Driving to Greenland: Arctic Travel, Northern Sport, and Other Ventures Into the Heart of Winter

Snow and ice warm Stark's heart, and in this collection of a dozen essays, most of which appeared in the Smithsonian and Outside, he envelops readers in the frigid charms of ski jumping, narwhal hunting, dogsledding, iceboat sailing, skating on thin ice and kayak-making. One chapter is gleefully devoted to connoisseurs' names for different kinds of snowflakes and the mysteries of their structure, another to descriptions of bad and good ice and prescriptions for making the latter. Besides providing appreciations of the beauties of snowflakes, newly fallen snow and good ice, Stark's account of his journeys to Greenland and Iceland is filled with rare tidbits about both countries and his daring adventures there. Instructive and enchanting. (Oct.)