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May 07, 2011

Kerfe rated it:

Where to begin? Lopez covers a lot of ground here, both literally and figuratively.

Through the lens of the Arctic, he urges us to consider our relationship with both the land and its native inhabitants. He uses the alienness of the Far North to contrast the Eurocentric approach to the world with that of one that requires intimate and complex knowledge of, and relation to, the land for survival and growth.

These ideas seem to me to be obvious: we should know by now that j More...

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Feb 05, 2010

flannery rated it:

"Eskimos do not maintain this intimacy with nature without paying a certain price. When I have thought about the ways in which they differ from people in my own culture, I have realized that they are more afraid than we are. On a day-to-day basis, they have more fear. Not of being dumped into cold water from an ‘umiak,’ not a debilitating fear. They are afraid because they accept fully what is violent and tragic in nature. It is a fear tied to their knowledge that sudden, cataclysmic events More...

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Jul 31, 2008

Huan-hua rated it:

I stumbled on this in 2005, in a little bookstore in Heidelberg specializing in used English-language books. I was just trying to refill my reading material for my trip with something at least marginally interesting, but this turned out to be one of the most stunningly gorgeous books I've ever read--Lopez manages to not only see the hidden beauty of the seemingly barren Arctic landscape, but capture and convey its glory through his prose.

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May 17, 2011

Jean rated it:

I really enjoyed the parts of this book about the author's travels and living in the Arctic. The book also has wonderful descriptions of the wildlife encountered there. But I never could finish the book, even though I picked it up several times. I'd always come to a long philosophical dissertation and quit. Now I know why.
I just read Black Hawk Down, in which the author made a very concerted effort NOT to insert himself between the reader and the action. It felt so real, so compelli More...

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Jun 11, 2009

Stephen rated it:

Perhaps it was the fascination of “Sergeant Preston of the Yukon” on television or Howard Hawks’ “The Thing from Another World” on the big screen but ever since I was very young, I’ve had a sweaty-palm attraction for the Far North. The Arctic, a place so alien, so harsh, and yet so beautiful, it defied my imagination. It’s an allure that has killed many and made heroes of others.

Winner of the 1986 National Book Award, “Arctic Dreams: Imagination and Desire in a Northern Landscape” b More...

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Feb 06, 2010

Adam rated it:

As far back as I can remember, I've had a subtle fascination with the Arctic. I imagine myself wandering over endlessly white expanses of tundra and ice, a perfectly lonely permanent wanderer. In my fantasy, I am somehow detached, like a ghost - no need for food, rest, nor shelter, and with the ability to move quickly enough to gain a tactile sense of the land in giant swaths. I've always loved winter, and I am simply not satisfied with the winter I'm getting here in Wisconsin. I will go to More...

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Apr 03, 2010

Jackiejjj rated it:

Lopez describes alaska so vividly you can almost be there. Secrets of the far north are revealed - the many many varieties of ice, how it begins to melt and how the narwhals find their way through the maze of cracks. How they wait midway till the path reopens to their destination. I didn't even know there WERE narwhals. Sitting high on a cliff with an eskimo friend learning the nuances of his language and watching the wildlife below. Joining scientists at work with wildlife - drugging and c More...

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Apr 21, 2010

Mark rated it:

Lopez takes a wide-ranging approach to his topic, which has benefits and drawbacks, though I think his book is better overall for his ambition. In a sense, I felt more able to relate to the book and Lopez thanks to his movement through writing about geography, biology, oceanography, aesthetics, anthropology, development, exploration, hunting and no doubt more topics I'm just not remembering at the moment. The book has a spiritual element that crops up occasionally, but mostly resides at either e More...

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Oct 10, 2011

Jonathon rated it:

Like many of the most amazing places on earth, the Artic has the power to make us realize how truly small we are. The harshness of the environment mixed with the moments of pure beauty can't help but draw you into comparisons with the desert. Like the desert, the people and animals who have managed to adapted to life in these extreme places are truly amazing.

