Tip of the Iceberg
My 3,000-Mile Journey Around Wild Alaska, the Last Great American Frontier
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Narrated by:
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Mark Adams
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By:
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Mark Adams
About this listen
**The National Best Seller**
From the acclaimed, best-selling author of Turn Right at Machu Picchu, a fascinating and funny journey into Alaska, America's last frontier, retracing the historic 1899 Harriman Expedition.
In 1899, railroad magnate Edward H. Harriman organized a most unusual summer voyage to the wilds of Alaska: He converted a steamship into a luxury "floating university", populated by some of America's best and brightest scientists and writers, including the anti-capitalist eco-prophet, John Muir. Those aboard encountered a land of immeasurable beauty and impending environmental calamity. More than 100 years later, Alaska is still America's most sublime wilderness, both the lure that draws a million tourists annually on Inside Passage cruises and a natural resources larder waiting to be raided. As ever, it remains a magnet for weirdos and dreamers.
Armed with Dramamine and an industrial-strength mosquito net, Mark Adams sets out to retrace the 1899 expedition. Using the state's intricate public ferry system, the Alaska Marine Highway System, Adams travels 3,000 miles, following the George W. Elder's itinerary north through Wrangell, Juneau, and Glacier Bay, then continuing west into the colder and stranger regions of the Aleutians and the Arctic Circle. Along the way, he encounters dozens of unusual characters (and a couple of very hungry bears) and investigates how lessons learned in 1899 might relate to Alaska's current struggles in adapting to climate change.
©2018 Mark Adams (P)2018 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
“Great nonfiction... takes a topic you thought you knew well and makes it new again.... [Adams’s] storytelling is guaranteed to make you want to get off your beach towel and book passage somewhere in the great wild north.” (Outside)
“A literary companion to Google Earth.” (The New York Times Book Review)
“Adams gives readers an eye-opening look at the past and present history of a fascinating region.” (Publishers Weekly, starred review)
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The Longest Road
- Overland in Search of America, from Key West to the Arctic Ocean
- By: Philip Caputo
- Narrated by: Pete Larkin
- Length: 11 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Philip Caputo, who had just turned 70, his wife, and their two English setters took off in a truck hauling an Airstream camper from Key West, Florida, en route via back roads and state routes to Deadhorse, Alaska. The journey took four months and covered 17,000 miles, during which Caputo interviewed more than 80 Americans from all walks of life to get a picture of what their lives and the life of the nation are really about in the 21st century.
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Very Disappointing
- By Amazon Customer on 03-25-18
By: Philip Caputo
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Visit Sunny Chernobyl
- And Other Adventures in the World's Most Polluted Places
- By: Andrew Blackwell
- Narrated by: Ax Norman
- Length: 10 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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For most of us, traveling means visiting the most beautiful places on Earth - Paris, the Taj Mahal, the Grand Canyon. It’s rare to book a plane ticket to visit the lifeless moonscape of Canada’s oil sand strip mines, or to seek out the Chinese city of Linfen, legendary as the most polluted in the world. But in Visit Sunny Chernobyl, Andrew Blackwell embraces a different kind of travel, taking a jaunt through the most gruesomely polluted places on Earth.
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Better than I predicted
- By Paul Luthi on 08-23-13
By: Andrew Blackwell
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A Wretched and Precarious Situation
- In Search of the Last Arctic Frontier
- By: David Welky
- Narrated by: Joel Richards
- Length: 15 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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A remarkable true story of adventure, betrayal, and survival set in one of the world's most inhospitable places. In 1906, from atop a snow-swept hill in the ice fields northwest of Greenland, hundreds of miles from another human being, Commander Robert E. Peary spotted a line of mysterious peaks looming in the distance. He called this unexplored realm "Crocker Land". Scientists and explorers agreed that the world-famous explorer had discovered a new continent rising from the frozen Arctic Ocean.
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it all comes together at the end
- By Kat on 01-30-18
By: David Welky
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Full Circle
- A Pacific Journey with Michael Palin
- By: Michael Palin
- Narrated by: Michael Palin
- Length: 6 hrs and 3 mins
- Abridged
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Following the hugely popular and successful Around the World in 80 Days and Pole to Pole, Michael Palin set off to meet another challenge: an anti-clockwise circumnavigation of the world's largest ocean, the Pacific.
