[.ca] The Final Frontiersman: Heimo Korth and His Family, ... (ISBN 074345314X)

not girly but you'll love it:
This isn't really my genre but when i started reading this story I couldn't put it down. It is incredibly inspiring and touching. It will touch your life and influence you in a positive way: a little like the book, Seabiscuit. It was educational too. It would be wonderful for children in difficult financial or familial situations to read. I can't stop talking about it and I can't put it down.

Welcome To The World Of 40 Below:
What would you do if it were 40 below and your snowmobile conked out 15 miles from your cabin? After reading this book you will understand that the answer is simple. You'd die. End of story. This is the tale of a real world tough guy who at a young age gave himself over to the pursuit of wilderness survival and is about the only one left out there with survival skills of this level. The author is no wimp either, spending considerable time with Mr. Korth plus doing mega-research on the history of the Alaskan wilderness, which he weaves into the story in an informing, non-boring way. When I read Into The Wild I somehow thought that the fellow that died just had a few unlucky breaks-like the river rising which trapped him out in that old bus. Wrong. That guy never stood a chance from day one, and this book shows you why. Like a lot of guys I have always had two fantasies - living in the backwoods of Alaska or living on a remote tropical island. I heartily thank the author for paring my fantasy list down to one - the island.

Little House in the Big Arctic:
James Campbell reports the life of Heimo Korth and the family he has raised, the last family of trappers to remain in the National Arctic Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. Although this book has one foot in the "wilderness adventure can you believe anyone can survive this" genre (Heimo regularly traps in -50 weather and even jogs in -20 weather), it is also a kind of domestic family saga, almost a "Little House on the Prairie" but the prairie is the Arctic. Heimo, his wife Edna, and daughters Rhonda and Krin, face near tragedies and real tragedies lost in blizzards, or facing a broken-down snow machine miles from home, or jumping from ice flow to ice flow in desparate hope of making it back to shore, or falling through overflow ice on the river. Remarkably though, the main thing I'll remember about this book is the sense it conveys of Heimo's redemption (lost and alcoholic, he came to Alaska to trap in the 70s, but dried up and built a family there), and of the love and affection of a family who have no one but each other for months on end. This is a real testament to Campbell's skill as a journalist and author. The adventure and drama of the Arctic keep the reader turning pages like a good mystery but the after-effect is one of love and integrity.

Excellent:
I second the positive comments to what has been said earlier in these reviews. This man and his family were included in a National Geographic documentary titled "Braving Alaska". I originally read the review of this book featured in Outside magazine and thought the storyline sounded familiar.

Excellent, unsentimental tale of subsistence in Alaska:
Comparisons will be drawn between this book and Krakauer's excellent Into the Wild based on the common themes of living off the land and the unforgivingness of the Alaskan wilderness. Where Krakauer's book is a meditation on the romanticism and perils of self-reliance, The Final Frontiersman is an unsentimental and penetrating look at the physical, emotional and psychological challenges of making a living in this remote and and unforgiving environment. Heimo Korth, his wife and two daughters and the life they lead is fascinating. Campbell's well-constructed narrative makes exciting and evocative reading. If Chris McCandless, the subject of Krakauer's book, had had the chance to read this book, he might still be alive today.