Realm of Ice and Sky by Buddy Levy is all about attempts to reach the North Pole by air, both with dirigibles and airplanes. This book covers 4 major air expeditions. Starting with newspaper man, Wellman, in 1907. Wellman had no experience but confidently believed that the most feasible method to reach the North Pole would be by air ship, and he wanted to be on the cutting edge of exploration. Many people at the time (and even today) didn't take him seriously. The "real" explorers saw his efforts as a publicity stunt. Levy on the other hand insists that Wellman's efforts advanced air ship technology and opened the minds of those "real" explorers to the possibilities of the dirigible. Wellman was serious and his name should be remembered among the "real" explorers according to Levy.
The book starts to get really interesting for me when Roald Amundsen enters the scene. I found Roald Amundsen fascinating! Thankfully, I had had no prior exposure to Amundsen so everything about him read like a fictional tale. It helped that he lived an unbelievably adventurous life with a generous amount of stoicism. He seemed a little extra-human, if you know what I mean. Roald Amundsen made many trips into arctic and antarctic regions. He dreamed of going to the polar regions as a young person after reading grueling accounts from ground breaking explorers that turned out to be his forbearers. Somehow the suffering appealed to him.
Realm of Ice and Sky covers Roald Amundsen's attempt on the North Pole by plane (1925) and then by a Zeppelin air ship (1926.)
The last expedition in the book is Umberto Nobile's flight to the pole in a Zeppelin (1928) and (spoiler alert) crash and subsequent rescue. Nobile had been part of Roald Amundsen's expedition when he reached the North Pole by Zeppelin. The two had had a bitter falling out after that trip. Even after all those hard feelings Amundsen set out to rescue Nobile after hearing of the disaster. I was so happy to hear this. But, as the story kept playing and more and more details where related about how things were going for the stranded Nobile and party, and the different rescue envoys, and radio messages between everyone, it became very obvious that updates from Amundsen were not mentioned. I couldn't wait. I opened my Google browser and typed in, "Roald Amundsen."...... (BIG SPOILER) His date of death is listed as June 1928 Bering Sea. No! Right then I wished that Realm of Ice and Sky had been a work of fiction and Roald Amundsen could have stayed alive. But real life doesn't work that way and Levy had to write the facts.
The conclusion of the book goes over the reemerging use of lighter-than-air crafts. We may see more travel and research done by dirigible in the future.
Overall, I enjoyed this book even though I am generally not a fan of ice and cold. The story is crafted in a very compelling fashion and kept me interested the whole way through.
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