Cover Image: Icebound

Icebound

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This was the biographical story of William Barents, a Dutch explorer who explored in the Arctic, beginning 1597. He was looking for a northern passage to China for trade and made 3 trips trying to find a short cut to the Asian trade routes.

The information is taken from his own notes and ship logs and then put into a very readable story line of the explorations. In addition to Berants’ own notes, logs and correspondence, the author included the same from other official sources, fleshing out his trips nicely. I was especially interested in her discussions of the [human] natives living above the Arctic Circle in isolation. It’s fascinating to me that anyone – especially in the 16th century – would choose to live in such a very severe climate.

Also I was interested to read that the best scientific minds of the times had agreed that ABOVE the Arctic Circle was a temperate zone with water that didn’t freeze and a place crops and trees grew – a real oasis in the ice! And of course, it was fascinating to read how Berants (and others) calculated their latitude and longitude.

Well written and quite interesting. I would certainly recommend it to anyone interested in adventure or explorations.

I received this ARC from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

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My thanks to NetGalley and Scribner for an advanced copy of this book.

Andrea Pitzer's Icebound: Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World profiles the Dutch explorer William Bar ends and his three exploratory voyages to discover the northern route to China at the end of the 16th century, with all the riches and fame the would entail. The first two voyages while fraught with peril ended not in riches but knowledge of the unknown northern seas. The third however found the men wintering on an unknown shore, trapped by ice and lacking in many item, equipment and skills that would make survival possible. Ms. Pitzer has the ability to make the reader not only feel the soul draining cold, but the other terrors polar bears with no fear of men or muskets, applied supplies, a gradually disintegrating boat, and above them all the never ending mountains of ice. A very interesting narrative from the beginning of polar exploration.

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Between requesting the title, and actually reviewing it, I found it on Scribd. Below is my review.

Listened to the audiobook.

I did not finish this book, I couldn't. Listened to three hours The writing is really good, the research even better. I'm going to get the other book by this very talented writer, but the people in this book weren't anyone I cared to learn about. Not in an audiobook of this length. A documentary, sure. These people were horrible, infuriatingly so. I don't care what they found, what they went through, or how they might have helped changed history for the better. All they did was steal, kidnap, over-punish and kill just about every dang animal they came across. Again, I get that this is real life, but it doesn't mean I have to like them or want to hear anything about them in any great detail.

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This was a relatively short, but very interesting, book about the journeys of William Barents- perhaps the man who opened the way for European Arctic exploration. He was determined to find a passage north of the Netherlands to China and open a trading empire that could bypass the long voyage around Africa and India to get to China. Two trips convinced him it was possible, but on the third he and his crew became stranded on the island of Nova Zembla and were forced to spend the winter farther north than any European had managed before. This was the 1590s, before the great search for the Northwest Passage, but author Andrea Pitzer argues that Barents became the example for all those who followed. Pitzer uses careful research and the journals of the survivors to recreate the harsh winter and how they survived. I hadn't read anything on this expedition before and found it quite interesting.

A definite must-read for those interested in maritime and Arctic exploration

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

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cebound: Shipwrecked at The Edge of the World by Andrea Pitzer is a one part quest for a trade route from Europe to China through the north, and is one part survival story of the nature. This nonfiction account of William Barents three journey's to find a passage through the north pole and his last journey where he was trapped for a year with a crew of 15 in no mans land with ice, snow and polar bears. The story is filled with history and personal accounts, through letters making the situation very real. This book shows just how vicious polar bears can be, and how hard they are to kill. The weather is the constant enemy snow, ice, and rain with extreme cold thrown in for good measure. It's hard to imagine anyone in current time surviving, not to mention people living in the late 1500's. The writing was straight forward with little or no emotion, as reader my imagination took over about the mutiny and dealing with below freezing temperatures. I read Icebound: Shipwrecked at The Edge of the World by Andrea Pitzer for free thanks to Netgalley and Scribner it was published on 1-12-21.

The Plot: In 1590's the Dutch Republic wanted a quicker trade route to China, with the current route taking to long and losing ships to pirates. They hired William Barents to find a route through the North, he takes 3 voyages to find a pass, but the elements don't let him the final voyage he and his crew are left stranded in the ice until the next summer. His journey notes and observations lead to many discoveries in science and exploration.

