The First Crossing of Greenland

click here for more details, find new or used items	Fridtjof Nansen Our price £12.99 New from £8.74 Used from £28.13 Pages: 400 (Paperback) ISBN: 1841582166 Pub: Birlinn Ltd Pub date: 2003-01-29 Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 143522

Reader Reviews:

First Crossing (6/6 people found this helpful)

This is a fascinating book. Not one second passes when the reader is not excited by the amazing adventure Nansen undertook. It also reads very well for a book written by an explorer as opposed to a proffesional writer, possibly even better, and the descriptions in it are vivid and enchanting. The incorporation of photos of the expedition is also very interesting.
However, it is let down slightly by the fact that there are so many spelling mistakes in the translation. But overall, an excellent read, and I would recommend anyone with a spirited sense of adventure to read it.

You must read this, astonishing! (9/9 people found this helpful)

If you thought arctic discovery was a carefully planned exercise, dominated by captains, beards and government prestige projects, think again! For centuries but in earnest since the beginning of the nineteenth century, no advance was made until twenty-two-year old Nansen thought in 1822 of the clever idea of using skis to cross the arctic ice fields. Skiing had only recently become popular in Norway, so he had a headstart on all the others trying to conquer the first bit of the arctic, Greenland. He was a complete unknown at the time and, though we now think of him as brilliant, people thought him a nutcase. But what really sets this beautiful book apart, is the crisp lyrical language in which he describes what the arctic area looked like. We are so used through television and photographs to what it looks like, but it was all completely new to him. Nowadays, Nansen would no doubt be up there with Jon Krakauer or Paul Theroux. Like them he spawned a raft of other writers and travellers: Shackleton, Scott, Amundsen, etc. Amazing when you think of it. I cannot recommend this book enough.

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