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To the Edges of the Earth
To the Edges of the Earth: 1909, the Race for the Three Poles, and the Climax of the Age of Exploration | Edward Larson
In the spirit of bestselling adventure narratives In the Kingdom of Ice, In the Heart of the Sea, and The Lost City of Z, Pulitzer Prizewinning historian Edward J. Larson's To the Edges of the Earth brings to life the climax of the age of exploration: in the year 1909 expeditions to the Arctic, Antarctica, and Himalaya pushed human accomplishment to the extremes and set records for altitude and the farthest north and south. In 1909, three daring expeditions pushed to the edges of the globe, bringing within reach, for the first time, a complete accounting of all the earths surface. In January, Douglas Mawson, as part of Ernest Shackletons Nimrod Expedition to Antarctica, became the first man to reach the South Magnetic Pole. Soon after, Shackleton himself set a new farthest south record in pursuit of the Geographic South Pole. In April, American Robert Peary, with Matthew Henson, claimed to be the first to reach the North Pole. And in the Himalayasthe so-called "Third Pole," the pole of altitude a team led by legendary mountaineer and dashing Italian Prince Luigi Amedeo, the Duke of Abruzzi, reached 24,600 feet, setting a world altitude record that would stand for a generation. Drawing on both archival and on-the-ground research (he lived for two weeks in Shackleton's Antarctic hut), Larson interweaves the stories of these three expeditions into one dazzling adventure narrative that illuminates the spirit of the age.
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Texreader
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I‘m loving looking through my “new” used book haul. I didn‘t realize it, but this one works for #readingasia2021 because the third pole (which I learned tonight exists) is in the Himalayas. Just by skimming I see there were travels in the #Pakistan Himalayas, but I think there are more.

Librarybelle Nice! 2y
52 likes1 comment
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Texreader
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My book haul from the Round Rock HPB. If my sister hadn‘t stopped me halfway through the fiction section, this stack may have been double its size.

Top two and the Backman book are just for fun. The rest for challenges tagged below.

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Graywacke Nice. (Round Rock? Huh. Noting for next trip to Austin.) 2y
Texreader @Graywacke It was definitely a good HPB! 2y
Librarybelle Nice stack! 2y
Texreader @Librarybelle Thanks! I‘m very excited about this haul 2y
marleed Nice haul! 2y
Texreader @marleed Thanks! Obviously I spent the bulk of my time in the travel memoir section. It‘s still a somewhat new genre for me and I really enjoy it. 2y
BarbaraBB You are really into travel memoirs! So cool! 2y
70 likes11 comments
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Pandalibrarian
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Finished listening to this today. I love reading about explorers - especially polar ones. I liked hearing about the Shackleton expedition as I didn‘t know as much about this one. The narration was a bit dry but ok. I think I need to get the print copy to see if there are any photos.

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Redwritinghood
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Pickpick

This was a well-written, thoroughly researched book about polar exploration. The author focused on the successful trips to the north and south poles, as well as the “third pole” of the highest mountain, in 1909. I felt that the third pole story didn‘t fit well with the other two and seemed added in to emphasize public fascination with these explorers and the extremes that they went to. Overall, this was a fascinating book. 4⭐️

67 likes2 stack adds
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Redwritinghood
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Once again, all my library holds come in at the same time. Leaning a little more towards non-fiction this time. I‘m excited about the tagged book. I always love books on polar exploration.

Zelma I‘m super excited about that one too! 6y
Redwritinghood @Zelma 👍🏻👍🏻 6y
Jess7 Let me know how The Italian Teacher is. I want to own that one purely based on the pretty cover! 6y
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ReadingOver50 Yes I love books set in the arctic 6y
Redwritinghood @Jess7 I love that cover too! 6y
74 likes6 comments
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WanderingBookaneer
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Spotted at B&N; added to my #TBR !

Zelma I took a photo of that one the other day too (to remind myself to add to my TBR). 6y
80 likes10 stack adds1 comment