Recommended Reading - Realm of the Polar Bear
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ESSENTIAL READING
Andreas Umbreit
Bradt Guide Spitsbergen: Svalbard, Franz Josef Land, Jan Mayen
2005, PAPER, 304 PAGES, $21.95
This convenient guide is an excellent introduction to Spitsbergen, Franz Josef Land and Jan Mayen, featuring an overview of history, wildlife and nature, color photographs and many maps. (Item no. NOR01)
Tony Soper, Dan Powell (Illustrator)
The Arctic, A Guide to Coastal Wildlife
2005, PAPER, 144 PAGES, $21.95
A compact, illustrated guide to coastal marine mammals and seabirds of the Circumpolar North, featuring handsome watercolor illustrations and lively text . (Item no. ARC85)
Barry Lopez
Arctic Dreams, Imagination and Desire in a Northern Landscape
2001, PAPER, 417 PAGES, $15.00
One of the best books we've read on any destination, this celebrated meditation on the Arctic draws on Lopez's travels throughout the North, including Baffin Island, Siberia and Greenland. (Item no. ARC11)
Ian Stirling, Dan Guravich (Photographer)
Polar Bears
1998, PAPER, 232 PAGES, $29.95
A tribute to the polar bear by a pre-eminent researcher and intrepid photographer with both outstanding color photography and solid information on natural history and Inuit lore. (Item no. ARC58)
Ocean Explorer Maps
Spitsbergen Explorer Map
2006, MAP, $11.95
A detailed map of Svalbard for the traveler, at a scale of 1:1,000,000. With illustrated biographies of explorers and a wildlife guide on the reverse. (Item no. ARC88)
ALSO RECOMMENDED
Insight Guides
Insight Guide Norway
2002, PAPER, 391 PAGES, $22.95
A profusely illustrated overview of Norway, featuring concise essays on natural history, politics and culture, hundreds of photos and maps, and some limited practical information. (Item no. NOR03)
T.K Derry
A History of Scandinavia: Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland
2000, PAPER, 447 PAGES, $23.50
A comprehensive, historical overview of Scandinavia from prehistory to the present day with chapters on the Viking and Lutheran kingdoms, medieval times, monarchies, the World Wars and modern period through the 1970s (with a short chapter addressing the 1990s). (Item no. SCN03)
P.J. Capelotti (Editor)
The Svalbard Archipelago
2000, PAPER, 180 PAGES, $47.50
A reprint of a WWII-era report on Spitsbergen by U.S. intelligence, covering the geography, history and geo-politics of the archipelago. With 63 photographs, maps, glossary, illustrations, bibliography, appendices, and index. (Item no. ARC91)
P.J. Capelotti
By Airship to the North Pole, An Archaeology of Human Exploration
1999, HARD COVER, 209 PAGES, $26.00
A history of Salomon Andree, Charles Wellman and the first attempts to reach the North Pole by airship. This book includes a detailed archaeological analysis of the aerial polar base camps in Spitsbergen. (Item no. ARC68)
Wilbur Cross
Disaster at the Pole, The Tragedy of the Airship Italia and the 1928 Nobile Expedition to the North Pole
2002, PAPER, 316 PAGES, $16.95
A thrilling account of the crash of the airship Italia in 1928 and the political aftermath in an increasingly fascist Europe. (Item no. ARC84)
Fridtjof Nansen
Farthest North
1999, PAPER, 508 PAGES, $27.00
A classic account of the voyage of the Fram by the great Norwegian polar explorer Fridjof Nansen, originally published in 1897. Illustrated with maps and photographs, his tale is a compelling adventure. (Item no. ARC60)
Clive Holland (Editor)
Farthest North, A History of North Polar Exploration in Eyewitness Accounts
1999, PAPER, 301 PAGES, $12.95
An anthology of eyewitness accounts, this book excerpts the memoirs and adventure tales of Peary, Franklin, de Long, Nansen and other great polar explorers in search of the North Pole. (Item no. ARC55)
Tim Moore
Frost on My Moustache, The Arctic Exploits of a Lord and a Loafer
2001, PAPER, 280 PAGES, $12.95
In this inspired folly, a British comic heads to Iceland, Spitsbergen and other northern locales in the wake of a fictitious Arctic hero. (Item no. ARC74)
Colin Bull
Innocents in The Arctic, The 1951 Spitsbergen Expedition
2005, HARD COVER, 272 PAGES, $34.95
A marvelous account of scientific adventure in the far north, drawn from field notes, journals and published reports. (Item no. ARC176)
Gretel Ehrlich
The Future of Ice, A Journey Into Cold
2005, PAPER, 200 PAGES, $13.95
The marvelous Ehrlich continues her fascination with out-of-the-way (and cold!) places with this impressionistic account of journeys to the ends of the earth. (Item no. ANT215)
Jeanette Mirsky
To the Arctic, The Story of Northern Exploration from Earliest Times
1997, PAPER, 392 PAGES, $17.00
A classic and wide-ranging narrative of Arctic exploration from the Dutch in Spitsbergen to the Russian Great Northern Expedition, the search for Franklin and the quest for the North Pole. (Item no. ARC31)
E.C. Pielou
A Naturalist's Guide to the Arctic
1994, PAPER, 327 PAGES, $20.00
A well written primer on Arctic climate, geography, plants, birds, mammals and insects. It's a highly recommended, enthusiastic guide to natural history throughout the North. (Item no. ARC03)
Julian Dowdeswell, Michael Hambrey
Islands of the Arctic
2002, HARD COVER, 280 PAGES, $45.00
A nicely illustrated oversize survey of the geology, nature and geography of the Arctic, featuring 242 color photographs. The authors, glaciologists both, use examples from Greenland, Spitbergen, the Russian and Canadian Arctic. (Item no. ARC122)
Nikita Ovskynikov
Polar Bears, Living with the White Bear
1999, PAPER, 144 PAGES, $19.95
A fascinating and personal tale of research, this volume features hundreds of color photographs of bears. Ovsyanikov chronicles his four years living among the white bears, discussing behavior and offering insight into Arctic research at Wrangel Island in the Russian Arctic. (Item no. ARC51)
Joanna Kavenna
The Ice Museum, In Search of the Lost Land of Thule
2007, PAPER, 304 PAGES, $15.00
Kavenna combines travel, history and anecdote in this enchanting account of travels throughout the North. With chapters Shetland, Iceland, Estonia, Greenland and Spitsbergen, all thought to be home to Thule of legend. (Item no. ARC175)
Peter Knudson
The World of the Walrus
1998, HARD COVER, 114 PAGES, $12.95
An overview of the natural and cultural history of the walrus featuring 50 full color photographs. (Item no. ARC89)
Killian Mullarney, Lars Svensson, Dan Zetterstrom, Peter J. Grant
Birds of Europe
2000, PAPER, 400 PAGES, $29.95
A Princeton field guide to European birds, featuring 3,500 color illustrations that depict 722 species found across the continent. (Item no. FG47)
Peter Harrison
Seabirds of the World, A Photographic Guide
1996, PAPER, 317 PAGES, $29.95
Pack this book with your Dramamine; our 10-year-old copy has been everywhere. It's a definitive, compact guide to all the world's seabirds, featuring 740 photographs. Harrison helpfully includes a key to those confusing tubenoses (albatrosses, petrels etc). (Item no. FG16)