This book was pure fun! Peter Stark who has written on winter sports for Outside magazine, has penned some interesting and informative essays on his lifelong fascination with snow, the Arctic and winter sports. The author packed up a 1974 Volkswagon minibus and set out to drive to Greenland. Full of fun escapades and musings on that wonderful fluffy, white stuff-snow.

Peter Stark speaks warmly of the 'carnivorous' North in his introductory essay, "A Life Built on Snow." The 'life' he refers to is his own. His grandfather was a skater and iceboater, he and his mother and father were (and are) skiers. His whole family belonged to the winter. All the way through this book, wintery thrills overtake fear--the thrill flying four hundred feet down a ski jump; the thrill of stomping a ski into the snow at the top of a slope, then watching the resulting avalanche take out the whole hill; the thrill of hunting narwhal off Greenland's icy shore.

The author drives to Greenland in the sense that he arrives in a two-engine Cessna Skymaster after puddle-jumping across the bleak terrain of Baffin Island, dodging through flocks of lesser auks along the way.

First though, his essays take us ski jumping in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, sliding for glory down Lake Placid's Olympic luge course, through a run down Aspen's World Cub downhill course, and down Mount Hood. There's a sense that the author only really comes alive during these icy adventures, when all his senses are focused on the moment.

Luckily for us, he is able to share that aliveness with his readers. He puts us in touch with something beyond our immediate selves--I'll call it the spirit of the North for lack of a better term.

Between adventures, there are long, interesting riffs on different types of ice and snow, a short history of Iceland, and a discussion on building the perfect sea kayak (among other Northerly subjects).

Peter Stark is a contributor to "Outside," "Smithsonian," and "New Yorker" magazines. His latest book is "Last Breath: Cautionary Tales from the Limits of Human Endurance." He is also the editor of an anthology of writing about the Arctic, "Ring of Ice." He typifies a rugged new breed of 'hands-on' journalists, and "Driving to Greenland" should appeal to both armchair adventurers and to those few among us who actually long to live in the heart of winter.

The publisher's blurb refers to Peter Stark's "infatuation with snow." Obsession may be a better choice! Stark has written on winter sports and winter adventures for Outside Magazine and other periodicals. This is an exceedingly fine description of his recent journey from Montana through Canada to the icy reaches of Greenland. A "must read" for anyone interested in modern arctic and northern travel.

This first novel was a nifty, tightly written book that was both entertaining and revealing. What happens to the human soul in the cold, in harsh conditions, in the dark? How people snap, fall apart, and find each other... those are the themes of this book. The author has weaved a tale of love and of finding one's self. The only thing I'd complain about was that it flew by so quickly, leaving many aspects of the 'Stark Raving Dark' and the love story unexplored. Its always just out of reach, always elusive. A very good book, I look forward to Griesemer's next book.

Only a few of us will ever visit Greenland for business or pleasure. None of us will be assigned to the secret military hospital at Qanattarsa like Corporal Rudy Spruance, the main protagonist of this beyond the pale tale. But a trip to the frigid island through the magic of this intriguing little novel might be an evening well spent. The author's descriptions of the landscape are foreboding-lonely, other worldly, and bizarre-and offer a tantalizing setting for the outlandish story which the author unfolds.

Anyone who has served much time in the military can recall confreres unconventional enough to become characters in a novel. John Griesemer's are a bit more curious than most. But not by much. I spent some years writing a memoir of my infantry company during World War II and some of my real life colleagues emerged, in memory, only slightly less incredible than Griesemer's fictional inhabitants of Qanattarsa. Their perverse behavior melds well with the locale and plot in which they are placed. That and the mystery surrounding the weird hospital, nay hospice, in full view of icebergs under the midnight sun and goblins roaming in round-the-clock darkness as winter seeps in kept me reading.

