Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
36th out of 101 books
—
19 voters
Being Caribou: Seven Months on Foot with an Arctic Herd
What began as a wildlife research project became much more as the author and his wife learn to hear the earth, pay attention to their dreams and slowly change, beyond their expectations, into being caribou.
Both gripping adventure and stark portrayal of an Arctic cosystem threatened by oil development.
In April 2003, wildlife biologist Karsten Heuer and filmmaker Leanne All...more
Both gripping adventure and stark portrayal of an Arctic cosystem threatened by oil development.
In April 2003, wildlife biologist Karsten Heuer and filmmaker Leanne All...more
Hardcover, 237 pages
Published
November 1st 2005
by Mountaineers Books
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
426)
In April of 2003, wildlife biologist Karsten Heuer & his new wife, Leanne Allison, set off on an epic journey to follow the Porcupine Caribou herd as it migrated from its Yukon winter range to its endangered calving grounds in the Arctic Nat'l Wildlife Refuge - and back! After over 1,000 miles on foot and skis, physically & mentally exhausted, they walk into a dimension of conciousness neither had experienced before. Being Caribou is more than a story of grand adventure - it's about the...more
A great adventure: a husband and wife: biologist Karsten Heuer and filmmaker Leanne Allison follow the famed Porcupine herd of caribou from its Yukon winter range to its calving grounds in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and back, thousands of miles. Even more mosquitoes. Grizzly bears. Blizzards. Months of walking.
Ultimately they tapped into the herd’s “infrasonic resonance on the edge of human hearing.” A sort of oscillating song the collective caribou hummed to stay in touch, a group song...more
Ultimately they tapped into the herd’s “infrasonic resonance on the edge of human hearing.” A sort of oscillating song the collective caribou hummed to stay in touch, a group song...more
Why ANWR must be preserved
Husband and wife team of Karsten Heuer and Leanne Allison decide to spend their honeymoon in just about the most off-the-beaten-track way possible: they're going to migrate with caribou.
Not just any caribou, but the Porcupine herd of northern Canada and Alaska, the herd whose calving ground is the 1002 Section of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the place where Exxon wants to drill to get what will likely be less than six months, maybe one year's worth of U.S. needs...more
Husband and wife team of Karsten Heuer and Leanne Allison decide to spend their honeymoon in just about the most off-the-beaten-track way possible: they're going to migrate with caribou.
Not just any caribou, but the Porcupine herd of northern Canada and Alaska, the herd whose calving ground is the 1002 Section of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the place where Exxon wants to drill to get what will likely be less than six months, maybe one year's worth of U.S. needs...more
Look, I won't deny it. I am the wrong audience for this sort of thing. It was interesting, but for me it was really all beyond the pale. I think that nature is a wonderful and marvelous thing and I really respect what the author of the book did to try to help out a bunch of living creatures that deserve to live.
Still and all whenever someone is so intensely into something that they physically harm themselves I can't help but cringe. Maybe that just proves that I am weak and not dedicated enough...more
Still and all whenever someone is so intensely into something that they physically harm themselves I can't help but cringe. Maybe that just proves that I am weak and not dedicated enough...more
Karsten Heuer and his new wife, Leanne Allison, a filmmaker, spend months following and relating to caribou. They follow the Porcupine caribou herd in the spring from their wintering areas to the birthing grounds and back out. They encounter natives on both sides of the oil/environmental refuge question, grizzly bears, birds of all types, wolves, mosquitos and other life. They almost starve, have trouble keeping up sometimes and have moving experiences. An amazing and moving book.
They have a web...more
They have a web...more
I wish I liked the cold. I would love to do something like Karsten and his wife did in this book. But alas, the Alaskan and Yukon wilderness is not for me.
Karsten and his wife decide to follow a caribou migration.....on foot and skis. The total trip lasts about five months and they go hundreds of miles. They sleep in a tent and just try to keep up with the herd, I'll while carrying only what they can on their backs and avoiding predators like grizzly bears and wolves. Supplies are dropped along...more
Karsten and his wife decide to follow a caribou migration.....on foot and skis. The total trip lasts about five months and they go hundreds of miles. They sleep in a tent and just try to keep up with the herd, I'll while carrying only what they can on their backs and avoiding predators like grizzly bears and wolves. Supplies are dropped along...more
What a beautiful story! And what an extraordinary pair of human beings. Karsten is a wildlife biologist and Leanne is a filmmaker. These newlyweds spent five months north of the Arctic Circle, on skis and on foot, following the Porcupine Caribou Herd. One thousand miles round trip!! They endured grizzly bear attacks, near-starvation (six days without a meal to speak of), borderline hypothermia, monster mosquitoes from hell, and just pure exhaustion. With only each other for company, frustration...more
5 likes · like · see review
Very interesting book, yet I did not finish it, as it started to get a little tedious midway through. Nevertheless, it is a fascinating true story of a couple who decide to follow the caribou herd on foot during its annual migration through the northern Yukon and Alaska. Well worth reading. There is a film they shot which can be viewed on their web site. The book also provide considerable insight into the presnet day like of Eskimo native Americans.
