Cold Hands, Warm Heart: Alaskan Adventures of an Iditarod Champion

This is a very enjoyable book for anyone interested in Jeff King, dogs, sledding, the Iditarod, Alaska, etc. It's easy to read and interesting. We visited the King's Homestead this summer, saw the dogs and listened to his daughter's presentation. We loved it all and bought his book there. Jeff himself even spoke to us for a while, and we held some puppies too. The artwork is lovely and the photos at the end of the book are very nice too.

He really is an amazing guy. You may snooze and lose but he gives a rare insight of his live, his family and dogs, his adventures. I'm still reading it but it won't be long before I finished it. The pictures made by Donna are outstanding, especially the lone Wolf. Losing Hickory makes one cry and you actually feel his loss. If you are interested in dogsledding, mushing and all that comes with it, this sure is a book that needs to be read and have it on the shelf.

This book offers real insight into the man, the dogs, and the family of sled dog competitions, especially the Iditarod.

Since I live in Anchorage, Alaska, the name Jeff King is a well known and respected one. He is considered as one of the great dog-mushers of our state and winner of the Iditarod Race four times, an impressive achievement. In this book, Jeff King writes about himself, his dogs and some memorable races he has taken part of. Result is a book that proves to be quite a joy to read, entertaining as heck and definitely gives you an understanding of a bond between this man and his dogs. The respects, love and understanding that Jeff King have for his dogs is clearly shown in these pages and they are the cornerstone of his story. The author also adds few neat stories about other aspects of dog-mushing and personalities he had encountered. His tales on Norman Vaughn for example are quite priceless. Stories of his encounters with other wildlife also proves to be interesting as well as entertaining. Overall, the book is well written, well organized and fantastically illustrated artworks done by Jeff King's wife, Donna Gates King. There is also a nice set of photos at the end of the book that shows Jeff King's lifeline from a little blond boy to an ice caked Iditarod Champion. At the end of each chapter, there is a short footnote written by Joe Runyan, another Iditarod champion. His footnotes also proves to be somewhat insightful and interesting take on the subject at hand. On the down side, this is a public autobiography so we don't get to know much about Jeff King's personal life or some of his motivations behind things he did. His life outside of dog-mushing is also mostly absent as well. I don't hold these elements against the author though since the prime objective of this book centered around the author's dog-mushing career. Only thing I may hold against him is that this book ended too soon. I would considered this book to be a mandatory reading material for anyone interested in dog-mushing, Iditarod or Yukon Quest or just interested in a great Alaskan personality. Them folks at PETA should read this as well to give them a greater understanding of this sport and what goes behind it. Jeff King's book should dispel all misunderstanding about dog-mushing in Alaska.

One of author Jeff King's secrets to training champion sled dogs is to always leave the dogs wanting more. With his first book Jeff has done exactly the same thing with his readers. I laughed, cried, and gasped with amazement at this wonderful collection of stories gleaned from King's 30 years of Alaskan adventure. If you have ever wondered what it might be like to be a world champion sleddog racer, then this is the book for you. But it probably isn't the type of book you might imagine coming from an athlete. Sure, there are thrilling stories of daring runs to victory in Alaska's Iditarod race which will leave you shivering. But Jeff also opens his heart with the tale of a young cancer victim who comes to Alaska to ride with Jeff at the Iditarod start and ends up inspiring the musher to his second victory. I also really enjoyed King's encounters with wildlife while training his teams near Denali National Park. Wolves, bears, caribou and moose all share the trails around Jeff's Husky Homestead and he'll surprise you with how they interact with his dogs. The dozen pages of color photos and many beautiful paintings and drawings from King's wife, Donna Gates King, make this book a real pleasure to read and a collector's item. I can't wait for his encore...