The only weakness is the love story. I found it a little contrived and the love scenes less than passionately luscious. But Greenland is not a tropical paradise. After an hour or two at Qanattarsa you will most likely wonder how anyone could make love to another anywhere near that depraved ward of the barely living and award Corporal Rudy and his Sergeant Irene a blue ribbon for trying.

Innovative and frightening, part love story, part black humor. Reminded me more of Johnny Got His Gun than MASH or Catch 22.

But what really got to me was the reminder that the government and the military doesn't tell the truth, that we don't know the truth. As we embark on this "crusade" in Afghanistan, and see our nation filled with patriotic symbols, it's good to be reminded that we don't always get the real story or the whole story.

This large, coffee-table book shows the strange, startling landscape of Iceland from above. Each photograph is accompanied by a one or two line description, and there is also an introduction. A map shows the location of each natural wonder. The photographs are beautiful. They do not include the sights usually seen in tour books, such as waterfalls and cliffs, but concentrate on various interior mountains, river valleys, and icefields. This is the Iceland that you may never otherwise get to see. Many of the landscapes are so strange, that they could be mistaken for abstract pieces of art. My only negative criticism of the book is that, in many photos, a bird or other item should have been included as a guide to indicate scale.

I was trying to get some reference for the Icelandic landscape for a film on which I was working. No other land on Earth could contain the richness of Iceland. You really feel that God reached down and painted this island. This is definitely a coffee-table or reference book. It's hardcover and it's binding holds up well under stressful conditions. There is really little text, which was fine because the pictures say it all. Lily Winter's review is dead on. The pictures really look like abstract paintings. You see everything from the flowing coastlines to the snow-capped mountain peaks...not to mention the formations that thousands of years of lava flows and glaciers have created. I highly, highly recommend it!

This book is great for a good overview of the entire country--the history, the people, the food, the main attractions. It explains about the different parts of the country. Some of the pictures are just sterotypical Sweden--Sweden is much more diverse then people realize. They have immigrants from many countries. Scandinavia is a beautiful place. The museum details are not up to date, but this is hard because they change often and can be closed for various reasons. Be sure to do research before you go there if you have specific places you want to see. Otherwise just head over and wander the streets and you will find great stuff. This is more of a book to read before you go rather then to carry around with you while you are there. The Iceland Insight Guide is great. As a side note: I lived in Stockholm, Sweden for one year working. I visited all of the Scandinavian countries and Finland while I was there.

Being Swedish, it is always fun to read how other see Sweden and Swedes'. It is a great book that is more in depth on real life and how people are. You will feel that you know the people more after you have read the book. This whole series of Insight guide are great books for anyone travelling for real or if you want to travel by reading a book. You will not be disappointed with this book.

I am big fan of Sigurros and Björk and it was intersting to read about the roots of their music in Iceland. It was a easy and enjoyable reading

"Paul Sullivan's WAKING UP IN ICELAND is The Best, and Most Important, book on Iceland ever written ever published. As a student and appreciator of Iceland's majestic nature and magical culture, past and present, I tip my hat in gratitude to Paul Sullivan and Sanctuary Publishing. I hope the people, and government, of Iceland will do everything possible to let the world know about WAKING UP IN ICELAND. I will do all I can to spread the word about this brilliant book."
Ron Whitehead, may 21, 2003, Kentucky

I bought this book after I'd been here for a couple of months. Luckily, I already had the Lonely Planet's Guide to Greenland, Iceland and the Faroe Islands. The Landmark Guide has good pictures, but not much else. I'd only recommend it if you already have the Lonely Planet Guide and some experience with the island. It will not help you find a good hotel or good restaurant, and for some reasons skips a lot of the good places to see. A big disappointment.

Having just spent more than 2 weeks in Iceland, I've had a good opportunity to see which guides worked and which ones didn't. To begin with, Cathy Harlow's excellent book is more along the lines of the DK Guidebooks: excellent pictures, printed on heavy glossy paper, and short on up-to-date, detailed info on accommodations and restaurants.

