Nansen | 
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Product Description
Behind the great polar explorers of the early twentieth century—Amundsen, Shackleton, Scott in the South, and Peary in the North—looms the spirit of Fridtjof Nansen, the mentor of them all. He was the father of modern polar exploration, the last act of territorial discovery before the leap into space began. A restless, unquiet Faustian spirit, Nansen was a Renaissance Man born out of his time in Norway. He was an adventurer, an artist and historian, and a diplomat who had dealings with Lenin, Trotsky, and Stalin, and played a part in the Versailles Peace Conference.
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Customer Reviews:
• The Most Comprehensive Nansen Biography 17 November, 2008
I am familiar with seven Nansen biographies and Huntford's is the most comprehensive, realistic and detailed. I believe that every thinking adult should learn something about Fridtjof Nansen, largely because his way of solving problems would help us to face our uncertain future. Huntford's book is impressive. It emphasizes exploration, which should make mass-audience readers happy, but does so at the expense of Nansen's other accomplishments. In particular, Nansen's overwhelmingly important role in orchestrating the transition of oceanography from a descriptive enterprise resembling exploration to part of true science is underdone.
Many readers will find a 610-page book too big to digest. Others might find the many references to Nansen's personal life too intrusive or deflating.
- Reviewed by customer ID: AT54Q2ERA4PBR
• By No Means A Typical Biography 31 October, 2000
This is a very dynamically written biography of Fridtjöf Nansen, polar explorer who established the farthest north not to be beaten for a couple of next years. The journey in "Fram", custom built ship, is bizarre enough, indeed. As intended, the ship entered polar ocean close to the Siberian coast of Taimyr Peninsula, where it was locked frozen in the ice for the next three years. The expedition mainly performed some scientific observations, self-imprisoned in the lonely ice of the north. The drift helped the frozen ship move slowly towards the North Pole with no activity on the part of explorers. It failed however to approach the pole itself, so Nansen set for the pole using dogs and sleighs, together with only one human companion, Hjalmar Johanssen. Cut off from the ship and inventory, they tried hard to achieve their goal. Having failed, they decided not to come back to the ship, which itself would be hard to find given the conditions of the environment and the ice drift. They headed for Svalbard instead, hundreds of kilometers away, instead. Meantime, they discovered an unknown archipelago, or at least it seemed so to them. They spent winter there in the ice cave, having hunted enough walruses to make a living. The story is full of adventures, exciting, unexpected, amusing or just otherwise sad, but always engaging. Read for yourself how they ended up. The journey for the farthest north is only part of the book, which is extensively long, covering all Nansen's life, and all of his activities, including the League of Nations leadership, for which later he was awarded a Nobel prize. Very recommended, as it is by no means a typical biography.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A3OI15QW4X4Y4D
• A Norwegian Hero! Great Book. 28 June, 1999
Nansen is a norwegian hero and legend. Huntford does a thorough job uncovering Nansen, the man and his triumphs. The Fram expedition and his travels with Johansen make this book hard to put down. Huntford is the premier biographer of polar explorers. Shackleton, Scott, Amundsen, and Nansen are all featured in books by Huntford. To learn more about norwegians, one only needs to read this book. Nansen was not only an adventurer, he was a pioneering scientist!
- Reviewed by customer ID: A27TIJ4YU5YPKZ
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