Explorer and author Erling Kagge (Philosophy for Polar Explorers) provides an exhilarating adventure through the history of North Pole speculation and exploration that continues into the current era. Translated from the Norwegian by Kari Dickson, After the North Pole covers subjects such as cartography, the habits of polar bears, and the salinity of sea ice, making for unexpectedly exciting reading.
Many people have been captivated by the idea of exploring the North Pole--some for religious reasons, as they thought it might be the site of the garden of Eden, and some for the less spiritual pursuits of conquest and extraction, hoping to find sea routes to India, China, and the "Spice Islands," as Indonesia was known then. For many, their quest or obsession proved fatal, and Kagge recounts with riveting detail the overconfidence, catastrophes, and occasional miraculous survival of expeditions through the centuries. ("The Dutchmen relished the fresh liver, but did not know that polar bear liver contains enough vitamin A to kill humans.")
Kagge weaves his own 58-day journey on skis from Canada to the North Pole with the collected history of those who have come before him. He delves into his own motivations as well as the less glamorous aspects of the trek, like when he and his companion ran out of food and had to attract the attention of a U.S. Navy spy plane, which "dropped a container of food and another with reading material, which was limited to Penthouse and National Enquirer."
After the North Pole is a thrilling, insightful, and magical journey with something to interest readers of all stripes. --Elizabeth DeNoma, executive editor, DeNoma Literary Services, Seattle, Wash.