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Alone Against the Arctic by  Anthony Dalton, published by Heritage House, 2007 (191 pp., PB, $19.95).

Adventurers seeking to test their mettle might try a 1,300-kilometre solo voyage on a four-metre open boat through the Bering Strait and across the Arctic Circle. That’s what local sailor and author Anthony Dalton did in his new book, Alone Against the Arctic (Heritage House, $19.95), which recounts his exploits aboard the appropriately named Audacity, a German-built Metzeler Tornado, powered by a 35-horsepower Johnson outboard.

Dalton’s adventure begins in Nome, Alaska, with the objective of Point Barrow. Retracing part of the Overland Relief Expedition of 1897–98, in which a herd of several hundred reindeer were driven north to feed starving whalers who’s boat was trapped by ice, the author combines historical facts with graphic descriptions of the remote and desolate reaches of the Arctic. Vividly illustrating the numerous obstacles and challenges he must overcome, Dalton’s most formidable opponent ultimately becomes the weather.

Doing what few others have been able to, Dalton has managed to live through the hell of the Arctic to tell an interesting tale. Alone Against the Arctic is a story of courage, tenacity and the willingness to risk it all in the quest for adventure.