I would rate this book 1.5 if I could. It took 130 pages before I really even cared about the story. The author doesn't write terribly but neither would I call him an excellent writer. I think the book would have rated 3 stars if he focused more on the environmental /political side of the caribou issue, so that his readers would have a reason to care about his 5 month trek.
"We try to be caribou but are continually pulled back by our human needs" writes the author in one of his diary entries. What value does it have to follow the migration of a herd of caribou as they head toward calving grounds on the Arctic Ocean, something that the author and his wife do with great hardship and considerable personal danger? That is the question that this non-fiction book tries to answer, and it may be a kind of religious answer that is discovered. The caribou herd is completely...more
The story of a husband and wife biologists who track the migration of caribou in order to show how important protecting their land is. Non-fiction Captivating pictures of the caribou and the other animals who are their predators. Grades 3 through 8.
I really liked this one, and the author gets points for the most gruelling honeymoon ever (though no need to talk about your sex life, Karsten). I found the description of the "de-culturing" of a human mind out in the wilderness super interesting.
Before I read the book, I saw Karsten present a slideshow of his experience which blew me away. An incredible endurance feat and a nature story that crosses over into the spiritual. The "Being Caribou" movie his wife made is also a "must see".
I really enjoyed "Being Caribou". The author writes about his 5 month journey following a herd of caribou during which time he becomes more and more aware of the natural presence and awareness found in the caribou and all that surrounds them. This allows him to see the glaring difference between that way of life and our technology and consumer driven lifestyle that is full of distractions and constant stimulation. Ultimately, he begins to make peace with the juxtaposition of these two existences...more
Grand Prize, Banff Int’l Mountain Book Festival
U.S. National Outdoor Book of the Year
Best Travel Book, Independent Publishers Awards
Sigurd Olson Nature Writing Award
U.S. National Outdoor Book of the Year
Best Travel Book, Independent Publishers Awards
Sigurd Olson Nature Writing Award
Author Karsten Heuer and his wife followed a migrating herd of caribou for five months in order to record their story and persuade people not to destroy their calving ground to dig for oil. They had to survive on their own, trekking after the caribou on foot, as the caribou made their way to the calving ground, had babies, and moved onward. The photos are amazing and it's an important story to tell, but I found the book overall to be rather slight. It appears that there might be a version of thi...more
This book is fantastic. Travel, adventure, conservation.
What an incredible adventure! Now this guy knows how to live life AND tell the story!
It's a good thing I read this nonfiction account of a husband/wife team who set out to migrate with a caribou herd in the summer, because the reading gave me goosebumps. The conditions they traveled under were often very harsh, wet and cold and dangerous. They weree determined to photograph and film the lives of the carbou in the Artic Wildlife Refuge, hoping to preserve the caribou's habitat, and so preserve the caribou. Maybe a whole lot more people need to read their account.
This is an entertaining read but it has clear left wing slant. The book is full of emotion but weak on facts.
Imagine spending your honeymoon following a caribou herd for 5 months, eating when they eat, sleeping when they sleep, holing up for days in your very small tent at the calving grounds while the skittish caribou give birth. Canadian park ranger Heuer and his new wife Leanne have just such an adventure, and their saga is documented with beautiful photographs and well-written text in this extraordinary children's book. 4th grade and up.
This was extremely interesting as an account of a couple's 5 month migratory journey with caribou in the North. I was soooo envious of their proximity to such amazing critters including grizzlies, wolves, eagles and of course caribou. The writing is good enough but the story is great and the message about the potential devastation to all of these animals should Alaska be opened to further oil collection, is very, very important.
I love this book. It is accessible, highly readable non-fiction, lyrically told and beautifully photographed. My only disappointment is that I waited so long to read it!
Very thought-provoking. Unfortunately, my guess is that the people who need the provoking are not the people who will seek out this book.
Wow. The documentary of this trip is amazing, but the book is even better. Karsten's prose will tug at your soul. I was very emotional while reading this book and it was a pleasure to read. Please do what you can to preserve the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
An incredible insight into the Porcupine Herd, wild and free and working so hard to survive. A touching story of human transformation. For anyone not already convinced, this book succinctly makes the case against development in the ANWR.
Enjoyed it; about a 4 star. Answered why we do not wish to drill for oil in the new territory to the eastern , northern part of the Alaska coastline. Two brave souls, newly married, travel with the Porcupine Herd.
This is good, but moving a little slowly. I don't really like the narrative voice of the author. However, I am still interested in the story (and a little jealous too).
I thought this was mostly an interesting story about a couple that migrated with some caribou in the Artic - glad we can't experience what that smelled like...
The kind of book that broke my heart because it meant facing a terrible, horrible reality and trying to appreciate a diminishing beauty within it.
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Karsten Heuer is a wildlife biologist, park warden and author of Walking the Big Wild: From Yellowstone to the Yukon on the Grizzly Bear's Trail. He has worked in Banff National Park in the Rockies, in Inuvik in Canada's far north, and in the Madikwe Game Reserve in South Africa. He is a recipient of the Wilburforce Foundation Conservation Leadership Award.
More about Karsten Heuer...
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
Oct 29, 2008 10:36pm