I stumbled upon this book in a second hand bookshop in the Lake District and it has to be the best book I have ever found or even ever read – EVER. Having done a little bit of research into the history behind the book there appears to be a fair bit of controversy over how true it is. This doesn’t surprise me however I would personally like to believe every one of Jan’s fantastic tales. Also wikipedia and quite a few other sites state that the stories are true which obviously makes them 100% fact! Well maybe. The premise for the book is that the central character ‘Jan Welzl’ left his home in Eastern Europe for the Arctic circle (By foot) in his late teens which has led to the most incredible, amazing, gruesome and awe inspiring adventures I’ve ever heard of. However after 30 years of adventures in the arctic Jan finds himself shipwrecked and stranded in America unable to pay for his return to his adopted home in the Arctic where his tribe of Eskimo’s and whaling fleet await him(ok now I write it down it does sound mad, but the stories are mesmerising and really appear very real ). So in order to earn money to buy his way back Jan starts to sell his stories to a local newspaper. It apparently didn’t take long for word to spread and he became a very famous character in the early 20th Century. In a way the stories are just fascinating because they document what a different world the world was 100 years or so ago. Jan’s adventures lead down some very lonely and scary roots into some of the remotest parts of the world as Europe was only just entering the Industrial Revolution. His description of Eskimos and other tribes is both amazing and shocking. This book is not just a wild, extreme and lonely adventure but its also a bit of a history lesson it even documents the rise of the whaling industry in the arctic. Anyway he eventually managed to earn enough money from his stories to make his way back and that is where this particular book ends. I really can’t describe what a brilliant journey this book takes you on, if you can find a copy I recommend grabbing it straight away. The copy I bought has a fantastic old book look and smell to it, with faded maps on the inside sleeve and a forward by the journalists who wrote down Jan’s tales. Even if his stories are potentially exaggerated apparently Jan Welzl from Zábreh did exist and there is a statue to commemorate this great traveller in his home town. Some of his adventures have been turned into children’s stories I believe.
If you have any information on the authenticity of this book, please let me know! To read a bit more about this crazy story go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Welzl
Tags: 30 years in golden north, adventure book, Arctic traveller, explorer book, Jan Welzl, old book