In other words, this is a book to read and enjoy BEFORE going to Iceland, but it takes up too much weight for the info it conveys. Let's face it, the 20-kilo weight restriction for international flights, together with the even more severe practical limitations for people who use public transportation where there are no porters or native bearers are strong reasons to travel as light as possible.

Nonetheless, I enjoyed reading this book and would strongly recommend both the texts and photographs as an excellent introduction to a fascinating travel destination. Used in conjunction with the Rough Guide to Iceland or, even better, the updated Lonely Planet Guide to Iceland, Greenland, and the Faroe Islands, it is a worthwhile book to read and to keep for reference.

I recommend this fantastic book to anyone intersted in Iceland. Forget the other guide books, none of them compare to this complete guideto Iceland.

Fantastic background to the area both from the antropological and geographical points of veiw. However, when I visited Qaanaaq in 1990 and mentioned this book I found that the local inhabitants were not impressed by their protrayal. Particularly concerning the more private aspects of their society.

Insightful and introspective account of the author's extended study of the Polar Innuit of the Thule district in Greenland. The most recent edition includes the author's bittersweet reflections many years later on modern incursions that threaten the survival of this indigenous culture.

Although the primary objectives of Malaurie's work were cartographic and geological in nature, he became, by default, a primary voice in describing the Thule culture by recounting his personal experiences and lifestyle during the expedition. Surely, ethnography can never be a truly objective effort, but Malaurie seems to appreciate this and relates cultural information through an admitted cultural filter. Rather than stifle his own reactions in his writing, Malaurie has adequately described, with sensitivity, his personal paradigm shift as well as that of the culture he is inevitably impacting by his very presence. It is inevitable that in any ethnographic description it will be found that something is amiss, lacking, due to the inevitable loss of information that occurs whenever information is transferred across cultural and linguistic lines. This work is one of the few that I have read that treats cultural interaction and exchange with dignity on behalf of the observed and the one observing. And, after all, these lines of distinction regarding observer and the observed shift and change radically during such a period of cultural interaction. Malaurie wonderfully describes this process.

Vollmann can be difficult to read, but this book is worth a little effort. What makes this work interesting is the verbal jazzing of original sources from Icelandic saga, history, travel accounts, scholarship, Arctic folklore, and a little contemporary personal experience. This book is what might happen if Magnus Magnusson had brain fever--a phantasmagoric recreation of the North. What made this book enjoyable to me was the fact that I'm familiar with most of the sources and I appreciate the blends, melds, extrapolations, and abuses that Vollmann perpetuates on them. I'm not sure how this book would come across to someone without this background, but if nothing else they wouldn't be bored.

I just finished this novel after a month of intense reading and, in my opinion, it comes close to literary perfection. I can't wait to read Fathers & Crows. The sheer epic brilliance of the scope of this novel (and the following dreams) is bigger than The Blue Shirt. It exceeds Freydis's desire to plant frost-seed. This series won't be forgotten.
But be warned: this book is not for everyone. Suspension of disbelief and the ability to immerse one's mind into strange and inspiring places is necessary. Vollmann will leave you breathless with fatique, and sometimes you will love the world while other times you will despise it.
Buy this book and keep it close. It's always good to get another's perspective.

First, I feel I should mention that anyone looking for a straightforward historical novel should look elsewhere. However, if you are looking for a fascinating novelisation of primarily Icelandic texts from hundreds of years ago, detailing the first ecounters between the Norse people and the native people of Greenland and North America--well, then this is for you.

Vollmann's imagery is rich, lavish, incredible, and he is quite faithful to the voice of the Nordic saga-writers at the same time, not an easy feat. He even goes so far as to use kennings, the traditional linguistic devices that turn the ocean into a 'swan-field' or the different temperaments and destinies into the 'ice-shirt,' 'bear-shirt,' 'wolf-shirt,' and so forth.

