I have had this particular book on my kindle for years. I start reading it and then I set it aside and forget. Finally one day I was determined to get the book finished, and realized that it didn't captivate me in a way that kept me interested.

The story of her is fascinating but I wish it was written in a more compelling method. I would have loved to have read her adventures, but just found it hard to stay tuned with the book.

3.5 stars. The book is really so well researched! And it's got some amazing photos (I loved that part of the book the best). Really, it's worth it to read about Louise Arner Boyd if only to admire her for her courage to go out to explore such human-unfriendly, harsh-environment lands, and not just that, but the fact that she was willing to endure the honestly very shitty attitudes of a lot of the men she had to work with. Most of the time, she was the only woman on the expedition (as well as the leader of it and the one who paid for it), and the more educated the men she worked with, the more they were willing to hate her just because she's a woman (won't take orders from no skirt!!) Anything from the way she talked to the way she dressed when she was not on an Arctic ship was apparently a thing to judge her on. I can't imagine the amount of mansplaining this woman had to endure. And it does seem that she might have had a bit of a tough character, but it still comes across as if she was being judged very harshly just because she was a woman and if she were a man, such qualities would never have been considered offensive. It is really amazing all she did, especially because it was on her own money and she never really had to do any of the research she did or donate any of her materials (which she also did). An amazing explorer to say the least!

The reason why I'm giving 3.5 stars and not 4 was because, in honesty, the book bored me a little (sorry author!). That might be me and not the book! It was still 100% worth the read, and you'll love the photos. Perhaps I was just less interested in the subject than a lot of other readers could be.

I thank the publisher for giving me a free copy of the ebook in exchange to my honest review. This has not affected my opinion.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33397072-the-polar-adventures-of-a-rich-american-dame" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="The Polar Adventures of a Rich American Dame: A Life of Louise Arner Boyd" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1508891743m/33397072.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33397072-the-polar-adventures-of-a-rich-american-dame">The Polar Adventures of a Rich American Dame: A Life of Louise Arner Boyd</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8071273.Joanna_Kafarowski">Joanna Kafarowski</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2264865658">3 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
NETGALLEY # 6<br /><br />Many thanks go to Joanna Kafarowski, Dundurn Press, and Netgalley for the free copy of this book in exchange for my unbiased review.<br /><br />Louise Arner Boyd was an heiress who also happened to explore the Arctic region numerous times from the 1930s-1950s culminating in a flight to the North Pole. <br /><br />Boyd was born to privilege and grew up in California. At a young age she lost both older brothers, which devastated her parents and left her the sole heiress to a multi-million dollar fortune. She always enjoyed reading stories about the Scandinavian region and was soon landing an expedition personally funded by her estate. She was one of the first females to explore the area and the first to pay for it herself. She even helped search for a missing fellow explorer. She has various geographical sites named for her. <br />Sadly she died close to destitution because she had spent most of her money on these trips as well as self-publishing her books and funding her traveling expenses for her appearances and award presentations. But she died satisfied. <br />What she accomplished allowed US to map the coastline of Greenland. She also worked for the Defense Dept during WWII, but it was top secret. <br />Highly opinionated and often thought as a micromanager Boyd had an influence on what the Geographical Society charted. She was a pretty important person. I am happy to add this book to my Notorious Women in history shelf.
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“The Polar Adventures of a Rich Dame: A Life of Louise Arner Boyd” by Joanna Kafarowski

An interesting biography of a woman whose interest in polar exploration began when she was younger via reading and research and something she carried into her adulthood.

Louise Arner Boyd was a billionaire who was fascinated by the Arctic more so than marriage and having children. She conducted 7 expeditions from the late 1920’s to the late 1940’s. She was meticulous in her studies, the scientists she brought along, the ship she secured as well as the crew. She paid for every aspect of the expedition and the newest and most reliable equipment for the men she took with her. She was not just an explorer, she also had knowledge in botany and some other areas of interest to herself and other scientist. But she would rather bring along specialists so that she could focus on her cinematography and photography. Over the years she accumulated thousands of pictures and film which proves to be as vital as the ecology, botany, sound wave measurements, and other specialties. Perhaps because she did pay for everything she had a very specific contract that all the scientists had to sign. That she could use their findings but they could not use their own findings without her explicit permission. It is unclear why she had this provision, but it was consistently written in all her contracts for all 7 of her expeditions.

