Reviews
"Enigmatic and exuberant, Gretel Erhlich captures, if any seer and poet can, the hunt for beauty, the rapture of a foreboding landscape where man, polar bear, shaman, seal, dog, walrus, and narwhale entwine inseparably in a fragile, yet enduring embrace of timelessness on a planet spinning between ice-filled water and infinite space. Without a doubt, one of the finest books ever written about the polar regions." --Wade Davis, Explorer in Residence at the National Geographic Society "This strange and lovely book-- by turns travelogue, history, biography, memoir, and lyrical celebration-- beautifully captures the feel of the high Arctic and the lives of those who have lived and explored there. Reaching across the decades, Ehrlich has found in Rasmussen a kindred soul." -Andrea Barrett, author of Ship Fever and The Voyage of the Narwhal "Combining timidity, foolhardiness, tenacity, erudition and poetry, Gretel Ehrlich's is a superb voice for the miracle of Greenland. No one who reads this wonderful book will ever forget these singular people or the austerities of the land they inhabit." -Thomas McGuane, author of The Longest Silence "I'd always thought of Greenland as a hunk of mostly inhabited ice somewhere vaguely north. Not anymore. Gretel Ehrlich brings the people, the place, the ice itself alive in ways as vivid and startling as if she'd gone to another planet. In that cold landscape she finds real heat, the slush and juice of life fully lived amid terrifying extremes. She follows her nose for adventure to an edge most of us can barely imagine; read This Cold Heaven and go with her." -Joe Kane, author of Crossing the Amazon, "Enigmatic and exuberant, Gretel Erhlich captures, if any seer and poet can, the hunt for beauty, the rapture of a foreboding landscape where man, polar bear, shaman, seal, dog, walrus, and narwhale entwine inseparably in a fragile, yet enduring embrace of timelessness on a planet spinning between ice-filled water and infinite space. Without a doubt, one of the finest books ever written about the polar regions." --Wade Davis, Explorer in Residence at the National Geographic Society "This strange and lovely book-- by turns travelogue, history, biography, memoir, and lyrical celebration-- beautifully captures the feel of the high Arctic and the lives of those who have lived and explored there. Reaching across the decades, Ehrlich has found in Rasmussen a kindred soul." -Andrea Barrett, author ofShip FeverandThe Voyage of the Narwhal "Combining timidity, foolhardiness, tenacity, erudition and poetry, Gretel Ehrlich's is a superb voice for the miracle of Greenland. No one who reads this wonderful book will ever forget these singular people or the austerities of the land they inhabit." -Thomas McGuane, author ofThe Longest Silence "I'd always thought of Greenland as a hunk of mostly inhabited ice somewhere vaguely north. Not anymore. Gretel Ehrlich brings the people, the place, the ice itself alive in ways as vivid and startling as if she'd gone to another planet. In that cold landscape she finds real heat, the slush and juice of life fully lived amid terrifying extremes. She follows her nose for adventure to an edge most of us can barely imagine; readThis Cold Heavenand go with her." -Joe Kane, author ofCrossing the Amazon
