I enjoyed this book as it was concise and full of rich detail. A highlight is that it compares and contrasts the many salmon species. It is an excellent resource for a classroom!

The idea of fishing alaska for dollars a day stems from the concept of renting one of some 200 forest service cabins in the state. The cabin system is generally affiliated with hunting locations, but many are also amenable to fishing opportunity. So few guidebooks exist on alaska fishing logistics, that I was determined to obtain this one (the author had kindly supplied me with select pages to plan a trip last year). To my delight, the author (and publisher) have reprinted the most recent, 1995 edition. Since that writing, much of the information contained in the book is now available on the universal web-site for cabin reservation information. Even so, the book provides some additional guidance on where the fish are (and aren't), what to bring, and what to expect. The book is due for a revision, taking into account rehabilitation of some of the cabins, the current reservation (and lottery) systems, and, possibly, including the fish and wildlife service cabins on Kodiak and the Adak Islands. Still the book is more comprehensive than more selective books on cabins in south-central Alaska. I rate it at four stars, a definite "buy".

Last night, I started to read this book as I was going to bed. I read the first 20 pages or-so. Today, I finished off the book. It is very suspenseful & you may just read it as fast as I did.

I will say that this is a very interesting book & it is well worth your time. There is just two problems with it:
-The last 20-30 pages, you're waiting for something for something suspenseful to happen. But nothing does. That's the reason I gave it four stars. Something huge or radical (nyuk, nyuk) was going to come in my mind.
-Luke McHenry, who is the character in first person, is a huge Giants fan. Sorry, bub, but the Angels rock. Can't avoid Halo Magic.

Otherwise this is a great book. The characters are well developed & the author puts an interesting twist on the book by placing most of the story in Alaska. It shows that they DON'T live in igloos. They're all just regular dudes up there. A very realistic story. Recommended for people who liked "Zach's Lie" or suspenseful, crime-filled books.

This book encapsulates Alaska's history into a narrative that educates as well as illuminates the reader about the mythic and factual accounts comprising the State's evolution. Alaska, as portrayed in Frigid Embrace, is a state that has chosen to prostitute itself to the whims of Big Oil, with little thought given to environmental consequences. The author, an outspoken advocate of wilderness protection, openly denounces 'Outside' corporations who have wielded extraordinary influence over the state.

I appreciate the message the author is attempting to convey, but it is delivered with an underlying prejudice against the industries that have kept the state monetarily afloat, and subsequently dependent. An urban garbage dump was chosen for the cover, which is unsightly regardless of the state it inhabits. This graphic depiction of Alaska is atypical of the grandeur that still exists. I feel this is a deceptive tactic to mislead the reader and portray Alaska as a state that has become grossly despoiled by industrialized development.

Despite the bias, the author delivers an insightful perspective of the aftermath from decades of collisions between corporate wealth and a state with a unique cultural heritage and vulnerable environment. I recommend this historical overview of Alaska, and encourage readers to approach it with ample objectivity.

When planning a trip to Alaska, this book is an easy straight forward guide. It provides maps and info. divided by area of Alaska. It is a must for the first time traveler to this area.

Over forty vignettes and stories of people/characters who have lived in North Pole,(yes, there really is a town of North Pole, located 13 miles southeast of Fairbanks). Lots of local flavor about living in the land of the Midnight Sun where it can get minus 50 degrees during the winter. North Pole is not a cosmopolitan town by any means and this book will attest to that fact, with a bit of humor thrown in for good measure!

