As you may of noticed recently, a lot of Michael Palins adventures are now available on the BBC iPlayer, however before I even delve into them I wanted to read the books first as I feel they give you an in depth look at the topic and allow you to really get into the mindset of Palin before you watch his adventures. Pole to Pole was released in the nineties and it was an adventure at the time that went through a lot of countries that were having a political unrest so in itself it is not just a book about an adventure it also has some history and how certain countries that have changed now, were before everything happened.

Pole to Pols takes you on an epic journey from the North Pole all the way down to the South Poke along the 30 degree East line of longitude as it crosses the most amount of land. The book is organised like a number of diary entries so it really takes you on an in depth journey along with the explorer as well as really expressing his emotions.

I found this book both interesting and insightful to read, I love a good travel book and the fact it takes you to so many different places and so many different cultures you learn a lot along the way. The fact that it was written or done in the nineties didn’t put me off but actually I found interesting I was a toddler at this time so wasn’t aware of everything really happening in the world and this book really brings you front and centre of the unrest in USSR and countries in Africa that were also having problems at the time.

The book isn’t really a focus on the Poles it is more about the adventure and getting there – a lot of twists and turns along the way mean that there is always something unexpected waiting for you on the other side. If you like a good adventure book then you will enjoy this.

Readability Rating: 7/10