Alaska science nuggets

Alaska Science Nuggets

Science & Math

Neil Davis

Nature & Ecology

University of Alaska Press

Do iceworms eat ice? Can you hear the aurora? How does mosquito repellent work? Why are Alaskan volcanoes evenly spaced along the coast? Is it possible for hot water to freeze faster than cold water? Where are Alaska's more than 125 hot springs? Why are northern twilights so long? Do glaciers slide or do they flow? Why do snowflakes flutter as they fall? 
In Alaska Science Nuggets, Neil Davis answers these and many other intriguing questions in the entertaining and informative style that make him one of Alaska's favorite science writers. This compendium of nearly 400 articles, including articles by other contributors to a science column carried by various Alaska newspapers, discuss phenomena from the Northern Lights, permafrost, glaciers, meteorology, volcanoes, and earthquakes, to archaeology, Alaskan plants, mammoths, early humans, northern living, and more. 
Tourists and old-time Alaskans alike have made this much-loved book a bestseller for years. Alaska Science Nuggets is a great reference or gift for anyone interested in the phenomenal natural history of the North.

Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska

Caught in the Sluice is a lively collection of some of the fictional but accurate adventures, heartbreaking to hilarious, that have befallen the men and women who have worked the gold-bearing gravels of Alaska's Interior region.

Caught in the Sluice: Tales from Alaska's Gold Camps (Humorous Historical Fiction Set in Alaska)

Engineering & Transportation

Engineering

McRoy & Blackburn Pub

Moose John strides daydreaming through the first pages in this collection of mining tales, followed by Wilfred Winchester Wilkensfield III, who discovers an unexpected prehistoric hazard while mining for gold in permafrost. The Olgilvie Gold Fibulator creates bonanzas for miners and Shakespearean actors alike, Double-Dose Dobson demonstrates that he can teach his sons a thing or two even from the grave, and an implacable little lady has a showdown with a gigantic dredge. Davis, a miner and geophysicist, takes his lifetime of experience in mining and the North and spins a few lively yarns around the workings of the sluicebox and the human heart.

Battling Against Success (Humorous Historical Fiction Set in Alaska)

Battling against Success, an autobiographical novel by Neil Davis, tells the lively story of a boy's coming of age in Alaska's Interior during the late 1940s and early 1950s.

Literature & Fiction

McRoy & Blackburn, Publishers

Alaska at midcentury offered great opportunities to the restless and ambitious people who had survived the Great Depression and World War II. Some of those who came North succeeded; some came and left; some came and managed to beat down every opportunity that raised its ugly head. That's pretty much the story of the narrator of this autobiographical novel and his family, who wrestled with the trees, the mud, the machinery, the bugs, and most of all themselves while trying to make a living on the northern frontier. Some of the characters whose lives touched on this story are the real people who acted to join Alaska to the Union and to the 20th century-or fought bravely against both. Davis draws the reader into the often funny, sometimes sad, and always rich experiences that bring his young protagonist from childhood into adulthood.

Mired in the Morass describes a predicament known to almost 47 million Americans: paying for medical bills without health insurance. Neil Davis navigated this financial black hole and discovered a hidden truth: medical bills don't reflect the costs of medicine. Davis describes the harrowing journey his family took in paying for cancer treatments, and comes to the well-informed conclusion that our health care system is broken, and doesn't have much to do with health. Yet, there is hope: armed with the knowledge Davis provides, you too may get a correct and detailed accounting of what you actually owe often far less than the hospital bill might imply. If enough Americans understand the true costs, both in money and in deaths from reliance on a crippled system, we may be able to change to a fairer, more rational, healthier system for all of us.

Mired in the Health Care Morass: An Alaskan Takes on America's Dysfunctional Medical System for his Uninsured Daughter

Medical Books

Administration & Medicine Economics

Ester Republic Press

This is a humorously presented account of attending college in Alaska, California, and Iowa during the 1950s, when many students worked at part- or full-time jobs and hence were able to graduate free of debt. Illustrated with nearly one-hundred quality photographs, this enjoyable story deals not so much with classroom education as with related work activities, especially in Alaska. The author provides interesting descriptions of his involvement in early observations of the first satellite, Sputnik 1, operation of Alaska s International Geophysical Year 1957-58 field stations, an extensive project to measure the electrical conductivity of Alaska s soils using low-flying aircraft, and field investigations of two major earthquakes occurring in 1958. One was the great Lituya Bay event which created the world s largest splash wave (1740 feet above sea level). An underlying theme running through the book is the extent to which teachers, students and others influence each other s lives.

Head, Tail, & Guts Included

Alaska-Yukon Press

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Neil Davis. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Neil Davis

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Neil Davis. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Alaska Science Nuggets

Alaska science nuggets

Caught in the Sluice: Tales from Alaska's Gold Camps (Humorous Historical Fiction Set in Alaska)

Caught in the Sluice: Tales from Alaska's Gold Camps (Humorous Historical Fiction Set in Alaska)

Battling Against Success (Humorous Historical Fiction Set in Alaska)

Battling Against Success (Humorous Historical Fiction Set in Alaska)

Mired in the Health Care Morass: An Alaskan Takes on America's Dysfunctional Medical System for his Uninsured Daughter

Head, Tail, & Guts Included