The North Pole

A dazzling book - soulful, awe-inspiring, and deeply thought-provoking. Erling Kagge takes readers on a journey they’ll never forget

Jonathan Eig, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of King: A Life

A philosophical adventurer or perhaps an adventurous philosopher

New York Times

As an explorer Erling Kagge is world class; as a writer he is equally gifted

Sir Ranulph Fiennes

Erling Kagge’s decades-long obsession with the North Pole has produced an extraordinary book that defies genre: an elegant travel account, a learned history and a psychological thriller wrapped in one

Anne Applebaum

Erling Kagge is a deeply thoughtful writer who has a strong and very individual style. The North Pole proves to be the perfect subject for him

Michael Palin

Erling Kagge charts a wondrous way to the North Pole, exploring the marvel and complexity of a place that exists both in reality and in our symbolic imagination. A fascinating and richly detailed book

Paul Lynch, Booker Prize-winning author of Prophet Song

It’s rare to find an author and a subject so perfectly matched . . . This book is full of extraordinary stories and wisdom earned through hard experience. "Think ahead, travel light, and leave your fears behind you," one explorer advises. Much like the place itself, The North Pole is memorable, inspiring, unsettling, and poetic

Eric Schlosser

A beautiful book which is as much about our inner world as our outer one, a book that helps us find the vast calm empty spaces within us and returns us to a feeling of being at home in the world

Alain de Botton

It's impossible to read Erling Kagge and not fall in love with the North Pole. His enthusiasm is infectious and his adventures are epic

Elizabeth Kolbert

The North Pole is an enchanting pursuit of a place that lies both far away at the top of our planet and deep within us all

Peter Moore

A wonderful book about the sublime, eerie place known as the North Pole. A place that has doubled as a fertile dreamscape as much as a hard, inhospitable landscape for human beings over the centuries. This is the book of a lifetime, from a rare writer-adventurer whose obsession and passion for his subject know no bounds

Elif Shafak

An adventure-lusting Norwegian explorer vividly chronicles our obsession with the North Pole . . . Engaging . . . bracing . . . fascinating . . . Why go? That masochistic drive is captured with great verve, as are the beauty of the Arctic and its terrifying hazards

Christian House, The Times

Thrilling . . . a compelling mix of history, memoir and polar arcana . . . Coming to the end of this strange, often beautiful book, it becomes clear that The North Pole is in fact a love story, a record of an infatuation

Alex Diggins, The Telegraph

Revealing and highly readable

John Keay, Literary Review

Fascinating . . . an excellent guide to the strangest of terrain

Pat Carty, Irish Independent

The concept of a meaningful life is something Kagge, it’s fair to say, is an authority on

Hilary A White, Irish Independent

An adventure that can’t be topped . . . Kagge journeys into the past to uncover the myths, politics and pure joy of the northernmost point on Earth . . . heart-catching . . . a big book of ripping yarns and existential angst . . . fabulous

Stuart Jeffries, Observer

Kagge's achievement in this compelling, expansive book is to present the North Pole in all its aspects – not just as a geographical point sought by generations of explorers, but also as a dream, myth and mirror . . . gripping . . . epic

Mark Nayler, Times Literary Supplement