When she returned from her time in the Arctic, not only would she gather all her pictures together to help with putting together topographical maps, but she also would write one or two books based upon her and the other scientists findings. She would often pay to have the books published and generally to rave reviews. In fact, during WWII, the area of the Arctic that she had continually explored was a hot button area and her books, pictures, and individual insight helped the War Department during that time.

Louise also received multiple awards and recognition for her findings, photographs, and for being one of the first women to ever explore in depth the areas of the Arctic which she did. She also received recognition for helping other ships that needed assistance, searching for lost explorers and other acts of bravery.

During the times she was not in the Arctic or traveling for her own leisure, Louise would attend to her multiple philanthropic duties, entertain friends, hold committee meetings at her home, as well as give lectures at different organizations in multiple countries.

The one final feat Louise wanted to do was to make it to the North Pole. Since she had never been able to make it there by ship, and despite her fear of flying, she was the first woman to fly to, over and to circle around the North Pole.

Her later years found her to be struggling financially. Thus, she had to sell her home, many of her family antiques as well as the artifacts she brought back from her visits to the Arctic. While she moved to an apartment and no longer had her staff she still had money problems which made addressing her multiple health issues more difficult. In time she was moved to a convalescent home and passed away two days before her 85th birthday.

Louise Arner Boyd lived a life of excitement, purpose, and just the way that she wanted to. While she was the last surviving member of her family and the Boyd family line, she carried both her name and that of the Boyd family into history books. While she may not be as well known and recognized in general, within her polar exploration and the study of the Arctic, she is well known and her work is still well received and utilized.

Joanna Kafarowski has written a captivating biography of a woman who deserves to be recognized for her achievements and accomplishments in the area of polar exploration. She presents a well written and concise history of Louise Arner Boyd. Interestingly, this is the first biography of a woman who was so well rewarded and well renowned in polar exploration, not just for her work and research, but for being the first woman to enter this area of study first hand and for doing so thoroughly and painstakingly.

A biography that is definitely worth a read.

Rating: 4.4
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

** I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this biography. All thoughts and comments are my own.

I wanted to like this book, but I couldn't get past the first few chapters. Rather than using a first person voice, the author continually said "Louise would have" all of the would haves just dragged the book down. Since I did not finish it, I do not intend to publish a review.

Miss. Boyd was indeed one hell of a Dame! Let me start out first by letting everyone know what a lame brain I can be at time...mostly because I had to laugh at myself. Ms. Boyds father and friends bought the Bodie gold mine in California. I've been to Bodie. My first thought was, why the hell would anyone buy a played out goldmine in ghost-town? Duh! It was brand spankin' new back then! What a maroon! Miss. Boyd lived a fantastic life. She had many family losses and heartaches along the way, but when she found her calling, she excelled at it. Sad thing is that had she been a man she would have received far more recognition. I also think the reason she had to fund all her explorations was because not many people would have contributed, "because she was a woman," but also with her funding, she was the one in charge. I thought she made excellent choice on her Captain's, and I would have loved to be there to sail with and meet them all! Joanna Kafarowski did a great job in putting this book together. Matter of fact, she tweaked my interest enough to go to YouTube and discover more. Sadly, not a whole lot there. My thanks to the author, Dundurn Press, and Netgalley for allowing me to read for the measly price of a review!

This is an awesome book about Louise Arner Boyd who is little known in our era but back in her day was a famous Arctic explorer in the 1930s. She carefully planned and put together her expeditions because she was driven to and also because she was in a position to do as she pleased, with no one around who could tell her any differently. Sadly, she'd lost both her parents and her 2 brothers so she was all alone. But she was no shrinking violet. She may have been a society beauty, but she also loved philanthropy, environmental issues, adventure, hunting, and she knew her own mind. Louise Boyd lived quite a life and her 7 expeditions helped advance science with her still photographs and movies for mapping, along with her collecting of plants, etc. Plus there was all of the work of the professionals in various fields of study that she chose to take along with her that was collected and published too. Thanks for reading. An ARC was provided by NetGalley for an unbiased review.

Joanna Kafarowski, author of “The Polar Adventures of a Rich American Dame,” captured me with this wonderful recounting of a daring woman of exploration. I’m embarrassed to admit that, as a rabid lover of all things polar and before reading this book, I’d never heard of Louise Arner Boyd. My introduction to a new cold weather friend is much appreciated.

