Caroline Van Hemert's "The Sun Is a Compass: An Epic 4,000-Mile Journey Through the Alaskan Wilds"

JRR: Alaska’s harsh wilderness is brought to vivid life by the extraordinary six-month journey Caroline Van Hemert and husband, Pat Farrell, made from Vancouver, up the Inside Passage by rowing boats, and across Alaska/Canada to reach the Arctic.

Caroline’s gifted narrative offers an insider’s knowledge of the brief summer climate, the birds and animals encountered, the always threatening frigid weather, blizzards, freezing rain, floods, swarms of mosquitoes, starvation, a stalking bear, dangerous seas, occasional warm weather and more.

As an ornithologist and biologist, her clear account of Alaska’s birds, with their habitats and songs showed me that some of these have just made safe landfall here in rural New Zealand, where I’m listening to the parasitic Shining Cuckoo, Grey Warblers and Godwits making homes again this spring.

While their story is an inspiration for many readers, there aren’t many intrepid travellers willing to endure the hardships of this type of adventure. But when people do, I love to read their stories, especially when as brilliantly written as this wonderful book.

Australia on Sep 28, 2023

Michelle Turner: A very well written book on an epic adventure. It was a lot of fun to read and follow along their routes with maps. Went down many rabbit holes learning about the places they went and the animals they saw. Still hard to imagine how they did it!
Thank you for writing this book.

Canada on Aug 16, 2023

ITS GREAT: I have ead many travel books, a lot of them humerous in telling the story. But The Sun Is A Compass is a remarkable narrative of Caroline Van Hemert's, and her husband Patrick Farrell's, search for beauty, love of the outdoors and conserving the environment. But it is also learning who they are and want to become pre-during-and after this incredible journey. Caroline's writing is compassionate and honest. I felt all of her physical struggles, fears and joys, and I thought about her for days after finishing the book. Highly recommended for those who want to "join" in such an adventure and life.

United States on May 31, 2023

Kerry K.: I was instantly sold on an adventure book written by a woman (for a change) and it lived up to my expectations. It was such an epic adventure but I also enjoyed learning about the author, the decisions about life and how this trip helped and changed her, and her love of the natural world. Highly recommend.

United States on May 17, 2023

archana singh: This book is a gem. So well written. Lyrical but packed with action. It’s unique because the author is a scientist but her love for the land and sea is as strong. This book would classify as a travel read, adventure genre, motivational tome, etc etc. must read book

India on Aug 12, 2022

JillVie: A well written and very interesting journey. It taught me a lot about life in the north. Cold and mosquitos!

Germany on Jul 10, 2022

Alexandra S. Morgan: This is a terrific book about hiking and boating for 6 months
through Alaska. The author and her husband planned this trip
carefully. They wanted to do it on their own power, no motorboats or airplanes. She describes the trip beautifully: what they see
and what they feel (awe as well as wet, cold, hungry). The reader feels like they are on this trip, too. If you’ve ever imagined a trip like this, read the book, you won’t be disappointed. You learn a lot about Alaska as you read, not just the landscape but the birds and animals as well. The people they meet along the way are just wonderful, treating them to hot meals, showers, a dry place to sleep. Along the way, she talks about the choices she needs to make in her life. I can’t tell you how wonderful this book is, you
have to read it for yourself!

United States on Aug 23, 2021

Dermot Cosgrove: Caroline's book popped in my recommendations on Amazon and from the synopsis it seemed like it would be a good read. I'm a fan of adventure travel especially when it's human powered travel in the Arctic regions, this book went from being a being a good read to being a great read when I discover that Caroline is also a bird biologist and therefore combined my twin passions. It's a beautifully written book ideal for crashing on the couch where you can take time to loose yourself in her descriptions of rowing the Inside Passage to watching herds of Caribou in the Alaskan tundra. I've even bought the audio book as my evening entertainment for an upcoming hiking trip.

United Kingdom on Jun 29, 2019

Paul Beiser: I found this to be an extraordinary book on life, growing up, changes, and adaptations - all with an incredible difficult journey through wilderness. Caroline has a PhD in biology, but an MA in creative writing and it definitely shows in how fun and rewarding this book was to read. First of all it was an extraordinarily ambitious journey that her and her husband Pat undertook, and through good planning, logistics, and sheer force of will and determination they completed it (not without some incredibly difficult situations, no spoilers!). I was stunned to see how they started and survived the first part of the journey, this was the kind of strength and adaptability they show throughout the book.

But it's not a blow-by-blow of their trip but a look into the their own lives and the lives of the environments around them. That is key to what makes it so enjoyable. One learns a lot about ecosystems (esp birds, Caroline's specialty) and encountering them along the way. Esp the mosquitoes :-). Caroline does an incredible job teaching us about the environments and reveals a lot about her own personal journey (both her strengths and her other areas). She's a fantastic writer. I hope...

United States on Jun 19, 2019

Dean Kuipers: The Sun is a Compass has captured brilliantly the tension in every one of us who care about the wild: should we be hunkered down at a desk trying to save it, or out in the woods living it? This isn’t just the outrageous story of a grueling, six-month, 4000-mile grind on foot and float around Alaska (as if that weren’t enough): it’s a book about decisions that dog us all as we try to live well and do good. When ornithologist Caroline Van Hemert shucks her chickadee research at the start of the book, I found myself yelling, “No! The birds need you! I need you to be a scientist!” But her brutal trek through the bush is a quest for clarity and discovery, and the birds and wildlife that are at the forefront of her narrative make it clear that she’s a born scientist and chronicler of the nonhuman as well as the human. Immersed in the untamed Arctic, about as far from a conventional life as she can possibly be, she acknowledges that her life will be comprised of all things – adventuring, marriage, bird research, children, life in the city, life off the grid. It’s a rare book about adventuring that doesn’t push all this to the side in favor of single-minded conquest, but...

United States on Apr 23, 2019