My Life with the Eskimo

By: Vilhjálmur Stefánsson

Narrated by: Chris Matthess

Length: 15 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

Who are the Eskimo peoples? And how do they survive in the freezing conditions of the far north?

Vilhjálmur Stefánsson left New York in April 1908 to begin his journey northwards and into the Arctic Circle. For the next two years, he made his way northwards to Victoria Island to study an isolated group of Inuit who still used primitive tools and had strong Caucasian features, and whom some believed were descended from Vikings. The journey into these remote areas was incredibly tough and being delayed by blizzards Stefánsson, along with his companions, were forced to eat the tongue of a beached whale that had been dead for at least four years.

Stefánsson, who learnt how to communicate with the Inuit, provides fascinating insight into the beliefs and every day life of these people.

“The book is full of psychologic and human interest, and of clear-cut observation of many different kinds.” (The North American Review)

“This book contains a wealth of ethnological and biological information … this is a valuable contribution to the scientific study of the Eskimos, by one who knows them thoroughly.” (The Literary Digest)

“It is impossible to analyze with certainty the amalgam of motives underlying the ceaseless movement of northern exploration, but the lure of the difficult and the dangerous can hardly be less active than the desire to enlarge bounds of human knowledge.” (The Nation)

This book is essential reading for anyone interested in this remarkable expedition and for people who want to find out more about life of people in the far north prior to the advent of modern technology. Vilhjálmur Stefánsson was a Canadian Artic explorer and ethnologist. Under the auspices of the American Museum of Natural History, New York, he and Dr. R.M. Anderson undertook the ethnological survey of the Central Arctic coasts of the shores of North America from 1908 to 1912. The results of this expedition were My Life with the Eskimo first published in 1913. Stefánsson passed away in 1962.

Public Domain (P)2020 Historical Recordings

It was great.

I enjoyed this i book. The reader has a few hiccups but nothing to be concerned of.

They forgot to edit it

Great story but they forgot to edit reader. You hear all his coughs and repeating lines over and over .

Worst edited audiobook I have heard

The book was great and the reader did a fine job but the editing was atrocious. I thought my internet was bad or phone had a glitch the first few repeats and retakes until I realized it was the audiobook editing.

Was this edited before release?

This is a fascinating story of life in the arctic. Unfortunately the narrator is robotic. On top of that there are dozens of narration “corrections” that were not edited out. This needs to be fixed. I’m only a couple hours into this and I’ll be returning it. Hopefully I can find this book with a different narrator.

audio is terrible

The book itself is wonderful and I enjoyed the stories even though they were repetitive at times. The audio was poorly done and the reader often clears his throat and repeats lines or phrases.

Great history but hard to get through

Some great history on the Eskimo people. However, the book is quite hard to get all the way through. It is just daily readings from a journal and some of the content is a little repetitive.

The audio needs editing.

It's pretty common for the narrator to misspeak and need to repeat himself. That's fine and I understand it, but it should probably be edited out.

Great book terrible audio

This is the most fascinating story I’ve ever heard, but the worst narrated and edited audio recording I’ve ever listened to. I hope whoever owns the rights to this book has it re-recorded.

Sound Editing Needs Work

The book itself is excellent, with lots of useful looks at interpreting information from a variety of sources in experiences, and addresses the benefits of cross-cultural knowledge.

However, I've given this one star for the sound editing- there are many instances when the voice actor repeats himself after a mistake, and these are not edited out of the final file. While that would be fine for a non-profit project, it is an irritating cost in time for a paid product.

Needs edited

Narrator would be average, nothing special good or bad. But the lack of editing makes this almost entirely unlistenable