Farthest North: The Epic Adventure of a Visionary Explorer
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In 1893 Norwegian zoologist Fridtjof Nansen set sail for the North Pole in the Fram, a ship specially designed to be frozen into the polar ice cap, withstand its crushing pressures, and travel north with the sea’s drift. Experts said that such a ship couldn’t be built and that the mission was tantamount to suicide.
Farthest North, first published in 1897 to great popular appeal, is the stirring first-person account of the Fram and her historic voyage. Nansen tells of his expedition’s struggle against snowdrifts, ice floes, polar bears, scurvy, gnawing hunger, and the seemingly endless polar night that transformed the Fram into a “cold prison of loneliness.”
Once it became clear that the Fram could drift no farther, Nansen and crew member Hjalmar Johansen set out on a harrowing fifteen-month sledge journey to reach their destination by foot, which required them to share a sleeping bag of rotting reindeer fur and to feed the weaker sled dogs to the stronger ones. In the end, they traveled 146 miles farther north than any westerner had gone before, representing the greatest single gain in polar exploration in four centuries.
Farthest North is an unforgettable story that marks the beginning of the modern age of exploration and is a must-read for the armchair adventurer.
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Fridtjof Nansen (1861–1930) was a Norwegian explorer, scientist, diplomat, humanitarian, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. He retired from exploration after his harrowing journey to the north pole, but he continued to study marine life and oceanography. He also turned to politics and was instrumental in Norway’s transition to an independent nation. He devoted his late life to the League of Nations and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1922 for his work on behalf of displaced victims of World War I.
Ulf Bjorklund was born and raised in Boden, northern Sweden. Ulf studied acting and worked internationally with a theater company for twenty years. He has also done some on-screen work. When not narrating, he composes music and enjoys photography.
