Farthest North (Modern Library Exploration) Review

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(More customer reviews)This review is in reference to the original two volume set of Nansen's "Farthest North" published in 1897. The Modern Library abridged edition is drawn from that set.
Nansen and 12 colleagues left Norway and sailed north in the Arctic Ocean above Siberia in 1893. Their purpose was to become frozen in the ice as it formed farther and farther south in the fall. Based on historical evidence from other attempts at far-north Arctic Ocean exploration, Nansen had decided that the flow of currents and winds in the Arctic Ocean were such that a frozen-in vessel that began above the Siberian Islands would drift northward with the ice across the North Pole over the next year or so. His goal therefore was to be the first to the North Pole. He planned for a expedition of as long as three years.
These Arctic explorers' ship was a specially designed vessel, the Fram. Her construction was such that when trapped in the frozen ice, which had extremely variable depths and especially pressures, the ship would rise up above the swelling pack ice and avoid being crushed. The success of the ship's design was absolutely spectacular. This should be compared to the fate of the Endurance, Shackleton's ship (described in his book "South"), which was trapped in the Antarctic ice and crushed, more that 17 years after Nansen's memoir was published.
Nansen's great success with sled dogs and sled designs published in the original memoir in 1897 adds credence to the relatively recent indictment (see Huntford) of the English Explorer Robert Scott who still disregarded the intense use of sled dogs in his 1910-12 Antarctic effort to reach the South Pole. Scott and four others basically die because of his ignorance/misunderstanding of the value of sled dogs, 15 years after Nansen details his successes with them on this expedition.
Fridtjof Nansen's writing style is clear, interesting, and very engaging. He was obviously a first-rate, experienced explorer (having crossed lower Greenland in 1888) and yet, at the same time, someone who recognized that there is something special going on around him. He documents-via journal entries-his daily observations and feelings about the physical conditions, the people, and even the sled dogs born during the adventure. There are records of supplies, food, ocean depths, temperatures, drift direction and distances, wind speed, ice thickness, bear attacks, a fantastic two-person trek by dog sled, and beautiful and sometimes emotional details of the aurora borealis. The original two volume set includes photographs and drawings made from photographs taken on the trip. Also a fine set of maps clearly showed the route of the expedition. Some of these must be included in the Modern Library's abridged version.
In comparison to the dry, guarded writing styles of Cherry-Garrard's "The Worst Journey in the World" or Shackleton's "South" this book is easier to read even though it too describes many terrifying situations and yet wonderful, hard-won successes. Nansen was just a better writer with more descriptive writing under his belt and possibly better initial plans for the book that would be produced from his experiences.
This book is a must for readers interested in polar exploration. Period.

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