Erling Kagge

The North Pole. The History of an Obsession

Nordpolen. Natur, myter, eventyrlyst og smeltende is

Long before anyone traveled to the North Pole, people have had ideas about what was hiding under the North Star. Was it the Garden of Eden? A magical mountain? A place with eternal sun? It would take thousands of years before the North Pole was wrested from its secrets.

Author and adventurer Erling Kagge is the first to have skied to the North Pole, the South Pole and climbed Mount Everest. In this grand narrative about the world’s northernmost point, he follows his own and others’ tracks, and sets out on an expedition into the myths, literature and stories about what is at the top of the globe.

The North Pole is a thought-provoking book about nature and our own place in it. It is a personal account of curiosity and a desire for adventure, of life-threatening polar expeditions, climate change and geopolitics — for anyone who has looked towards the horizon and wondered what you will find if you just keep walking.

‘Brilliant!’

Dagbladet, 6/6 stars
Photo: Agnete Brun

Erling Kagge has become something of a Renaissance man. A lawyer by training, he studied philosophy after exploring the world, starting his own publishing house, becoming a renowned collector of contemporary art, and latterly an author of slim but thought-provoking tomes. He has written books on exploration, philosophy and art collecting, all international best sellers and widely acclaimed by critics. His books are translated to 41 languages.

The New York Times described Kagge as “… a philosophical adventurer or perhaps an adventurous philosopher”. Alain de Botton describes him as follows: “An author for our noisy times, full of a rare and deeply redemptive languor and perspective”.