Only one of the best books of all time
5 stars
This is a book that has gotten a lot of hype here in Sweden and inexplicably it was published in two editions; one a text-only edition and the other a richly illustrated and cleverly laid out bigger hard cover. The latter version is so amazingly good. This is such a passion project for the author Bea Uusma. I usually do not like non-fiction but this on eis hard to review substaially without just heaping on the superlatives. It's poetic it's sad it's thought-through it's a deep dive into a failed 1897 North Pole expedition. This was a re-read for me. I don't remember when I first bought it; I have the third printing of the first (2013) edition. I remember kicking myself for not buying it when it was available then finding it again in a bookstore a few months (or maybe years? My 2010s area blur) later and reading …
This is a book that has gotten a lot of hype here in Sweden and inexplicably it was published in two editions; one a text-only edition and the other a richly illustrated and cleverly laid out bigger hard cover. The latter version is so amazingly good. This is such a passion project for the author Bea Uusma. I usually do not like non-fiction but this on eis hard to review substaially without just heaping on the superlatives. It's poetic it's sad it's thought-through it's a deep dive into a failed 1897 North Pole expedition. This was a re-read for me. I don't remember when I first bought it; I have the third printing of the first (2013) edition. I remember kicking myself for not buying it when it was available then finding it again in a bookstore a few months (or maybe years? My 2010s area blur) later and reading it right away that same night. But this reread had al the same magic. It was an "I ought to reread the first book since the sequel is finally out" duty reread but it wasn't a slog at all, just pure enthrallment from page one through the last page. I feel bad not being able to write a better review than how much I love it. I recommend it for fans of layout and graphic design since it's so unique and clever (Lotta Kühlhorn usually does a great job and here she knocked it all the way out of the park) as a book unlike any other book this side of" Building Stories". I recommend it for fans of adventure, of winter, of geography, and for people who hate all that but who want to see someone chasing the dream. But: it is very gruesome at parts.
One weird thing with the reread is that when I read it the first time I had no idea who Peter Wessel Zappfe was. I hadn't seen True Detective or read The Conspiracy Against the Human Race. He is in this book and he ends up doing some very weird things. This book as a whole ends up as a wonderful companion piece to Conspiracy.. It celebrates (and struggles against) bare-faced entropy. It washes you away in a wave of mutilation. Except this book is much better reasoned, argued, written, though-through than Conspiracy is. A book to return to again and again. It's like one of my top three books of all time. But only when I want to go bleak.