Product Description

In "Pole to Pole" we join Michael Palin on the second of his epic journeys. Traveling from the North Pole to the South Pole, he experiences every extreme the globe has to offer. As Palin crosses 17 countries by train, truck, raft, Ski-Doo, barge, balloon and bicycle, he meets a diverse range of fascinating characters and landscapes while his own endurance is tested to the limit. Braving the cold grip of the Arctic Circle and swirling snowstorms of Spitsbergen, Palin's adventure starts when he is somewhat surreally enrolled in the Royal and Ancient Polar Bear Society. From then on, Palin negotiates his way past the advances of friendly locals, dodges occasional gunfire and battles with an unruly digestive system to finally stand in Scott's shoes at the South Pole in the Land of the Midnight Sun. "Pole to Pole" is essential reading for every would-be traveller. Writing in his characteristically engaging and witty style, Palin paints a vivid picture of the people and places around him, reinforcing his reputation as one of the world's favourite travel writers. Updated with double the number of location photographers, these classic travel writing lightness of touch with insights. 'Palin makes a wonderful traveling companion...his humour is set at exactly the right pitch.' - "The Daily Telegraph." '[Palin] is as engaging a writer as he is a presenter, and one keeps turning the pages with anticipation and pleasure.' - "Sunday Telegraph". 'Palin writes with unforced wit, keen observation and a simple, happy style.' - Sir Ranulph Fiennes, "Sunday Express".

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #212487 in Books
• Published on: 2004-09-30
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback

Amazon.co.uk Review
Having circumnavigated the globe from west to east in Around the World in 80 Days, Michael Palin proceeded to stretch even his endurance with his next journey, travelling due south from the North Pole, arriving five months later at the southernmost point of the globe, the South Pole. The result is Pole to Pole, Palin's account of his extraordinary journey between July and December 1991, passing through 17 countries from Greenland and the former Soviet Union in the north to Kenya, South Africa and Chile in the south.

From the frozen wastes of both poles, to the scorching heat of Africa, Pole to Pole is a travelogue of bizarre extremes. Palin revels in the surrealism of it all as he travels through a range of vastly different European and African communities undergoing massive social and political upheavals in the aftermath of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Palin's shrewd observations are as ever interspersed with his eye for the weird and the comical, as he meets Santa Claus and Lenin, goes shopping for camels in Omdurman, and makes a final hectic dash to the South Pole via Chile. It's all quite exhausting! --Jerry Brotton

Synopsis
In "Pole to Pole" we join Michael Palin on the second of his epic journeys. Traveling from the North Pole to the South Pole, he experiences every extreme the globe has to offer. As Palin crosses 17 countries by train, truck, raft, Ski-Doo, barge, balloon and bicycle, he meets a diverse range of fascinating characters and landscapes while his own endurance is tested to the limit. Braving the cold grip of the Arctic Circle and swirling snowstorms of Spitsbergen, Palin's adventure starts when he is somewhat surreally enrolled in the Royal and Ancient Polar Bear Society. From then on, Palin negotiates his way past the advances of friendly locals, dodges occasional gunfire and battles with an unruly digestive system to finally stand in Scott's shoes at the South Pole in the Land of the Midnight Sun. "Pole to Pole" is essential reading for every would-be traveller. Writing in his characteristically engaging and witty style, Palin paints a vivid picture of the people and places around him, reinforcing his reputation as one of the world's favourite travel writers. Updated with double the number of location photographers, these classic travel writing lightness of touch with insights.

'Palin makes a wonderful traveling companion...his humour is set at exactly the right pitch.' - "The Daily Telegraph." '[Palin] is as engaging a writer as he is a presenter, and one keeps turning the pages with anticipation and pleasure.' - "Sunday Telegraph". 'Palin writes with unforced wit, keen observation and a simple, happy style.' - Sir Ranulph Fiennes, "Sunday Express".

Customer Reviews

A completly delightful read.
This is the first Michael Palin book I've read, so i can't compare it in quality to any of the others, but I will say that I thoroughly enjoyed this book, much more than I expected to in fact. It can take a little while to get used to Palin's style, as he constantly switches from a detailed narration to a note book shorthand, but once you've acclimatised you quickly realize he is a very competent writer. With a broad yet never verbose vocabulary he paints vivid pictures of the lands he passes through whilst at the same time making many and varied observations about the people and cultures he encounters. It was like having a constant traveling companion and by the end you can't help but feel a great deal of affection not just for Palin, but for the whole team.
I would say one of the books greatest virtues is that you can either read it a few days at a time (the book is divided into days instead of chapters, each a few pages long), or (as I did later on) you can read for hours without getting board. The pictures of the very talented basil are a constant and illuminating delight, yet the book is never so flooded with them that they feel like they are taking over form the writing, they fele more like a garnish than a marinade.
All in all, I highly recommend it.

Fantastic
This is tied top of my favourite Palin books along with Full Circle. It was very funny and i love finding out about parts of the world you just never hear about it's just such an interesting book. My favourite part is the Africa leg, from top to bottom, with many obstacles along the way. Briliant book.

Takes Pole Position.
'Pole To Pole' is yet another fantastic documentary from Michael Palin and an excellent follow-up to 'Around The World In 80 Days.' It appeared at first difficult to see how a sequel would work, after the first '80 Days' series, but with his now well known format, Palin carved another enjoyable adventure out of what already seemed a difficult journey.

'Pole To Pole' does not have the same sense of deadline or urgency as '80 Days', but this is entirely self-explanatory, since the former was set around the travels of fictional Verne adventurer Fogg, who did in the book travel the world in that specific time. This time round, Palin does have the opportunity to spend more time on the places he thinks would be of most interest to the viewer, and the parts in Africa are especially captivating. Filmed during the famine and millitary oppression that still haunts Africa to this day, it is a clear and at some times brutal account of life in poverty stricken Africa.

This journey takes quite some time longer to complete than '80 Days' which is not surprising since they chose to follow the thirty degree longitude line in order to cover the most amount of land; and there is a great deal in this DVD. It was recorded in 1991, a year that saw a lot of change across the world, from Russia to Africa, and Palin brushes with this change and its effects on the people with his usual light hearted humour and optimism.