A review by amdame1
Locked in Ice: Nansen's Daring Quest for the North Pole by Peter Lourie

4.0

Fridtjof Nansen was a Norwegian explorer and scientist. He loved the skiing and the outdoors, especially winter. He also had a curious mind. So he combined all these things, especially since at that time, there was a lot of scientific exploration going on. He decided that he would take a team of men and dogs and try a new method to be the first to reach the North Pole. He raised funds and had a new design for a ship built that would handle the ice differently than other ships of that time. He would also cross the ice with one other man once the ship did get locked into the ice so that they could actually reach the North Pole. Nansen knew that this was going to be very difficult, but he was determined to do it anyway. He had a successful journey without losing any of his men and made many scientific discoveries. He went on other journeys, none so well known as this one.
He later went on to become a statesman and is revered in Norway to this day.
The book is thoroughly researched and has lots of fascinating back matter - including blurbs about all of the men aboard the boat, a detailed list of the provisions they took with them, how dogs were thought about and treated in those days on scientific voyages, north pole expeditions and records timeline, duties of the crew, design of the ship, etc.