The author, also passionate about the arctic, is uniquely qualified to comment on Boyd’s exploits. Kafarowski’s Doctorate in Natural Resources and Environmental Studies and a Masters in Geography, her publications, participation in expeditions, and memberships in many geographical societies give her a unique perspective into this amazing woman’s accomplishments. Her research and writing abilities have produced a biography that is long overdue.

Louise Arner Boyd (1887-1972) was a wealthy heiress that grew up just north of San Francisco. As a young girl she romped over the hills with her brothers engaged in outdoor adventures not common for a young girl at the time. When she lost her brothers to heart problems, and her parents a few years later, Boyd inherited the family fortune. With the inheritance she began traveling in the early 1920s, becoming particularly focused on the frozen seas off Greenland.

She eventually led a series of scientific expeditions to the coasts of Greenland in the 1930s where she photographed, surveyed, and collected hundreds of specimens. She personally led and financed these rugged excursions winning many international geographic awards. It should be noted that the explorations were not aboard luxury liners with plushy coziness. These were hazardous cold weather voyages in unheated ships with no creature comforts. The food was rough but hearty, the confines not heated, and bathing and sleeping were conducted in freezing conditions. Venturing outside onto the frozen sea or ice covered glaciers was to invite disaster, but outside was where she had to conduct her experiments.

She organized and financed seven trips between 1926 and 1941. The scope of the experiments conducted was enormous; cold weather communications, photography of land and sea ice, botanical collection, topographical surveys, echo sounding to establish water depths, tidal gauge recording, magnetic declination measurements. Her second voyage in 1928 was devoted to searching for the missing explorer, Roald Amundsen.

Boyd received many honors during her lifetime including from Norway, Sweden, France, and the American Geographical Society and honorary LLDs from UC and Mills College. At age 68, in 1955, she became the first woman to fly over the North Pole. Near the end of her life some bad investments and the spending of most of her fortune on explorations, forced Boyd to sell the family home in San Rafael along with all its furnishings. She died in San Francisco in 1972.

Do I want you to read this book? Absolutely.

This is a fascinating read. I was hooked from the start. I had never heard of Louise Arner Boyd. Her courage and strength and determination shine through this book. At a time in what was predominantly a mans world she fought for what she wanted to do. Her photographs and the story of her expeditions are her legacy. This book has been really well researched and put together. She is someone who should not be forgotten.

This is from an advance review copy for which I thank the publisher.

I requested this thinking it would be engrossing and entertaining, as well as educational, but I had too many issues with it to classify it as a worthy read. Some of the problems were with the formatting, but most were in the writing.

While on the one hand I can appreciate a story of a woman who flouted the accepted conventions of her day and organized her own voyages, this book didn't really focus on anything she discovered or opened up so much as it told a story of a spoiled rich girl spending her money on personal interests. It made her sound completely unappealing to me, and the science was not really well-represented. Indeed, it was well described by one observation about a passenger on one of Boyd's voyages, and one which was quoted without comment from the author: "I'll wager she will see more than any of your scientists with their noses to the ground." This rather sums up the scientific perspective of this entire book.

Yes, she collected botanical specimens, but she apparently did a poor job of that, at least to begin with, and yes, she photographed her travels extensively and also filmed some of it, which was new for the time period, but I did not get any sense from this book of Louise Boyd really achieving anything significant (other than being a woman doing things women were not well-known for back then - and there's a caveat to that, as I shall discuss shortly). On top of this she did things which to me personally were obnoxious, such as mass slaughtering of polar bears, which are a vulnerable species at high risk of becoming endangered today, as well as wantonly killing other animals. I know mind-sets were different back then, and I know that explorers were known for hunting to replenish rations, but the delight this author seems to take in describing the endless slaughter of Polar bears frankly made me sick.

I read at one point, "The Ribadavias were amazed by the courage Louise had displayed and the vigour with which she participated in hunting the polar bear. She may have been a sophisticated socialite, but she was no shrinking violet." Seriously? There really was no hunting. They would see some wild bear roaming the ice or swimming in the ocean, and stand there and shoot it. There was nothing difficult about it. Nothing heroic, nothing brave. It was cruel. The first bear she shot took three bullets to kill (assuming it actually was killed at that point) and then it was dragged back to the boat and hung up with a rope around its neck so this brave and intrepid explorer could have her picture taken next to the bear, its tongue lolling out of its slack mouth. It was disgusting. There was nothing heroic here, only that which was cowardly and shameful.

