“If you can find a copy, "The Year-Long Day" by A.E. Maxwell and Ivar Ruud. Ruud's experiences with Polar Bears will keep you on the edge of your seat.”

WellRead Ed

Ed, thanks for that suggestion. As a boy in special ed. class—and to think they did not warn me about you—along with Sea Hunt books, there were some tribal adventure books, illustrated for us knuckleheads. One of them was about an Eskimo youth who fights a polar bear, which has informed my dreams ever since.

The link to the book is below and I will have my Webmaster acquire a copy, since I am now a polar bear in a mudshark pond...

“Four hundred miles to the North Pole, a hundred to the nearest town. Intense wind and cold, the mountains swept clean of everything but moss, lichen, snow, and ice, the largest tree an 8-inch-high birch. Why would a young man choose to live totally alone in this unforgiving environment, hunting and trapping, never for a moment able to take his daily survival for granted? Ivar Ruud did it for adventure and freedom, and because it was a challenge that only a handful of other men had ever faced. Trapped in his cabin for days at a time by fierce storms, awakened by polar-bear claws slashing at his sleeping bag, left nearly helpless for two weeks after breaking his hand trying to force fighting sled dogs apart - all these adventurous sides of Ivar's remarkable Arctic life are told with a rare sense of immediacy that often leaves the reader literally chilled. But there is another side to this vivid narrative, a depth of human feeling that reveals Ivar Ruud as a man with a profound, poetic appreciation and respect for the polar world he comes to accept - even love - on its own harshly beautiful terms. The Year-Long Day is a classic story of survival that enhances the reader's sense of life itself.”