What I Liked: The tale of survival and the descriptions of isolation and the extreme weather are pretty terrifying. Polar bears are scary and stealth. The polar bear attacks are brutal and really frightening. I liked learning about the navigational tools at the time and how genius Barents was to navigate it. I liked learning the legacy after Barents death.

What I Disliked: There was a part of the story where it seemed that Barents and the other officer didn't do anything, it explained they were the most valuable so the other crew members took the risk, but it's almost as the characters go missing 30 pages until something that happens that needs leadership. it was sad that most of the crew did not have names, or any description of what most of the crew looked like.

Recommendations: I will recommend this nonfiction, the history is not to boring and the treat of death is everywhere and you feel that tension. This book reads like a horror in some places, the biggest fiction I could compare it Dan Simmons' The Terror which is fictional based on the true Story of the HMS Terror where explorers were trying to get the North Pole. The actual journey of the HMS. Terror was influenced by Barents. I rated Icebound: Shipwrecked at The Edge of the World by Andrea Pitzer 4 out of 5 stars.


READING PROGRESS
January 7, 2021 – Started Reading

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Icebound was a truly remarkable story about the expeditions to the polar regions. William Barents was a renowned explorer, and the amazing journey and fight for survival that his crew undertook were astounding, heartbreaking, and captivating.

This is one of those books that draws you in, laying out in detail the dangers of the voyage, the uncertainties of the time, and the amazing feats that were undertaken to explore, chart, and share with the known world at the time the amazing discoveries along the way. I had a hard time setting this one down, and it is one that I hope to read again in the future - it was that good! History-lovers should definitely add this book to their lists, they are in for a treat with this book!

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William Barents may not be the first person someone thinks of when asked to name famous explorers of the Polar regions. But after reading Andrea Pitzer’s Icebound, he should be. The author recounts Barents’ harrowing voyages from the Netherlands into the Arctic realm to try to discover a trade route to the East. Technology was limited, maps were inaccurate, and navigational knowledge was inexact. He relied on scant known records, scientific suppositions of the day, and his own desire to succeed.

Pitzer presents the background of that century’s explorations, as well as the political and economic implications if Barents journeys would locate a Northern passage. It is the third and final voyage that she reconstructs from primary sources that captivates the reader. A small crew in a small ship becomes landlocked in ice. Now they must endure an Arctic winter that will challenge their skill to survive. Danger comes from the elements, polar bears, lack of food, warm clothing and proper shelter. These were some of the first men ever to experience some of the phenomena of the Arctic. What they learned and chronicled would be studied years after their return. An informative and exciting read that should bring recognition to the contributions of this famous explorer. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this title.

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Thank you to the author and publisher for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of Icebound by Andrea Pitzer. In the transition between November (when I focused most of my reading on nonfiction) and December (when I want cold and snowy stories), there was this magic spot when I read three books regarding the original Arctic expeditions and subsequent search and rescue missions. There was so much information presented in Icebound that had not been contained within the other titles I read. I appreciated the author’s research and writing style.

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Excellent book. I'm a sucker for these type of survival and exploration tales. This book gave me a new found respect and fear of polar bears!

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My thanks to Scribner, Andrea Pitzer and Netgalley.
I finally quit this book at 50%. This wasn't the authors fault, but the subject's. I really couldn't help thinking about how truly ignorant they were!
It was such a very long time ago. And I know that back then the world seemed much smaller.
That was my problem. I know better, but still I couldn't get over how stupid they were!
For bravery, I would have forgiven them..but, they went into the cold with no winter gear. They tried their best to kidnap native people. "Heaven forbid you should just talk to them!" They stole, kidnapped and killed everything! They didn't even eat what they killed. Even though they were hungry. They just killed and skinned.
Every time one of them was killed by a polar bear or a walrus, I was cheering!
Yeah. I usually love arctic exploration. I call myself an armchair explorer!
This was a complete and utter shit show.
Again, I'm telling you that I didn't hate the author. I hated the story. Those idiots should have stayed home, and left the exploration to other's.

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Oh my goodness, I have to admit that there was so many times that I laughed out loud with this book. The polar bears....oh my...what a great archenemy for the explorers.
I know that the book was non fiction, but the way the explorers went about their days when in danger from the polar bears was astonishing.
Overall, this is a great book. I had not heard of Williem or William Barents before and I was constantly going on google maps to see where the islands were.
The author did a great job delivering what had happened and how the men got through being stuck in the ice.
The only drawback, some of the authors wanderings on other voyages. Only drawback.
OVerall a great exploration book.

