A discordant mind, black with confusion and despair, would finish me off as thoroughly as the cold. - Richard E. Byrd

Behind every legend, strange to say, can be found a kernel of truth, a group of facts around which the legend was built.

This book is the account of a personal experience — so personal that for four years I could not bring myself to write it. It is different from anything else I have ever written. My other books have been factual, impersonal narratives of my expeditions and flights. This book, on the other hand, is the story of an experience which was in considerable part subjective. I very nearly died before it was over.

"15. "Few men during their lifetime comes anywhere near exhausting the resources dwelling within them. There are deep wells of strength that are never used." — "