The author, W. Hodding Carter, has a dream. He wants to re-create the voyage of Viking Leif Eriksson who, in the Year 1000, sailed from Greenland to North America in an open Viking Longboat. Carter has no ship. He has no crew. And he doesn't know much about sailing. But, after three years and a whole series of misadventures, he finally does it. This book is the result.

Somehow, he convinced Land's End to sponsor the journey, but he still had to get the boat constructed, find a crew and handle the thousands of details to make it happen. His first attempt ended in defeat but he tried again the following year. He had learned a lot by then and while the crossing wasn't exactly easy, he and his eight-man crew reached their goal.

Of course Carter's crossing wasn't exactly like the crossing for the Vikings. The Vikings, of course, didn't know where they were going and certainly weren't able to have e-mail on board. And they didn't have the modern food supplies and ability to cook the gourmet meals that this modern-day crew enjoyed daily. But the sea was the same, the frustration of days without a good wind, the hard physical labor, the beauty of visiting some remote islands, and the camaraderie among the crew.

The style of writing is light and sometimes comical. The Viking lore is interesting and the descriptions of the surrounding sea and the physical experience of living on an open boat are well done.

But I never really got the differences between the eight crew members. This should have been an automatic reflex by the end of the book. But even though the author tried his best, and even had some photos of the men, with the exception of Rob, the eccentric boat builder, they all had a certain sameness to me.

Also, this trip was never life threatening. I didn't bite my fingernails with worry about them. When in trouble, the Coast Guard was there.

Basically the book is a pleasant read about an interesting experience. And I did learn a bit about sailing and the experience of living in an open boat. Too bad Leif Eriksson never wrote a book. THAT would have been quite a story. Lacking that, however, I guess we just have to settle for W. Hodding Carter.

As one directly involved in publicizing the second - and triumphant - voyage of the Snorri, and privileged enough to witness in person, its arrival on the shores of L'Anse aux Meadows, I found the book captivating and could not read it fast enough!

Hodding Carter paints an original and incredibly entertaining picture of the voyage and managed to keep me in suspense the entire time - even though I already knew the outcome!

I was riveted by Hodding's vivid descriptions of the crew's first nights at sea, and touched by his words of devotion to his wife and children.

However, I am a little disappointed that the book does not contain any color pictures of the Snorri at sail or the landing at L'Anse aux Meadows (where hundreds of local Newfoundlanders gathered to greet the conquering crew). Sounds nitpicky, but to see the Snorri and crew at full sail was awe inspiring -- almost relegating Hodding and crew to second billing!

Nonetheless, the book was skillfully written and thoughfully assembled. The only question I am left with is, how in the world was Hodding Carter able to maintain such a detailed account of the journey considering the Arctic conditions?

Finally, a real adventure with a sense of humor and some humility! I just picked up this new book by Hodding Carter and read it straight through. It's the story of Carter's admittedly crazy idea to build a Viking cargo ship ("knarr") and retrace Leif Erikkson's historic voyage discovering North America ("Vinland"). From it's conception as an eccentric lark, born mostly of boredom from working at a post office, to it's successful completion -- Carter raised half a million dollars, built the 50 odd foot boat and sailed all the way from Greenland to Newfoundland over the course of two summers with a mostly inexperienced crew -- the story is hilarious and, at times, moving. Carter's style is uniformly informative, unpretentious and graceful. It was a pleasure to read and got me interested in history in a whole new way! I highly recommend this book. It was especially refreshing to see an addition to the adventure genre completely free from the macho posturing of the so-called adrenaline junkies.