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Excellent, per usual
- By Enroute8 on 06-03-07
By: Michael Palin
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Around the World in 50 Years
- My Adventure to Every Country on Earth
- By: Albert Podell
- Narrated by: Tom Perkins
- Length: 12 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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This is the inspiring story of an ordinary guy who achieved two great goals that others had told him were impossible. First, he set a record for the longest automobile journey ever made around the world, during the course of which he blasted his way out of minefields, survived a breakdown atop the Peak of Death, came within seconds of being lynched in Pakistan, and lost three of the five men who started with him - two to disease, one to the Vietcong.
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Fantastic Adventure
- By CJ on 09-12-18
By: Albert Podell
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In the Kingdom of Ice
- The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette
- By: Hampton Sides
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 17 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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In the late nineteenth century, people were obsessed by one of the last unmapped areas of the globe: The North Pole. No one knew what existed beyond the fortress of ice rimming the northern oceans. On July 8, 1879, the USS Jeannette set sail from San Francisco to cheering crowds in the grip of "Arctic Fever." The ship sailed into uncharted seas, but soon was trapped in pack ice. Two years into the harrowing voyage, the hull was breached. Amid the rush of water and the shrieks of breaking wooden boards, the crew abandoned the ship.
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Superb tale that unravels at an iceburg's pace
- By Mel on 03-19-15
By: Hampton Sides
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Lasso the Wind
- Away to the New West
- By: Timothy Egan
- Narrated by: John McLain
- Length: 11 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Egan leads us on an unconventional, freewheeling tour: from America's oldest continuously inhabited community, the Ancoma Pueblo in New Mexico, to the high kitsch of Lake Havasu City, Arizona, where London Bridge has been painstakingly rebuilt stone by stone; from the fragile beauty of Idaho's Bitterroot Range to the gross excess of Las Vegas, a city built as though in defiance of its arid environment.
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Narrator mispronounces everything
- By Catherine on 01-27-22
By: Timothy Egan
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Turn Right at Machu Picchu
- Rediscovering the Lost City One Step at a Time
- By: Mark Adams
- Narrated by: Andrew Garman
- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Writer for the New York Times and GQ, Mark Adams is also the acclaimed author of Mr. America. In this fascinating travelogue, Adams follows in the controversial footsteps of Hiram Bingham III, who’s been both lionized and vilified for his discovery of the famed Lost City in 1911—but which reputation is justified?
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Spellbounding, exceptional vocals
- By KLewis on 09-19-15
By: Mark Adams
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Outposts
- Journeys to the Surviving Relics of the British Empire
- By: Simon Winchester
- Narrated by: Simon Winchester
- Length: 6 hrs and 46 mins
- Abridged
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Originally published in 1985, Outposts is Simon Winchester's journey to find the vanishing empire, "on which the sun never sets". In the course of a three-year, 100,000 mile journey - from the chill of the Antarctic to the blue seas of the Caribbean, from the South of Spain and the tip of China to the utterly remote specks in the middle of gale-swept oceans - he discovered such romance and depravity, opulence and despair that he was inspired to write what may be the last contemporary account of the British empire.
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Nice Travelogue
- By J. S. Koehler on 01-28-06
By: Simon Winchester
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Life on the Mississippi
- An Epic American Adventure
- By: Rinker Buck
- Narrated by: Jason Culp
- Length: 15 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Seven years ago, readers and listeners around the country fell in love with a singular American voice: Rinker Buck, whose infectious curiosity about history launched him across the West in a covered wagon pulled by mules and propelled his book about the trip, The Oregon Trail, to ten weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. Now, Buck returns to chronicle his latest incredible adventure: building a wooden flatboat from the bygone era of the early 1800s and journeying down the Mississippi River to New Orleans.
