Living dangerously

Originally released in 1987, this memoir traces Ranulph Fiennes from his childhood in South Africa through his years as a soldier to the string of expeditions that made his name as an explorer. The book also covers the challenges he took on later, when he sought out fresh goals and, above all, set about achieving them. Among these were an attempt to reach the North Pole without dogs or motorised transport, a search for the lost city of Ubar in the Arabian desert, and his most recent crossing of Antarctica to the South Pole.

Fiennes tells these stories candidly and with plenty of humour. Readers get a sense of what modern exploration involves: the thrill of the undertaking, the physical suffering, the importance of working as a team, and the sheer nerve it requires.

The author is presented as a quintessentially English adventurer, a man who seems to have travelled almost everywhere and tried almost everything.