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Download PDF Tip of the Iceberg My 3 000Mile Journey Around Wild Alaska the Last Great American Frontier Mark Adams 9781101985120 Books

Product details Paperback 336 pages Publisher Dutton; Reprint edition (May 28, 2019) Language English ISBN-10 1101985127

Tip of the Iceberg My 3 000Mile Journey Around Wild Alaska the Last Great American Frontier Mark Adams 9781101985120 Books Reviews

• Mark Adams consistently delivers books that take three stories that are masterfully woven into pure adventure, insights, and fun. If you love history, travel, and discovering the stories behind the stories, then Tip of the Iceberg is for you. Like Turn RIght at Machu Picchu, there are three chords; the main story (Harriman), the history of the town and adventurers that came before Harriman, and Mark's story of retracing the steps. You’ll appreciate the research and detail provided at each station of the journey as well as the odd, funny, or scary things that happen along Mark’s trip. I am amazed how he can connect with people and how quickly they open up, which adds to the understanding of the culture. This ability is what makes Mark’s book pure fun to read.
• This should be called a democrat seeks out to prove global warming following a historic journey from the past. He worked hard to point out if anyone in Alaska differed on his opinions, they were crazy. Oddly he points out how many of these things happening today were happening back in Muir's time. Fortunately you can see the historic journey he was trying to retrace despite his bias...I just wish he could have done it without his political commentary. Book was not for me but I am sure it will be for many.
• “Tip of the Iceberg – My 3,000-mile Journey Around Alaska, The Last Great American Frontier” is just terrific. It is an enormously satisfying parallel adventure, pairing the story of Edward Harriman’s 1899 expedition to Alaska with the author’s modern retracing of the same adventure nearly 120 years later. Both stories are beautifully told, with plenty of illuminating historical context to bring the past to life, and enough wry observation, real adventure and beautiful nature writing to make the modern story almost as amazing as the original one.
  
  The constant throughout is the Alaskan wilderness. Adams allows the original explorers to speak for themselves, and passages by John Muir and John Burroughs are powerful in communicating the wild vastness and shocking beauty of Alaska and the awe they felt as they encountered it. But Adams’ writing is so vivid and affecting about nature, and his descriptions so good, that it is his writing the makes the real connection for you to wild Alaska.
  
  Finally, Adams is no armchair adventurer, and his enthusiastic pursuit of the journey pays off in two ways. He has real adventures, recalled with humor and terror disguised as humor. But most rewarding are the portraits of the people he encounters in Alaska. He honors all by truly seeing them and reporting with compassion what he sees. Throw in some fascinating and tragic Native American History, some environmental history, some climate change, some geology, some huge earthquakes, some modern Alaskan political science, some tsunamis and some beer for dinner. Then you get the encounters with bears.
  
  If any of this sounds interesting at all, then you should read this book right away.
• For all the armchair travelers and especially for those who are unable to visit Alaska, Mark Adams has written an illuminating and very enjoyable book for you! I purchased the hardback copy instead of as I knew I'd want to share this book - it contains a map and some photos, sources and bibliography. I especially enjoyed Alaska's history, climate changes, early explorers, natives, and the scenery as described so perfectly in this utterly delightful book! Most of all I enjoyed the author's usual good-natured humor as he sailed, hiked, flew, biked, kayaked, camped, ate, communicated with tourists and Alaskans, and described the journeys by explorers in the 1800's. Alaska is America's final frontier. I've read many books on Alaska, but this is my favorite one to share.
• I found this book rather slow. I was reading on a and do not know the area at all. I often had to refer to a map to connect all the information
• I love this book. I love travelling to Alaska. I love this book. And if you've enjoyed Adams' previous work, you'll like this one, too, whether you love Alaska or not. As Adams more or less follows the route of the Harriman Expedition, he compares the earlier trip to modern day Alaska using gentle humor, making fun of some of the folks he encounters, but not in a mean way, and he pokes fun at himself as well. I'm going on an Alaskan cruise this summer with friends--which is not the same as either the Harriman Expedition or Adams' trip AT ALL, but I'm still getting this book as a gift for everyone who's going.
• its obvious the author spent some time doing homework on the history of the expedition, however I had trouble staying interested in the book, mainly because of the back and forth between history and his experiences... which really messed up the flow of reading. Also, at times it seemed the author was more interested in trying to be witty than writing a book, which also got old, and affected the ease/flow of reading.
  
  I may come back and read the rest of it later, or in bits and pieces... but for now, I've moved on.
• I enjoyed this book and learning a lot about Alaska and it's history. Very great detail in the many areas this expedition studied. It was easy reading and had some good stories and references.