North to the Future

“Weissenbach’s writing is fluid and entertaining….Many of his adventures…[offer] a lesson anyone can apply to how they choose to move through the world–that by unplugging and heading out into nature, there are rewards to be reaped.” –Smithsonian“An illuminating work of natural history and journalism. Alaska may be changing, but this is a timeless, memorable travelogue.”–BookWag“North to the Future is a kind of bildungsroman of perception–a story of learning to see and hear and feel by venturing out in the wild. It is a beautiful and necessary book.” –Elizabeth Kolbert, New York Times bestselling author of The Sixth Extinction“A clear-eyed and occasionally memoiristic treatise on the importance of observation and immersion. For readers of a naturalistic or environmentalist bent, but also those who think themselves opposed to such perspectives.” –Library Journal“A highly entertaining and insightful debut.” –Cal Newport, New York Times bestselling author of Slow Productivity and Digital Minimalism“A rollicking adventure through the Alaskan wilds where the art of humility meets the necessity of paying attention.” –Caroline Van Hemert, award-winning author of The Sun is a Compass“Apart from the adventuring…and the science, the delight in North to the Future is to be found in the portraits Weissenbach constructs ….into artful and informative storytelling. John McPhee, to whom the book is dedicated, is surely proud of his former student.” –Anchorage Daily News“Ben Weissenbach’s absorbing North to the Future is packed with hair-raising wildlife encounters and haunting landscapes–all in the tradition of his teacher, John McPhee. But Weissenbach offers a contrasting dimension: how all this reality feels to a 20-something raised on the airless virtual world of the 4”x2” screen.” –John Colapinto, New York Times bestselling author of This is the Voice“Weissenbach is pulled out of the two-dimensional world mediated by phone and computer screens into the awesome, terrifying, and beautiful existence changing rapidly and inexorably before his eyes. John McPhee has a worthy successor.” –Kirkus Reviews“Weissenbach spins the immersive travel writing into a soulful meditation on the value of getting back to nature…[North to the Future] will transport readers.” –Publishers Weekly“Far and away the best outdoor adventure book I’ve read in years. It takes a dire but somewhat distant topic, climate change, and brings it to within inches of your face, so you can hear the snuffle of grizzlies and the glassy crackling as the glaciers recede. In the process, it gently nudges us to relearn the raw art of being human: to walk softly, to see sharply, to be–vitally–present.” –Robert Moor, New York Times best-selling author of On Trails: An Exploration

Ben Weissenbach is a writer from Los Angeles. He studied under John McPhee at Princeton University and was awarded a Gates Cambridge Scholarship to pursue a PhD in Polar Studies at Cambridge University. His work has appeared in the L.A. Times, National Geographic, Scientific American, and Smithsonian, among other publications.

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