The relish with which these 'hunts' were described, and described repeatedly by this author, was honestly sickening. I read, "hunting parties were a favourite pastime" and "Louise and the Count and Countess were enlivened by the prospect of sport and more mighty polar bears fell to their guns" and "Miss Boyd returned with the pelts of twenty-nine polar bears, six of which she shot in one day." This is something to be proud of? Wantonly slaughtering 29 bears when one was far more than enough?

The only suffering the author describes is that of the people. I read at one point, "Every year, seal hunters ... get trapped in the ice. Some are able to free themselves, but many are lost. If the crew is able to free the ship, it is only after great effort and much terrible suffering." Yeah? Well you know, that's what they get for hunting seals! I have no sympathy for them. The animals suffered too.

Some of the writing seemed amateurish, such as when I read, "After the tragic death of her husband." All deaths are tragic! Even someone who dies on death row was a child at one point who might have had a different life (and death) from the one they ended with. It's tragic that they didn't, but it's also asinine to describe it as a 'tragic death'. 'Death' by itself is sufficient, or at least come up with a new adjective, instead of parroting the one every media outlet trots out mindlessly when describing a death.

Another thing which detracted strongly from Boyd's achievements, such as they were, was when it came to hiring people for the voyages. Everyone she hired was a man! The only women who came along - and those were few and far between - were the wives of the men who came along!

I understand that there were few women back then in the kinds of professions which were sought-after for these expeditions, but even when Boyd had a chance to hire one (a female botanist who wrote to Boyd and said she would be thrilled to join her on a future expedition), she went for a man instead. This hardly recommends her as a champion of female emancipation. Indeed, it makes her a hypocrite. I understand that the author had no influence over Boyd's choices by any means, but the fact that this author never even raised this as an issue is inexcusable.

The formatting of the book was as expected in Amazon's crappy Kindle app. In addition to text not being formatted as well as it ought, which I expect from Amazon, their crappy Kindle app literally shredded the pictures. I saw this on my phone, where I read most of this book, but I also checked it out on an iPad, and it was just as bad there, too, with the images fractured in the same way. The larger ones were sliced into several pieces and in some very odd shapes.

I have no idea what algorithm Amazon uses to do this but it needs to fix it. At least on the iPad I could enlarge the pictures. The same app on my phone, where the ability to enlarge pictures would have been far more useful, did not permit it. The picture captions were so poorly done that it was hard to separate them from the text of the book. I highly recommend not issuing books in Kindle format if you want the integrity of the book to be preserved.

Amazon is rolling in money and has had years to fix these issues,yet we still get garbage. The chapter index did not work: for example, you could not tap on a chapter in the contents, and go to the chapter, which made a contents list thoroughly pointless. The funny thing is that the link to the prologue worked. I tapped on it and it went to an index in the back of the book! LOL! it was a good thing too - I never read prologues! They're antiquated.

Why it should be the case in an ebook that links are non-existent or do not work, I don't know. I had the impression that this was written as a print book and no one really cared about the e-version of it, although as I said, this was an advance review copy so maybe these issues will all be fixed by the time it's published....

Overall, I cannot recommend this book as a worthy read. There were too many problems with it of one sort or another and it did the subject few favors. But then perhaps she deserves few.

4 stars

Firstly I must say that the title of this book offends me. It’s demeaning.

That aside, this is a portrait of a determined and driven woman who knew exactly what she wanted and went about obtaining it. I couldn’t get a grasp on what kind of woman she was; whether she was friendly, kind or ?? That she was generous to her friends was obvious, but she had some very strict ideas about her expeditions; whether the scientists could publish, accept lecture invitations and use her photographs, that it seemed as though that wasn’t a too generous or kind attitude. Some of her shipmates liked her a great deal while others were deviously badmouthing her behind her back. This is spite of the contracts they all signed when they joined the expedition.

The descriptions of the arctic, its geography and seas were enthralling and colorful. I truly enjoyed these parts of the book – from the safety of my chair in my warm home. Louise Arner Boyd’s courage and pluck are without doubt.

I like many readers, hadn’t heard of her before and it was very nice to hear of her exploits and adventures in the arctic. I’ve been on a modern-day icebreaker, but to ride the ice and the seas in a wooden whip must have been both thrilling and terrifying. Frankly I don’t know how she did it.

One cannot speak to the quality of writing in a biography suffice it to say that it was easily accessible and pretty straightforward. The plotting of the book followed Louise’s life pretty faithfully. The characters were certainly interesting.

I want to thank NetGalley and Dundurn for forwarding to me a copy of this remarkable biography for me to read and enjoy.