Lopez does a great job sharing his infectious love for this landscape and for the people and animals who live there. But li More...

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Oct 22, 2010

Rob rated it:

In Arctic Dreams, Barry Lopez gives us a grand tour of the top of the world, with special emphasis on its land- and seascapes, its weather, its fauna and its indigenous peoples. The author discourses on many subjects, some informed by personal experience, but always returns to his contemplation of the barren and monotonous, yet hauntingly beautiful Arctic landscape.

Almost as an afterthought, Lopez chronicles the many failed attempts to discover the Northwest Passage by European ship c More...

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Nov 26, 2008

Tawnya rated it:

An amazing journey into the Yukon Territory and the far North. Lopez journeys into the Arctic for understanding and insight, and shares his experience and lessons learned from the expedition. Anyone who has been to the northern territories knows the beauty and spirituality connected to it. It is unfathomable to me that there are people wanting to destroy such a sacred place which is home to species the Lower 48 will never see. For me, this book served as a call to preserve one of the place More...

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May 09, 2011

Mike rated it:

I found this to be an outstanding book, but not perhaps to those who fail to appreciate nature and conservation at the expense of financial gain. The book was copyrighted in 1986 so it is a 25-year old classic.

Opening chapters reveal the author's reverence for arctic-specific life with fascinating details of narwhals, muskoxen, caribou and various birds. It continues to define the wonders and hazards of arctic ice and land, and the Eskimos who inhabit the seemingly inhospitable reg More...

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Jul 20, 2011

Christopher rated it:

Everything that a person could want from a book that summarises the history and present day story of life and survival in the Arctic region.

The first three chapters were my personal favourite and seemed well researched. Each of the three chapters concentrated on a particular Arctic animal and the detail of their behaviour and biology along with his own personal encounters with each of these amazing animals was just great.

The book then brought you through the history of hu More...

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Jul 19, 2008

Paul rated it:

I first got into reading Barry Lopez's works with About This Life, not realizing that his claim to fame, so to speak, was Arctic Dreams. After reading an intriguing article that he wrote about the land and culture of today's Icelandic people in a National Geographic, I could tell he was very dedicated and well versed to the land of the northern hemisphere. So, I decided to pick this book up to see what it was all about.

First and foremost, it's refresh More...

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Feb 06, 2012

Linda rated it:

Well I give myself a pat on the back just for finishing this one. I learned a lot about the Arctic, but the prose was hard to concentrate on. There was this sense of removal from the scene, like the language was actually getting in the way of the expression of the experience. There is a kind of academic loftiness to Lopez's prose at odds, to my mind, with the subject. However, I am glad I finally read this after toting it around with me for over 20 years.

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Mar 13, 2010

Nancy rated it:

Again, another collection that I return to, time after time. Lopez's writings move me to my core. I would have to list him as one of the Most Influential Writers on my psyche - he writes from both a personal viewpoint AND an objective observer, at once. I find his tales intensely personal, while still being objective. It's a dichotomy I strive for in what I write, because of how informative the writing is, whilst striking a chord. He is a master.

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Oct 25, 2007

Mitch rated it:

This collection of Barry Lopez essays has had a profound effect on my return to science from history. I can only guess when I first read it. The 90s, sometime. But the details were SO interesting, and the story-telling so informed yet lithe, that I spent years, literally, thinking about it. I couldn't remember the author. All I knew was that all the essays were about different facets of Arctic ecology: polar bears, light, narwhals, the native peoples, the European explorers. And I knew, f More...

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Jan 12, 2012

Bob rated it:

WOW. This book is so many different things, connected by the author's personal experiences in the Artic. The first several chapters I found difficult - they are in depth explorations of some of the Artic's animals, including narwhals, polar bears, many different birds - and, to my unscientific mind, seemed overly deep in biological minutia. But then the Lopez turns to the land, the eco-system, its native peoples, the various explorations by outsiders. His descriptive powers are absolutely ma More...

