A stunning celebration of the most beautiful part of the Arctic by its most passionate explorer.

In this intimate portrait, Jerry Kobalenko describes a series of journeys he has taken over the past twenty years around the Canadian High Arctic by foot, skis, kayak, and ship that provides a multifaceted view of this most beautiful and most vulnerable part of the Arctic.

Combining natural history, exploration, and personal experiences gathered during twenty years of Arctic travel, the book explores the ice caps and glaciers of Ellesmere Island; introduces us to Axel Heiberg’s magical fossil forest of cypress trees and its population of endangered Peary caribou; follows the author’s seven-hundred-kilometre journey on skis from Devon Island to Alexandra Fiord, punctuated by near-fatal encounters with polar bears; and comments on changes in climate he has witnessed throughout the High Arctic.

The book also showcases Kobalenko’s magnificent photographs of the region, capturing wildlife such as walrus, muskoxen, and Arctic wolves and stunning geographical features from towering icebergs to virgin snowscapes under a sky of wild lenticular clouds.

“As writing, Arctic Eden begs comparison with Barry Lopez’s Arctic Dreams . . . Then there are the photos, which are the best images of the High Arctic I’ve ever seen.” Lawrence Millman, author of Last Places

“The reader never feels assaulted by Kobalenko’s daring, only inspired by it.” New York Times Book Review of The Horizontal Everest

Co-published with the David Suzuki Foundation.