Reviewed by Michael Gates, Parks Alaska, Dawson, Yukon Territory, Canada, for Alaska History, Vol. 13, Nos. 1 & 2 (Spring/Fall 1998): 73-74. Reverend R. M. Dickey made the first entry in his gold rush diary on August 31, 1897, and kept an account of his adventures as a gold rush missionary until his departure from the Yukon in August 1899. For years after, accompanied by lantern slides, he delivered lectures on gold rush exploits; he struggled also to bring his recollections to press. Upon the advice of his prospective publisher, he conveyed his story in the form of a fictionalized account rather than a documentary narrative. The work did not reach the publication stage during Dickey's life but sat neglected until recently when Art Petersen, a teacher of composition and literature at the University of Alaska Southeast, edited the manuscript for publication. The story begins in Seattle, from where protagonist, Timothy Shane, nicknamed Quebec, departs on an adventure to Skagway, Dyea, Dawson City, and the Klondike gold fields. Skeptical of missionaries and doctors, he finds himself befriended by and immersed in the missionary and medical crusade of those very people during the epic stampede. The story progresses, describing the various efforts of Quebec and his colleagues to build churches and hospitals and serve the spiritual needs of the Klondike gold seekers. Quebec weaves a narrative of events and people, based upon real events and personal experiences, of life and death, love and adventure, and heroic actions along the gold rush trail. I would have preferred a more historical treatment of Dickey's personal experiences. The story has considerable strength, however, since it derived from first-hand experience of the gold rush and thus gives the story a sense of veracity that it would not have if written by someone with only a second-hand knowledge of the places and events. The perspective, too, is that not of a gold seeker but a seeker of souls and thus dwells upon aspects of the gold rush not necessarily covered in other accounts. The story is footnoted by the editor to indicate parallels between Dickey's diary and the places and events depicted in the story. The story is also strengthened by the abundant photographs, many of them from Dickey's collection of lantern slides, which bring to life the places and events of the story. Though not as sharp and clear as one would wish, they nevertheless give visual strength to the story. Readers will have to jog themselves back to the realization that the story is not a historical narrative but a novel. Despite the editor's plea that the plot is clumsy and the characters are thinly developed, this still proves to be an interesting read.

This is a very nice picture book -- there is relatively little details about the species (which is inevitable in such a short book). It contains 253 beautiful pictures covering the whole range of marine invertebrates, but notably excludes nudibranchs. A must have if you're interested in what is, in my opinion, the most fascinating marine fauna.

For the 119 years following the Russian discovery of Alaska, only two reports came from the Russian Academy of Science regarding this event, both by G.F. Muller who is often referred to as the Father of the history of Siberia. In 1752 he wrote a fanciful account stating that Gvozdev's discovery was no more than an accident and in 1758 that the only information available was that the discovery had actually occurred. While Muller later received a copy of a 1000 word sworn statement by one of the members of the crew that sailed to Alaska in 1732, he did not publish it nor even mention its contents to William Coxe who visited Muller in Russia in 1778 inquiring about Russian discoveries. In 1780 and 1787 Coxe published books on Russian discoveries in the North Pacific, giving only a one sentence quote from Muller about the actual discovery of Alaska. Then in 1850 and 1851 two short accounts of the discovery were published in Russian but have yet to be translated and published in English. As a result, most English and American reports of the discovery have downplayed the significance of the Russian discovery of Alaska. In 1956, Russian historian V.A. Divin published "To the American Coast" in Russian outlining Gvozdev's voyage. This account was not translated into English until the 265th anniversary of the discovery in August 1997. In the mean time, Goldenberg's volume, originally published in Russian in 1985, has served as the only complete account of the discovery in English. Gvozdev was part of the Sheshakov-Pavlutski Expedition whose purpose included many functions in the exporation of Siberia including sailing to America. Beginning in 1729 the two leaders of the expedition began searching for someone with the courage to sail the "St. Gabriel" to America. After four other directives that failed to achieve the desired results, the task fell to Gvozdev, the orphaned son of the solder in Peter the Great's army. Gvozdev received his training as a geodist and the Russian Naval Academy! in St. Petersburg. While his achievements went largely unnoticed in the Russian Capital until 1750, Gvozdev was promoted to sub-lieutenant retroactive to 1732. After his discovery of Alaska, Gvozdev participated in Bering's Second Kamchatka Expedition under Spanberg. It was during this time that he drew a map of the places he visited and discovered on his voyage of 1732. Goldenberg begins this book with the information known about Gvozdev's, about 1700, his education, his service to Russia as a member of the Sheshakov -Pavlutksii Expediton which included the Russian discovery of Alaska, Gvozdev's later command of the Russian Kamchatka contingent, his participation in the Second Kamchatka Expedition, his service in Siberia under Governor Solmonov, his retirement and later death in about 1759.

Each community in Alaska could easily fill a volume this size with descriptions of the recreational opportunities in the area. This book does a decent job boiling those opportunities down to just a few in each region. This book covers the Kenai Peninsula and Anchorage area fairly well. It does not do Southeast Alaska justice though. (But I'm biased since I live there!) Instead of planning a trip around this book I would recommend contacting individual communities to get copies of any trail guides they have available.