While this novel is not entirely a linear narrative, it is instead a stunning tapestry of novelised sagas and stories (that do tell, in and of themselves, a linear epic)of the Norse, native Greenlander and Micmac people, peppered with the author's own contemporary travelogue and a wealth of complementary information. There is a story central to this work, of Freydis, a very complex and developed character, but it is told within the framework of a greater story... that of her history and heritage and forebears, and the history of the people she encounters across the ocean.

An achingly beautiful work--one of the few novels I have read of late that I could consider a true artistic triumph, and one of exceptional substance.

If I had never read some of Tony Greenland's excellent magazine articles, I would have rated his book five stars. In his magazine articles he uses photos that directly relates to the text or he may include a 1/35 template. However all serious German WWII AFV hobby novice MUST include this book in his/her reference library. Note: his book only covers building German WWII AFV's and figurines in 1/35 scale. For the simple reason that it contains easy-to-follow tips on weathering paint, applying zimmerit, scratch building parts, rating cottage industry/major company products, selecting proper hobby tools, painting camouflage, etc. And he encourages modellers to develop a sound intellectual basis with his keen recommendations on reference materials. However, Mr. Greenland's book has some failings. I wish that he had included his templates for scratch building certain parts. In one of his old articles he had given templates for constructing an accurate Panther Auf A's turret. Another failing is that he should have included a chapter on painting, weathering, scratch building and detailing German military gear. Also, for Chapter Four on construction, he should have used photos of a step-by-step construction of one model instead of photos of different kits. It would have been easier to follow. And finally, on the chapter on figurines, it would have been nice to see more step-by-step examples especially uniforms. However, Mr. Stephan Muller-Herdemertens, an artist and accomplished 1/35 figurine painter, wrote that chapter. And in all fairness it was neither his nor Tony's decision to write such a brief chapter. What this book had lacked in details it had made up for in clarity. Mr. Greenland seems to have written his book with hobby novices in mind. His book makes seemingly difficult tasks look easy. For example; the sections on applying zimmerit, applying dry transfers, painting markings, making bolts and chain links, and his recommendations on using oils, enamels, primers, and pastels on plastics, resins, or metals make the book worth the money. I had given his book such a low rating because he should have packed more information/templates instead of having so many photos of his work. The panzer in the photos are beautiful but this is a textbook rather than being a showcase for his completed works. He should have included only photos of works-in-progress that relate directly to his text. However, by Mr. Greenland's own admission he had never taken many photos of his works-in-progress. Tony deserves five star for the helpful tips, three stars for the overall text because it is well written but too sparse on information at times, and one for the photo selections but that doesn't include chapter six, seven, and eight because those significantly enhanced the text. So, taking all three scores together it averages out to three. But all novice German WWII affectionados should buy it anyway because of Tony's easy-to-follow tips are cheaper in terms of one's money, time, and sanity than making all of the mistakes oneself.

A few years back I would have had no reservations about giving this five stars. While it is still a good solid reference on building techniques from one of the acknowledged masters of the hobby the painting techniques demonstrated are now dated and no longer reflect the state of the art. Copiously illustrated with excellent colour photos, beautifully reproduced. The text is quite extensive, well written throughout, and the explanations are clear and easy to follow even without the numerous step-by-step photos.

Beginning with a chapter on tools the author then touches on references and available models (necessarily out of date now) before going into basic construction techniques and super-detailing. The next chapter is on conversions and scratch-building, chapter six covers specialist techniques and chapter seven painting, weathering and finishing (including three tables of insignia and organisational symbols). Chapter eight is on crew figures. A less-well-known point about this book is that this chapter has figures exclusively by Stefan Müller-Herdemertens possibly the world's most talented painter of 1/35th scale WWII figures with a detailed look at his techniques and some progressive photos. Chapter nine is an extensive gallery of Greenland's scratchbuilt, detailed and superdetailed models all of which show his attention to detail and his unerring dedication to historical accuracy. The book ends with an appendix giving sources for all of the products listed in the text which is a marvellous idea but unfortunately it predates the Internet explosion so no websites are listed.

