I am planning on a trip up the Dempster Highway to Inuvik during the summer of 2010. Being largely unfamiliar with the Western Arctic region of Canada, I was looking for as many resources as possible to plan places to stop and sights that people found worth seeing. When I saw the book Travelling The Dempster, I had high hopes of finding a detailed travel guide specifically about the Dempster Highway. The book is more of a memoir about recording birds, but it was not useless as a travel guide.
I have to admit I had never heard of John Neville before. Not being very interested in birds and birding, I have no idea if he is a common name in the inner circles of that hobby. When I initially began reading the book, hoping for a travel guide, I was expecting to be disappointed. However, I have to say that I did find the book enjoyable and I did pick up a few tidbits of information that I predict will be useful for my trip.
The book is basically a diary of the authors trip up the Dempster Highway. The authors focus on the trip was to record bird calls for a CD, Bird Songs of the Arctic. The book basically starts in Dawson City and the author divides the trip up the highway in chapters based in the regions he crossed. While I expected the focus of each chapter to be about tracking birds, this was not the case. The book was a bit travel guide, a bit of history, a dash of textbook, and a good dose of diary. Each chapter reads like a section of a travel diary. In the chapter, the author does a good job of working in a bit of history or a little science about the ecology and animals in the area. The glue holding all the pieces together is the stories told from the authors perspective. Sometimes it was a humorous story about boarding a ferry or talk about hanging out with people at a hotel. Overall, the author tied everything together to make a well rounded book.
At just over 100 pages, the book is short and is fast reading. The graphics and photos in the book look a bit cheap. If you are looking for a book or a guide to help you plan a trip, I would probably look elsewhere. However, as I said previously, I did pick up some information about the region that I found helpful. After reading the book, I am not sure of the target audience. My guess is if the region interests you or you have an interest in birding, I am sure you would find the book interesting. It was just a nice book that let your mind wander to an area far away from home.
I have to admit I had never heard of John Neville before. Not being very interested in birds and birding, I have no idea if he is a common name in the inner circles of that hobby. When I initially began reading the book, hoping for a travel guide, I was expecting to be disappointed. However, I have to say that I did find the book enjoyable and I did pick up a few tidbits of information that I predict will be useful for my trip.
The book is basically a diary of the authors trip up the Dempster Highway. The authors focus on the trip was to record bird calls for a CD, Bird Songs of the Arctic. The book basically starts in Dawson City and the author divides the trip up the highway in chapters based in the regions he crossed. While I expected the focus of each chapter to be about tracking birds, this was not the case. The book was a bit travel guide, a bit of history, a dash of textbook, and a good dose of diary. Each chapter reads like a section of a travel diary. In the chapter, the author does a good job of working in a bit of history or a little science about the ecology and animals in the area. The glue holding all the pieces together is the stories told from the authors perspective. Sometimes it was a humorous story about boarding a ferry or talk about hanging out with people at a hotel. Overall, the author tied everything together to make a well rounded book.
At just over 100 pages, the book is short and is fast reading. The graphics and photos in the book look a bit cheap. If you are looking for a book or a guide to help you plan a trip, I would probably look elsewhere. However, as I said previously, I did pick up some information about the region that I found helpful. After reading the book, I am not sure of the target audience. My guess is if the region interests you or you have an interest in birding, I am sure you would find the book interesting. It was just a nice book that let your mind wander to an area far away from home.
