Fridtjof Nansen died in 1930, ending a life full of honor and accomplishment all too soon, for there were still things left unfinished for others to carry on. His name is one of the greatest among all our contemporaries, and it is one of the ironies of fate that he himself should not be alive today and still continuing, with all his boundless energy and initiative, his great work for science and humanity.

"He was scientist, then explorer, scientist again, and lastly statesman," the author writes. "Possibly there was no plan, but certainly there was a purpose in Fridtjof Nansen's life, something within him that urged him always to use all the powers he had. If he seemed to change his course, it was in every case to do a greater thing, not a smaller."

The qualities of fearlessness, concentration, discipline, so apparent in him even as a young boy, grew with the man throughout his life as explorer, scientist, statesman. This book is adventure of the most exciting kind: the life of a man who will grow into a greater and greater hero as you read. 

From the dust jacket