North to the Future

North to the Future by Ben Weissenbach is a compelling narrative about an L.A. native with little prior wilderness experience who treks through the Alaskan tundra with a series of eccentric environmental scientists. He returns with a new perspective on technology and a revitalised sense of wonder for the natural world.

At the age of twenty, college student Ben Weissenbach ventured north to Arctic Alaska, armed with little more than inspiration from his literary heroes and a growing interest in climate change. What awaited him was a world utterly unlike the 21st-century Los Angeles he grew up in—a wild land seen by few outside a small contingent of scientists with big personalities.

There's Roman Dial, the larger-than-life ecologist who leads Ben on a six-week trek across Alaska's Brooks Range. Kenji Yoshikawa, the reindeer-herding permafrost expert, leaves Ben alone for eleven days to care for his off-grid cabin, where temperatures drop to -49 degrees Fahrenheit. And there's Matt Nolan, the independent glaciologist who flies Ben to the largest glaciers in the American Arctic.

As these scientists teach him to read the changing Alaskan landscape, Ben confronts the limits of digital life and the complexity of the world beyond his screens. He emerges from each wilderness excursion with a new perspective on our modern relationship with technology—and a growing wonder for our natural world.