From the North Pole to Oslo

I recently discovered this book in my bookshelf. I bought it at one of my visits to Svalbard, but then I must have forgot about it.

It is an amazing story about one of our time's greatest explorers, Børge Ousland, who together with Thomas Ulrich followed in the tracks of Nansen and Johansen from the North Pole, through Frans Josefs land in Russia, over the Barents sea and then all the way to Oslo. 111 years after Nansen did the expedition in 1895.

What is so nice about the book is that it has texts from Nansen's and Johansen's diaries from their trip - so you get the comparison and a good illustration of how things have changed over the 100 years. Ousland also explains well of the ups and downs of being on an expedition for such a long time, how they sometimes struggle with their motivation and how they have to change their plans to adjust to nature's many surprises.

Maybe a good Christmas present for someone?! The book was published in 2008 by Bokklubben Villmarksliv (ISBN 978-82-994379-4-3). In addition to the good story, it also has a lot of great pictures!