Farthest North, Vol. Ii: Being the Record of a Voyage of Exploration of the Ship 'Fram' 1893-1896

In 1893, Fridtjof Nansen convinced the Norwegian government to fund the most audacious Arctic expedition in history: sail a specially designed ship into the polar ice, let it freeze, and drift toward the North Pole. When the Fram drifted too far south, Nansen made the agonizing decision to abandon the ship and attempt the remaining distance by sledge with only one companion, Hjalmar Johansen. What followed was a nightmare of calculation and survival: 1,400 miles of frozen wasteland, a winter spent in a primitive hut built from driftwood and moss, meals of walrus and polar bear, and the constant knowledge that the world believed them dead. Nansen reached 86°14′ North, within four degrees of the pole, farther than any human had ever traveled. His account, written with scientific precision and remarkable restraint, transcends adventure narrative. It is a meditation on what drives a man to risk everything for a point on a map, and what he discovers about himself when the margin between life and death narrows to the strength of his will.