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Too Political and Divisive
- By Bill on 08-29-22
By: Rinker Buck
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The Dragon Behind the Glass
- A True Story of Power, Obsession, and the World's Most Coveted Fish
- By: Emily Voigt
- Narrated by: Xe Sands
- Length: 7 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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A young man is murdered for his prized pet fish. An Asian tycoon buys a single specimen for $150,000. Meanwhile, a pet detective chases smugglers through the streets of New York. Delving into an outlandish realm of obsession, paranoia, and criminality, The Dragon Behind the Glass tells the story of a fish like none other: a powerful predator dating to the age of the dinosaurs.
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A "must read" for all fish professionals.
- By Fishgen on 06-26-16
By: Emily Voigt
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Old Man River
- The Mississippi River in North American History
- By: Paul Schneider
- Narrated by: Alan Sklar
- Length: 13 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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In Old Man River, Paul Schneider tells the story of the river at the center of America's rich history - the Mississippi. Some fifteen thousand years ago, the majestic river provided Paleolithic humans with the routes by which early man began to explore the continent's interior. Since then, the river has been the site of historical significance, from the arrival of Spanish and French explorers in the 16th century to the Civil War. George Washington fought his first battle near the river, and Ulysses S. Grant and William T. Sherman both came to President Lincoln's attention after their spectacular victories on the lower Mississippi.
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Amazing, inspiring and informative
- By Rodney Curlee on 04-27-23
By: Paul Schneider
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Vivid History of Russia's First Contact In Alaska
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The high points in the story of Alaska since the American acquisition are brought vividly to life through more than 100 characters, real and fictional.
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What listeners say about Tip of the Iceberg
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Margaret Weidemann
- 02-10-20
Enjoyed this very much!
Good adventure/travel story with some interesting history. could have used a little better editing to make the 2 stories more clear.
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- Jonathan
- 04-02-24
Great listen, travel book
I really love this book. The author does such a good job of integrating his personal trip along with the Herriman trip and relating the changes that have happened over the last 125 years. Excellent little travel guide book that’s not too in-depth or overbearing. A great easy lesson. 
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- Martin A. Blanco
- 05-01-19
The Iceberg is Massively Satisfying
Never a dull moment. An engaging survey of Alaska through the lenses of history, geography, biology/natural history and sociology. The prose is crisp and engaging. I’ve purchased copies as gifts and am listening to it for a second time.
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1 person found this helpful
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- AES
- 08-21-19
Not an adventure story
Much reference to Harriman expedition. Some references to bears. Mostly discusses the towns and people you would encounter while making this trek. Reads much more like a road trip journal than an adventure.
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- Melinda M. McCarthy
- 05-31-19
Very enjoyable and informative!
I loved the chapters about the bear warnings and bear encounters. I learned so much from this book while being truly entertained.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Loretta
- 01-23-20
Adams Never Fails to Entertain
This is my third Mark Adams book and I have to say I just love his writing. He always makes me feel so involved in every story. Very glad to hear the author reading his own works. Enjoyed this one very much and will definitely be listening to it again.
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- rachel cartwright
- 05-30-18
Very engaging
Having spent a lot of time in Alaska I found this a very refreshing and engaging account of the region - great portrait of John Muir - really brought the events of the Harriman expedition to life
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9 people found this helpful
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- Leah
- 05-23-20
An enjoyable listen
Mark Adams does a good job narrating his book about exploring Alaska via Harriman’s late 1890’s cruise that included John Muir as a passenger. Interesting to experience both the original expedition and modern day Alaska through Adam’s eyes.
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- Marc
- 01-31-20
Nice history; feels a bit like historical fiction
Overall a very nice history presented in a story form that makes it feel like historical fiction, even though it is not. There were some comments expressing this taste about the climate change commentary at the end, I did not feel these to be inappropriate. I am fairly apolitical, but reality is reality. In fact, there was much objectivity presented regarding facts that imply much natural cycling, including references to lost glaciers long before the industrial revolution.
This was good enough to pique my interest to further explore the life of John Muir.
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- Ken Pearson
- 09-15-22
Mark Adams Knows Better than You
Adam's elitism and I-know-better-than-them attitude perfectly encapsulates why Alaskans are so skeptical of east coast urbanites who think they know what's best for the state. He is quick to criticize, and emphasizes anecdotes and oddballs while providing no nuance discussing the challenges Alaska faces.
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2 people found this helpful