The Year-Long Day: One Man's Arctic — A.E. Maxwell

Four hundred miles to the North Pole, a hundred to the nearest town. Intense wind and cold, the mountains swept clean of everything but moss, lichen, snow, and ice, the largest tree an 8-inch-high birch. Why would a young man choose to live totally alone in this unforgiving environment, hunting and trapping, never for a moment able to take his daily survival for granted? Ivar Ruud did it for adventure and freedom, and because it was a challenge that only a handful of other men had ever faced. Trapped in his cabin for days at a time by fierce storms, awakened by polar-bear claws slashing at his sleeping bag, left nearly helpless for two weeks after breaking his hand trying to force fighting sled dogs apart - all these adventurous sides of Ivar's remarkable Arctic life are told with a rare sense of immediacy that often leaves the reader literally chilled. But there is another side to this vivid narrative, a depth of human feeling that reveals Ivar Ruud as a man with a profound, poetic appreciation and respect for the polar world he comes to accept - even love - on its own harshly beautiful terms. The Year-Long Day is a classic story of survival that enhances the reader's sense of life itself.