The author is to be commended for his primary research and contributions to the field and this is an essential part of the library of any serious armour modeller.

There is no mention of groundwork in this book, anyone interested in placing their vehicle in a realistic setting should take a look at "How To Build Dioramas" by Sheperd Paine, Kalmbach Books, ISBN 0-89024-551-7. From basic scenic settings to complex boxed dioramas this book shows you how. Beginners are also recommend to buy Shep's "Modelling Tanks And Military Vehicles", Kalmbach Books, ISBN 0-89024-045-0, a good from-the-ground-up guide.

Also highly recommended is "The Art Of Weathering" by Martyn Welch, Wild Swan Publications, ISBN 1-874103-11-9. Although aimed at the railway modeller, the author has pioneered an amazingly-realistic approach to weathering and this book is responsible for a major shift in armour finishing in the UK.

British master modeler Tony Greenland has produced a useful, beautifully illustrated book describing his favorite model building techniques, tools, finishing supplies, and the weathering method he was using at the time he wrote it (people who have argued that Greenland's models are "too pretty" should know he is weathering his models more extensively now). Greenland is probably one of the best scratchbuilders in the business and his models have been used as masters for the production of resin kits. His discussion of scratchbuilding techniques is worth the price of the book alone. He finishes with a gallery of inspirational photographs of some of his models. Although some may find this book a little one-note in its focus on German armor of WWII, armor modelers of all stripes and interests will find many useful tips and information. Well worth your time and money.

I picked up this Lonely Planet guide before heading off on a recent long weekend in Iceland (courtesy of a particularly favorable Icelandair last minute weekend package deal), and was not too terribly disappointed. The background information on Icelandic history and culture was invaluable reading for one who had previously had little to no contact with said society. As testament to the well-written nature of the guide, it has also made me want to explore the North Atlantic beyond Iceland (Greenland and the Faroe Islands).

My one dissatisfaction with this Lonely Planet guide is found in the relatively brief treatment they give to Reykjavik - a bit ironic, seeing as how Reykjavik is the closest thing to a metropolis in Iceland, Greenland, and the Faroe Islands. Better city maps and perhaps more detailed bus/transit information would have been welcomed - as it stands, though, one can figure these things out well on the spot in Iceland (even without a reading knowledge of Icelandic, happily!)

Still, this is highly recommended for those travelling to Iceland, especially those travelling to places more off the beaten path than Reykjavik. More practical and comprehensive than the Insight Guide, but without the pretty pictures...and less expensive.

PS- Many thanks to both LP and other readers on the warning about the Icelandic specialty "hakarl".

I used this book during a recent week-long trip to Iceland that took me out of Reykjavik for almost the entire time. I found it well researched and a good source of practical information. It is not an "Intro to Iceland" sort of book (see the Insight Guide for that); it is instead a handy reference while traveling. In response to the comment that there isn't enough info on Reykjavik, the real gems in traveling to Iceland are in the countryside, and this book covers them quite well. I was also pleasantly surprised to discover the high level of accuracy in the listings, considering the edition is a few years old. I would strongly recommend bringing this book with you. (And I agree with the reader who said that his/her interest in Greenland and the Faroe Islands has been piqued by this book.)

We used this book to plan our trip to both Iceland and Greenland, and found it invaluable. We used it to phone and e-mail for reservations, which were not always possible to make, as LP also tells us, because of no English spoken at some of the tiny places. We trusted LP that little hostels existed in these places, however, and always found room. The maps were great, including hiking trails. The historical details were well-researched. The directions were amazing. It even got us to one historical site in Iceland that had no signs and even the locals had a hard time telling us how to find. Besides being practically helpful, it has lots of anecdotes and local flavour that make it interesting reading. Perhaps what should be emphasized more is how expensive Iceland is. Two small loads of laundry cost us about $35 Canadian! We could have bought all new underwear for that!