Cold Oceans: Adventures in Kayak, Rowboat, and Dogsled

Wonderful book. This title is as much a journal of one man's self discovery as it is a chronicle of his adventures. You start out not liking this man very much (at least I did), but as you near the end your opinion will have changed and you feel like you have been privy to something special.I'm afraid that reviewer VanRoy missed the point. This is not a manual or chronicle of well planned, expertly executed high adventure, it's the story of one man's steps and mis-steps in life set against the back-drop of some of the worlds wildest and most inhospital places.If you are looking for just an adventure chronicle you may want to go buy something like The Endurance (Shackleton's adventure to Antartica). If you want to experience a wonderful mix of adventure of body, mind, and spirit set against some of the most beautiful places on earth get this book.

Chapters range from one to four pages, and each one is shaped by Turk's pen into a comic or thoughtful, dramatic or narrative whole. You can pick the book up and read any of these vignettes at random; a treat is there, whether you have read the previous ones or not. If, like me, you have a shelf in your bookcase where you keep those few books you can read again and again for the sheer pleasure of their words and images, books that can inspire you to write more cleanly and clearly, I think you will conclude that Cold Oceans belongs on that shelf. (Excerpt from review in Open-Water Rowing newsletter.)

I like the writing style of the author. The storys are educational and interesting even if the author may be a little nuts. If you think you are too old for adventures you NEED to read this one!

COLD OCEANS is a story so engrossing that at one point, while I was reading about the author and his companion's journey toward the Northwest Passage, I got "trapped" inside the book. I looked up from my chair and into the kitchen where my son's friend stood shirtless, wolfing down some raspberry muffins. I couldn't believe he wasn't wearing a heavy sweatshirt, that's how lost I had become in this wonderful book. It was summery. All our windows were open. But I had slipped into a different climate. A good read...a book that keeps you there until the final page.

I burned right through this book completely taken with Jon Turk's adventures. Although I am not much of an outdoorsman this book comes across with an exciting story of a quirky guy and his adventures by kayak, rowboat, and dogsled. I was never so happy reading a book snuggled in my warm bed away from it all. Great historic insight keeps this book flowing.