| The first crossing of Greenland (The Silver library) |  | Author: Fridtjof Nansen
Publisher: Longmans, Green
Buy Used: $123.20
as of 3/16/2010 18:51 CDT details
Seller: Aquila Books
Rating:  2 reviews
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 452
ASIN: B00087M7YM
Publication Date: 1895
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: 73 CHAPTER III ' SKI' AND ' SKILOBNING ' The expedition I am about to describe owed its origin entirely to the Norwegian sport of ' skilob- ning.'' I have myself been accustomed to the use of ' ski' since I was four years old, every one of my companions was an experienced ' skilober,' and all our prospects of success were based upon the superiority of ' ski' in comparison with all other means of locomotion when large tracts of snow have to be traversed. I therefore think that I cannot do better than set apart a chapter for the description of ' ski' and the manner of their use, since so little is known about the sport outside the few countries where it is practised as such, and since a certain amount of familiarity with it and its technical terms will be necessary to the full comprehension of some part of the narrative which follows. It is, of course, not unnatural that those who have never seen the performance should be surprised to learn that a man can by the help of two pieces ofwood, shaped for the purpose, progress as rapidly over the surface of the snow as he really does. This point is quaintly touched upon by the author of the old Norse treatise ' Kongespeilet,'l who in discussing the question of the existence of flying dragons tamed to the service of man, away in the Indies, observes that, though this may seem strange indeed to his countrymen, there are corresponding marvels to be found among them which may seem even more astonishing to the folk of other lands ; and he goes on to say: i See note to page 8. ' But even more marvellous will it seem to them when they hear of men who can tame to their service pieces of wood or thin boards in such a way that a man who is no speedier of foot than his fellows when he has shoes on his feet, or indeed is without sh...
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| Customer Reviews:
 Do not buy from this publisher January 14, 2010
Tiberiu V. Popa
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Do not buy from this publisher. The book looks like it was printed from Google Books on a home printer. It is missing half the book and all the pictures and the pages and paragraphs are not formatted properly. If you own a printer you are better off printing the PDF from Google Books. I am forced to return this book, even though I've been looking forward to reading it for weeks.
 Skiing Across Greenland December 28, 2007
E. S Winskill (Tacoma, WA USA)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
Fridthof Nansen in this book did more to bring skiing to the larger world than any other individual. Until his Greenland crossing on skis, few outside of Norway, or Scandinavia at the most, had heard of skiing, although of course it had existed there for centuries. The early chapter of the book on skis and "skilobing" (skiing) is a marvelous account of the sport, and particularly of Sondre Norheim and the Telemarkers who revolutionized it as recreation.
Nansen writes the book in what can only be called a charming tone. He makes the crossing of the icecap seem easy, and indeed, most of the harrowing detail of the expedition relates to the efforts of the party after being dropped off at sea on the east coast of Greenland, through the ice floes with great difficulty, to an eventual landing and a hard climb up to the central ice plateau. There is also considerable detail given about the way of life of the Eskimo and Danish inhabitants of the Greenland west coast, where Nansen and his party overwintered after the crossing.
A classic of "cold exploration" and a lively style and good read after more than a century.
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