1-26-12 In the Land of White Death by Valerian Albanov - Non-Fiction

5 - This is just an amazing book written as a diary by one of the two survivors of the Saint Anna, a Russian ship that was exploring the arctic for new hunting routes. The Saint Anna was icebound for one year before Albanov began to have doubts that the ship would ever be freed from the ice. Two years after the ship set sail, Albanov made it back to civilization having walked, skied, and kayaked across the frozen ocean. When he left the Saint Anna, his was a group of 13 that slowly began to dwindle as the journey became even more difficult than he could have imagined. Polar bears, walrus, and slowly melting ice floes were only part of the problems he and his men endured. If you are interested in stories of arctic exploration or the tale of the Endurance, you should read this, and account of arctic survival written by a survivors own hand.