Nonfiction Audiobook Review: North to the Future

This week's book review comes from my "outdoor adventure and environmental studies" pile. 

 

Title: North to the Future: An Offline Adventure Through the Changing Wilds of Alaska
Author: Ben Weissenbach. Read by the author
Publication info: Grand Central Publishing, 2025. 11 hours. Hardcover same, 320 pages.

Source: Library

Publisher's Blurb (via Goodreads):
At the age of twenty-one, college student Ben Weissenbach set out into the Alaskan wilderness armed with little more than inspiration from his literary heroes and a growing interest in climate change. What meets him there is a landscape both stark and awe-inspiring—a part of the world seen by few outside a small contingent of scientists with big personalities.

There’s Roman Dial, the larger-than-life field scientist who leads him on a five week journey into the Alaskan backcountry. There’s Kenji Yoshikawa, the isolated researcher who leaves Ben alone for eleven days to care for his remote cabin, where temperatures at night drop to -49 degrees Fahrenheit. And there’s Matt Nolan, the independent glaciologist who flies planes onto glaciers.

As Ben’s mental and physical resilience is tested, he discovers far more than his own limits; struck by the landscape’s staggering beauty and sheer indifference to humanity, Ben emerges from each experience with a new perspective on our modern relationships to technology—and a deep sense of wonder for our natural world. 

 
My Review:
I had mixed feelings about this book. It's good, don't get me wrong. And it's important. But there are some sections, especially those dealing with Kenji Yoshikawa, that seem to downplay the impacts of climate change on the arctic. To be fair, I think that Weissenbach addresses that with some sound science, but it was a bit cringy.

On the other hand: Ben Weissenbach is incredibly young even at the time of writing (young enough that he things 6 or 7 years is a long time), and even younger during the events he's writing about. Sometimes that shows, and sometimes his youth makes me wince. But that's kind of a credit to the writing, because he's wincing, too. He does an impressive amount of growing up in a short time, thanks to the mentors he finds in Alaska--and the level of difficulty of the scientific expeditions he joins in the Brooks Range.

Unlike the when I read Michael Englehard's Arctic Traverse, which is also about backpacking in the Brooks Range, North to the Future didn't make me want to strap on my boots and head up there. The nature of their trip means that they are out there with homicidal mosquitoes, early-season weather, and limited food and comforts (so that their packs can be heavily laden with scientific gear and samples). I appreciate the honesty--and that, despite all that, Weissenbach falls in love with the far north even as he's suffering.

The story he tells, of the boreal forest creeping north, with it's complex impact on climate change, is one we all need to hear. What he has to say about the lasting impacts of even a single road into the tundra is a clear warning against even looking for more oil in those protected areas. In the end, the hardest thing about this book was to read it knowing that the current "leadership" of our country is willing to sacrifice anything--not just the arctic, but climate stability for the world--to a few bucks profit. It's enough to make you think that maybe mosquitos and grizzlies aren't so bad.

My Recommendation:
Yet another important book about the impacts of climate change, wrapped up in an engaging narrative about a young man starting to come of age in the wilds. It's a worthwhile read. Weissenbach narrates the audiobook himself, and does a good job, though at times it was clear he's not a professional.

 

FTC Disclosure: I checked North to the Future out of the library, and received nothing from the writer or publisher for my honest review. The opinions expressed are my own and those of no one else. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."  

 

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 ©Rebecca M. Douglass, 2026 

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