Mike Horn

There's a quote on the back of the book from someone alluding to the fact that Mike Horn, the author, might just be the toughest guy in the world. This seemed a little strong but after reading the book it seems much more plausible. This non-fiction account of Mike's trek around the world above the Arctic Circle is a long and detailed technical and emotional account. The book is written in the first person and is fairly readable as the kind of survival/mountaineering type accounts go. Horn is human relationship oriented with tender and realistic accounts of the Inuits. Russians, Norwegians, and others he meets along the way. The spectrum between generosity to the extreme vs. bureaucratic pettiness is about as his spectrum of temperatures from like 100 degrees below fahrenheit to 20 degrees above or something. He is absolutely at death's door a number of times. I was surprised how slowly this read, but in many places every sentence has a specific differential impact on his ability to stay alive, so the reader is interested in details of his tents, skis, kites, amputations, etc. etc. This is unlikely to disappoint.… (more)