Regional History Librarian Liam Guthrie recommends The Ice Balloon: S. A. Andrée and the Heroic Age of Arctic Exploration by Alec Wilkinson.
As the twentieth century drew to a close, and most of the world had been mapped, nothing captivated the desires of European explorers like Earth’s final frontiers, the Arctic and Antarctic regions. Drawn by scientific inquiry, fame, and the great white expanse, many tried and failed, most often with deadly consequences, to reach the two poles.
In 1894, a Swedish engineer by the name of Salomon August Andrée had a profound idea which consumed his every thought; he believed that the North Pole could be reached in a hydrogen balloon.
In The Ice Balloon, author Alec Wilkinson tells us not only of Andrée’s 1897 attempt to reach the North Pole, but guides the reader through much of the historical context that surrounded his journey. This includes the history of European Arctic exploration, detailed retellings of multiple Arctic expeditions that preceded Andrée’s undertaking, explanation of the then nascent technology of lighter-than-air balloon travel, as well as biographies of Andrée and his companions.
The story of Andrée’s journey in the balloon and the many other expeditions contained in The Ice Balloon are suspenseful stories of daring, extreme hardship, survival, and disaster.
Wilkinson expertly disguises where each journey leads, leaving the reader frequently on the edge of their seat. Though intense and dramatic, The Ice Balloon is also a very well researched insight into a fascinating point in history.
As a huge fan of the history Arctic and Antarctic exploration myself, The Ice Balloon proved both a fascinating read about an entirely novel approach to polar exploration while remaining a great starting point for anyone interested in learning more about this fascinating topic.
