Staff Picks: The Impossible First

Need something to read? Library staff member, Hilary Grant, reviews a book that will transport you from your living room to a land of adventure:

Antarctica – a barren, vast, unforgiving yet beautiful land where no person had ever succeeded in a solo crossing until now. This is the remarkable true story of one man’s journey of perseverance and triumph, meeting adversity head on.

The Impossible First: From Fire to Ice – Crossing Antarctica Alone is the true story of Colin O’Brady; endurance athlete, explorer and adventurer.  His 932-mile solo trek across Antarctica tested his body, his mind, and his will to push himself to achieve his greatest accomplishment in the harshest of conditions on any continent.

Throughout his telling, Colin O’Brady demonstrates a strong connection between mind and body. Through his self-reflection, he weaves stories of his life as a child growing up with parents that taught him that anything is possible, to being an adult sharing the same passion through his partnership with his wife, Jenna. 

O’Brady’s descriptive daily treks across the frozen continent make us feel connected to him as he struggles with the sub zero temperatures and howling winds creating blinding white outs and dangerous fields of sastrugi  (as he refers to as speed bumps of ice and snow). Expressed through his repeated mantra, “The words were ordinary, a common phrase, but the deep emotional connections they carried felt like a lifeline. ‘This too shall pass’”, he willed himself to go back into the storm making the impossible possible.
So happy to share with you all one of my favorite books I’ve read this year- top of my list! Happy reading!

If you don’t have a chance to read the book at this time, yet want to learn more abut Colin O’Brady’s remarkable journey, please click on the link below.
https://www.colinobrady.com/theimpossiblefirst