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Jan 28, 2012

Cary rated it:

This book is such an education on many levels. The arctic flora and fauna, the weather patterns, seas and ice. The history of exploration-courage and folly, and the native people. What is most interesting is how the author looks at things from many points of view, and draws inspiration from places and animals, and finds a perspective in the fabric of it all. I wanted to be in his shoes on many occasions, but I know I'll have to settle for his recorded experiences.

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Aug 08, 2011

Yumiko added it

This book was given by someone whom I used to date for a shot period of time -- he loves reading as much as I do and has given me seven books. "Arctic Dreams" is one of them and I'm so glad and would very much like to thank him for the wonderful new world he introduced me.

The book gave me fascinating insights into life in the Arctic region,people, and its history.

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Oct 09, 2009

Sherry rated it:

What a knowing and writing of one of the most vast, special and fragile/tough places on earth that I have had the priviledge and pleasure of coming to know. Thank you, Wendy for bringing your copy along on our summer trek/canoe trip along the Jago. Thank you, Barry, for your profound and well written understanding and advocacy of and for this piece of our world.

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Dec 31, 2009

Elle rated it:

I love this book. Taking advantage of the extreme weather's narrowing of species diversity and the short season of their stay in the Arctic, Lopez examines the intricate interdependencies of the creatures there. The result, a lyrical, moving account of a vanishing world, that can fill a reader with wonder and sorrow at what is so precious and perishing.

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Jan 22, 2009

Del rated it:

Although i have no connection to the arctic, and can not imagine its true beauty, Lopez uses metaphores which allow us to understand his meaning. Touching many times on his experiences, which are full of his interest and love of animals, or his respect of history and geology, this book is a beauty.

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Nov 23, 2009

bup rated it:

Well, everybody's reviews, and its 4.3 average rating make me pretty sure I'm missing something here. Maybe I just wasn't in the mood for this book right now, but it seemed to go in many random directions. I thought I was going to get some good Scrabble words out of it, anyway, but iglu and aglu aren't legal.

The book goes over the wildlife, then the history of the various Eskimo (sic) groups there, then touched on oil exploration a little, then the history of European conquest of the More...

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Oct 06, 2011

Leigh rated it:

Absolutely fascinating. This book is responsible for my seemingly endless fascination with Arctic and Antarctic exploration, which has been going on for about 20 years. Lopez is such an excellent writer and he brings it the natural history and the human history together so beautifully.

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Jan 31, 2010

Clar rated it:

I am reading this book for my English class and it is killing me. It is taking me SOOO long to get through it and I put off reading it! I'm hoping that by the time I get through it I'll be able to change my rating to very high because I'll love it, but we'll see!

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Jan 24, 2009

Lauren rated it:

Beautifully written prose intertwining philosophy and natural history of the Arctic. I particularly enjoyed the chapters on polar bears, water and ice, and understandings of time and landscape. The book is slow-reading because of the densely beautiful and reflection-provoking writing, but well worth the time. However, not a great book to leave for awhile and return to because it's easy to lose the flow of the ideas; the development of which are critical to the mastery of the best itself. Bes More...

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Aug 13, 2011

Kearstin rated it:

I admire the tone and depth of Lopez's writing. He managed to take me to the Arctic, sharing histories, stories, and intricate details, with beautiful language that connected the observations with detailed descriptions.

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May 17, 2010

John rated it:

Profound, compassionate book about the land, natives and explorers of the arctic, which becomes in passages also a meditation on landscape and imagination, and how we might let the land into us and learn to live a better life.

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May 08, 2011

John rated it:

Remarkable essays about the Arctic from a master story-teller, based on his on travels and adventures in the Arctic regions. Very satisfying book to pick up whenever you want something interesting to read.

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