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The North Pole : the history of an obsession

Kagge, Erling2025
Books
Throughout recorded human time, few places on Earth have inspired as much fascination as the North Pole. This is an otherworldly place where the sun rises and stays aloft for six whole months before setting, plunging the expanse of ice and water into darkness for half a year. Foot-stepping alongside Erling Kagge, who ventured to the North Pole in the spring of 1990, we hear the story of the North Pole as never told before. From Herodotus, who first wondered what the northernmost point of our planet might be like, to the intrepid early cartographers who mapped the world, and the legendary expeditions led by Fridtjof Nansen and Robert Peary -- the first polar explorer global celebrities -- who were in the grip of a dangerous obsession to get to the North Pole first. What emerges is a new history of the world, spanning thousands of years, as seen from the 'silver-shining vacantness' of the North Pole. Blending memories from Kagge's own 1990 trip with this epic history, The North Pole is an adventure story, a book about enacting hidden human dreams, about difficult fathers and their difficult sons, and a psychological record of what it means to keep putting one foot in front of the other in the face of adversity. It is for anyone who's gazed out at the horizon -- and wondered what happens if you just keep walking.
Main title:
The North Pole : the history of an obsession / Erling Kagge ; translated by Kari Dickson.
Author:
Kagge, Erling, authorDickson, Kari, translator
Imprint:
London : Penguin/Viking, 2025.©2025
Collation:
xxii, 408 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some colour), maps (some colour) ; 22 cm
Notes:
Originally published as Nordpolen: natur, myter, eventyrlyst og smeltende is in Norway in 2024 by Kagge Forlag.Published in the United States by HarperOne as 'After the North Pole'.Includes bibliographical references and index.In English, translated from the Norwegian.
ISBN:
9780241645833 (hbk)9780241645833
Dewey class:
910.91632910.916
Language:
EnglishNorwegian
BRN:
581768
LocationCollectionCall numberStatus/Desc
Hampton LibraryAdult Non Fiction - Countries910.916 KAGOnloan - Due: 24 Jul 2025
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