Cold Oceans
   Jon Turk
  1998 HarperCollins NY USA
   ISBN: 0060191473


Thrilling adventures from being shipwrecked off Cape Horn to the seas of the Northwest Passage; from Arctic blizzards to an ancient Inuit migration route to Greenland - all by kayak, rowboat or dogsled.

Cold Oceans is a wonderful read! Great for those long winter evenings beside a warm fire, a cup of tea & Jon Turk as he candidly recounts some of his solo & fascinating sea-going adventures.

That Jon Turk is also well-versed in the history of the places he is drawn to explore, gives us a broader perspective. As he's kayaking around the islands, fiords & bays of the Straits of Magellan, he muses about the explorers Magellan & Drake.

Jon Turk also falls in love & his recollection of his relationships, intertwine with his yen for exploring which takes us to wild & distant places. From Butte, Montana & Telluride, Colorado, to Trapper Creek, Alaska & Grise Fiord, Greenland. As he loves & travels he's also raising his son, sometimes a distant & vague yet recurring character.

I enjoyed Jon Turk's Cold Oceans immensely. I learnt a lot, relished much of his description, got a lot of hints that I might never use in this lifetime & got to go to places I've thought about, wondered about & wished, when I was much younger, healthier, I could explore.

In Cold Oceans I rode along on Jon's shoulder, seeing wondrous sights through his eyes, connected scraps of history to cold, hard localities & always came home safely.

What a grand little book this is, very well done!

Jon Turk has written environmental & earth science textbooks & also for Rock & Ice; Paddler; Sea Kayaker.
(08/01/99)

Rebecca