Riding with Reindeer: A Bicycle Odyssey through Finland, Lapland and Arctic Norway - Softcover

Goldstein, Robert M

Softcover

ISBN 10: 097632881X ISBN 13: 9780976328810

Publisher: Rivendell Publishing Northwest, 2010

Synopsis

In the summer of 2007, Robert Goldstein departs Helsinki on a self-supported bicycle epic across Finland with the goal of pedaling to the Barents Sea. Aboard a folding bicycle towing a wagon, he weathers furious storms, survives a near-disastrous accident and obsesses whether he will be eaten by a bear as he makes his way through the remote forests of Eastern Finland. In sparsely populated Lapland, his solitude is relieved by reindeer who become his constant companions as he slowly makes his way through the Arctic. More than a travelogue, Riding with Reindeer intersperses an often humorous narrative about the author’s adventures (he manages to get trapped in the women’s shower in one remote village) with rich cultural and historical anecdotes as he passes through endless forests littered with rotted fortifications, rusted tanks and mass graves—the detritus of Finland’s desperate defense against a massive Soviet invasion in the winter of 1939. Riding with Reindeer gives insight into the mind of the solitary traveler and into the soul of a country whose honest and resourceful yet often taciturn citizens are always willing to lend a helping hand to the stranger on the bicycle gamely grinding his way through their “Suomi” – literally “the end of the land.”

About this title

About the Author:

Robert M. Goldstein, a former journalist, is the Chief Financial Officer of the Kitsap Regional Library,
Kitsap County, Wa. He lives in
Seattle. His first book, The Gentleman from Finland - Adventures on the Trans-Siberian Express, won critical acclaim from Library book reviewer Nancy Pearl who called it "a perfect read for fans of Paul Theroux and Bill Bryson's travel memoirs."  That book received the coveted Benjamin Franklin Award for best travel narrative published in North America.

Review:

"Perfect for travelers, armchair or otherwise, cyclists and thrill seekers, Riding with Reindeer is a modern-day travel narrative filled with humor, poignancy, history and beauty." 
--ForeWord Reviews

"Goldstein's affable good humor makes him an idea armchair traveling companion - I laughed out loud and read passages to my husband."  
--Debra Dean, author of The Madonnas of Leningrad and Confessions of a Falling Woman

 

"The maps are wonderful, and the photos--so often lacking in books of this sort--add to the book's appealing conversational tone."
--Nancy Peal in Book Lust to Go - Recommended Reading for Travelers, Vagabonds, and Dreamers.

About this edition

• Publisher: Rivendell Publishing Northwest
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 097632881X
• ISBN 13: 9780976328810
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 352