The Magnetic North: Travels in the Arctic [Paperback]

Sara Wheeler's previous book about the Antarctic was a revelation and lived on in the mind for many years after reading it. Ten years - and two children - on 'The Magnetic North: Travels in the Arctic' finds her at the opposite end of the world and is, if anything, better than its predecessor. The book describes a series of journeys, with and without children, that Sara Wheeler takes across and around the vast and complex region that is the Arctic. She excels in describing the complexities of life there and, while never being anything other than compassionately clear-eyed, is especially eloquent in bearing witness to the appalling damage done to the way of life of the native people of the Arctic region by the many nations that lay claim to sovereignty over it. Wheeler's writing is clear, concise and often wryly funny. Overall, a terrific read.

This is more than a travel book about Sara Wheeler's extended visits to Chukotka and other Russian territories, Alaska, Artic Norway, Canada, Greenland, Svarlbard (Spitzbergen) and Lappland.

The Arctic of this book is not only a disintegrating home to native people's, nor just the source of 25 % of the world óil reserves and much of its mineral wealth, nor just a cauldron of scientific investigation into global climate change, nor just a massive ice shield with its own history of endeavour and of popular reporting of these endeavours, nor just a source of inspiration to writers, artists, filmmakers and naturalists. It is all of these framed in lucid, colourful, personal and yet unsentimental style.

Her experiences of her visits, sometimes accompanied by one of her children, are enriched by extensive reference to the history and literature about the region. The stories about the people she meets and the characters that are important in Artic history leave you gagging for more. She very often stays for extended periods of time at scientific bases or at oil depots or travels with truckers on the ice roads or with nomadic people - she describes attempting to breast feed her baby whilst it was strapped to a reindeer like the Sami do. She empathises with those characters that were sympathetic to their environment - writers, like Mowat - film makers, like Flahery - atmopheric scientists, like Jack Dibb - artists like Rockwell Kent - or people who mapped the ice cap, like Gino Watkins who pioneered the jet refuelling stations in Greenland or James Rae of NorthWest Passage fame. She respects some recognised explorers like Nansen but has no time for those who set out "to conquer the artic like the fame seeking Peary or the arrogant , incompetent British admiral Franklin.

She pulls no punches in describing the disintegration and degradadation of the native culture throughout the Arctic Region. "Wherever the state intervened in the Canadian Actic, which was almost everywhere, the mechanics of the system moved in an aritrary , aimless fashion like the hands of clock disconnected from the face. When it comes to protecting Arctic people, no other country tried so hard , agonised so much and stumbled so many times as the Canadians. Russia had not agonised. It had effectively kicked the Chutchi onto the rubbish heap of history. America had thrown money at the problem".

She is strong on the theory of unintended consequences. "Watkins thought he was doing right (in pioneering crucial refuelling stations for US-Europen airroutes in Greenland), but technology failed to reveal what was going to happen when hundreds of thousands of contrails disspolved in Arctic skies - just as it failed to reveal that the nurses accompanying X-ray machines bought killer viruses (to the Innuit) with them or that prophulactic tooth extractoin would lead to a a full scale evacuation of a Canadian scintific base".

She returns again and again to the theme that conditions in the Artic that could lead to major climate change were more significant than she expected. And she reports extensively on the race to extract natural resources of oil and minerals that continues to dominate the Agenda. Her recounts the work of many of the individuals in the large numbers scientific teams active throughout the Arctic. The motivation of the scientists, it should be added, is qualified by Jack Dibb working on the impact of bromine oxide and other halogens on the troposhere ( following the work proving the impact of fluorocarbons on the stratosphere) when he is quoted as saying "This one could make us famous if its true".

But essentially it is a masterpeice of Arctic record in the 21st century.

This book is a giant leap from her book about the Antarctic, Terra Incognita, which I found good but not gripping. However The Magnetic North, not an easy book to skim through, kept me hooked to the last page. Sara Wheeler's language is exquisite and her research knowledge taught me things about the Arctic I didn't being to know, despite having ready quite widely on the subject. The history background, Stalin, the wars, were not only interesting but written in such a way it painted the full picture. If you are interested in the Arctic, its history and its people read it.