I want to thank Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me this ARC for an honest review.

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this was a really moving story, i really enjoyed getting to know William Barents and his journey. I liked the way the author wrote the book and thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

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Ever since I stumbled upon an article on “Wired”, in which Andrea Pitzer described her travel to the Far North, I knew I have to read the whole book. Her writing was fresh, clear, and beautiful, so I was hungry for more. The ARC made me joyous and I devoured it as soon as I could.

While I expected a travelog with a bit of history, this was something different, but I was not disappointed at all. In the book, Pitzer turned out to be a very humble author - she is an invisible presence until the last chapter. But you can feel her wisdom, knowledge, and impressing research in almost every sentence, in all little remarks and comparisons. Instead of writing about herself, she gives full attention to her heroes and the result is compelling.

The story itself is fascinating. Though of course I heard about Barents before, I didn’t really realize till now that he was a true pioneer and that he was centuries ahead of other heroes of polar exploration. I always marvel at the courage and endurance of people from the past who dared to venture into the unknown, without proper equipment nor technology, and managed to survive. And it’s hard to find a better tale of survival that this one. Pitzer managed to show her characters as real people. She doesn’t cut corners, she resists the temptation to fast forward less adventurous events. Thanks to a detailed description of daily struggles, no matter how monotonous and mundane it could be, you feel transported to that world.

Her focus is on history and she doesn’t use it as a cheap excuse to preach about contemporary issues, but in a very subtle way, she puts it in a broader context and makes you think.

Many thanks to the publisher, Scribner, and NetGalley for the advance copy of this book.

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This is an interesting story that I was unfamiliar with. Sadly failed Dutch expeditions of the 1500s just don't seem to make it into school curriculum. The book was very informative and it's a good story. However, Pitzer's writing style drove me nuts. She meanders into tangents so frequently and I found myself growing impatient. It felt like she did a lot of research, but wasn't willing to cut out the extraneous information. As an example, multiple pages discussing the diverse makeshift shelters left behind by other explorers just isn't really within the scope of this book. You know what would have been in the scope of this book? A discussion of when and how "the Safe House" as our protagonists called their shelter was re-discovered three centuries after they left it. We repeatedly hear in passing that it remained unfound for three centuries but she never really follows up on that information. On a related note, Pitzer needed a better outline. After (view spoiler)on the trip home, Pitzer then spends the rest of the chapter talking about how the legend of the voyage developed and changed over time before then getting back to the story of how the journey ended. Then she spends the latter half of the last chapter talking about the longterm cultural effects of the expedition. It would have worked much better to have gone through the journey in one continuous piece and saved the analysis of the mythos of Barents and his expedition for the last chapter. That's just one example of how the book just doesn't feel like it proceeds in a natural order. Also, many many typos that I can only hope will be fixed before the final publication.

This book is getting 3 stars mainly because I did enjoy learning about this historical event but it's not very well written.

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320 pages

5 stars

In 1594, William Barents, a Dutchman, was to undertake the first of his three voyages North to search for a passage to China. The Dutch hoped to establish trade with the Chinese and looked for a shorter route than was currently available.

The first and second voyages, while essentially failing to find a route, were relatively short when compared to later Arctic expeditions. However, during the third voyage a dispute broke out among the two captains and they split. Barents continued North, while Riip went his own way. Each was still looking for a shorter northern route to China.

But Barents and his men were to run into trouble and they were forced to winter over when their ship became trapped in the ice. Things did not go well. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that everything that could go wrong, did go wrong.

This is the story of the sheer determination and will to survive that these men possessed. I marvelled at their tenacity and refusal to give in to despair. The times were very difficult and depressing. While I enjoy reading stories about Arctic and Antarctic explorations, I do so from the comfort and warmth of my chair. I cannot even begin to entertain the idea of joining such an expedition myself. (Nebraska winters are harsh enough, thank you.)

This book is very well researched and footnoted. There is an extensive bibliography for those who wish to further explore Barents' adventures and other Arctic expeditions. The book is well written. I really appreciate it when the author of such a work makes history interesting. It is not dry reading and Ms. Pitzer makes it enjoyable to read this work.

I want to thank NetGalley and Scribner for forwarding to me a copy of this most accessible and remarkable book for me to read, enjoy and review.

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