover. Too bad, overall disappointment.

Four Season North: Exploration and Research in the Arctic and Subarctic

Average customer rating:

Four Season North: Exploration and Research in the Arctic and Subarctic
H. Robert Krear
Manufacturer: Vantage Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Science | Subjects | Books

Average customer rating:

The Arctic Wonderland.....

Hello, Arctic!
Theodore Taylor
Manufacturer: Harcourt Children's Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Baby-3 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

Book Description

The Arctic is more than ice and snow. As the seasons change and winter turns to spring, birds return, seals leap and splash, and polar bears are born. Childlike, rhythmic text invites us to greet the animals that come with the turn of seasons--Hello, birds! Hello, seals! Hello, cubs!--while gorgeous illustrations reveal the wondrous creatures and colors of this stirring northern land.
Theodore Taylor, the author of many bestselling novels for teens, combines talents with visionary artist Margaret Chodos-Irvine in an exhilarating celebration of the wonders of the Arctic.

Customer Reviews:

The Arctic Wonderland............2003-02-14

"Arctic winter is cold, so cold. The northern lights flicker across the dark sky. But now Arctic summer is coming!" So begins Theodore Taylor's engaging and simple, non-fiction picture book. The Arctic is so much more than just freezing cold, snow, and ice. Watch the seasons change. Summer arrives as the ice partially melts, the birds return, tundra flowers bloom, and the animals breed and play as the sun shines twenty-four hours a day. But then the days begin to grow shorter. Winter is coming, and the birds and animals travel south. "Wind and snow have come again. Good-bye, Arctic summer! See you next year." Mr Taylor's gentle, spare text is poetic and filled with imagery and magic. But it's Margaret Chodos-Irvine's bold and bright, animal filled artwork that really tells the story and steals the show. Each evocative, two page spread is rich in dazzling layered colors, interesting geometric shapes, and clever patterns, and little ones will want to linger and explore each captivating picture. Hello, Arctic! is a preschool crowd pleaser, perfect for story time, or as part of a unit on seasons and/or the arctic. This is children's non-fiction at its very best. Kudos to Taylor and Chodos-Irvine!

Average customer rating:

a classic on the arctic
Incredible photography
Awesome photos

Seasons of the Arctic
Hugh Brody
Manufacturer: Sierra Club Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Similar Items:

Arctic Dreams

ASIN: 157805057X
Release Date: 2000-10-24

Book Description

In this beautifully produced, large-format volume, photographer Paul Nicklen unveils the soul of the magnificent Arctic. Nicklen has ventured to its most distant corners, and his work captures the incredible beauty and diversity of this vast land: caribou migrations and blossoming flowers in spring; sleepy walruses, nests of snow-goose chicks, and rainbows in summer; sparring polar bears and the dazzling aurora borealis in autumn; and ptarmigan, arctic foxes, and ravens in winter.
The superb images are complemented by the poetic text of Hugh Brody, who describes the six seasons identified by the Inuit, the true experts on the Arctic, and eloquently expresses the passion he feels for this unique landscape.

Customer Reviews:

a classic on the arctic.......2000-11-21

Paul Nicklen was raised in the Arctic. (on Baffin Island) perhaps that is why he understands the special beauty of the Arctic and was able to capture it in his photographs.

Incredible photography.......2000-11-21

This is an incredible collection of photos. I relived my Arctic experiences and could feel the cold and hear the quiet. This collection will remain with me forever and my compliments go out to the artist. I look forward to another publication in the near future.

Awesome photos.......2000-11-16

Received the book as a gift and thought that the photos were absolutely incredible. These pictures have made me want me to visit the Arctic. I think this is one of the finest publications for coffee table books and have put it on my Christmas list.

Average customer rating:

Seasons of the Seal
Fred Bruemmer
Manufacturer: Random House Value Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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