ARCTIC DREAMS by Barry Lopez

It’s hard to think of anyone who’s written more beautifully about the Arctic landscape than Barry Lopez, who passed away in December. Lopez spent years exploring the Canadian Arctic, first as a field biologist, and then on his own, walking, skiing, paddling, and sledding across the icy vastness to collect notes for a book that would “invoke things that are beyond the realm of biology.” He joins Inuit hunters, hangs out with fellow biologists, archeologists, and geologists in the field, and delves into the history of Arctic exploration, so much of it hellbent and wrong-headed. Lopez's Arctic is an endlessly surprising place, where tricks of Arctic light can erase the ground beneath your feet, where disoriented hunters mistake marmots for grizzly bears, a place where the monotony can break apart suddenly with a single loud crack, casting everyone into immediate peril. An all-time classic of nature writing.

$17