Reading the North

By Kevin Jackson (Reaktion Books, $19.95)

The blurb: "In this book we learn of the moose's life-cycle, diet and breeding habits, noting its relative freedom from predators and its present numbers and territorial spread. Highly valued by peoples of the North, the moose has at times served as a beast of burden (carrying men or hauling sledges) and always as a cornucopia for fur, leather, glue, horn and of course meat."

Excerpt: "Perhaps the most curious lesson Nelson took from his time with the Koyukon was not anthropological but ethnological: moose, he learned, have a pronounced aversion to caribou and will rapidly vacate an area when the caribou start to move in. 'A Koyukon elder explained that they dislike the noise caribou make, walking carelessly through the brush and running to and fro without reason. Moose are quiet animals, he said, and they cannot abide these clamorous intruders.' "

A Matter of Panache

By Debra Sanders (Outskirts Press, $19.95)

The blurb: "This unique memoir is an adventure story that takes readers to school systems from the remote corners of Alaska to the reservation land of southeastern Utah and onto an Army post in Colorado. Amid stunning backdrops and between oft-times hilarious adventures, the reader is provided a rare, first-hand look into the lives of some of the children educated in our schools and into both the triumphs and failures of public education."

Excerpt: "In my mind I can almost imagine the ear-splitting roar of exploding water and massive blocks of ice as they crashed through the village, but I cannot even begin to imagine the terror it must have brought or the despair that it left behind. That this village recovered to become what it is today is testimony to a few remarkable men and the hundreds of men and women who banded together to do what Native Alaskans have always done, and that is to survive."

The Prize -- The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power

By Daniel Yergin (Free Press, $22)

The blurb: "This updated edition categorically proves the unwavering significance of oil throughout the 20th-century and into the 21st by tracing economic and political clashes over precious 'black gold.' With his far-reaching insight and in-depth research, Yergin is uniquely positioned to address the present battle over energy, which undoubtedly ranks as one of the most vital issues of our time."

Excerpt: "Like Alaska's North Slope, North Sea production would require an entirely new generation of technology. And it would take time, a great deal of time. Yet Alaska and the North Sea had another common bond: Though their reserves were in very difficult places, physically, they were not in unstable places, politically. Even so, neither could provide any imminent relief for the global supply-demand balance, which was drawing ever more taut. That meant there was still only one place to turn for the additional supplies required to satisfy the world's almost-insatiable appetite for oil -- the Middle East."