Amundsen set about his explorations with a great deal of planning and common sense and managed them all with little relative difficulty. This aspect of his career is impressive. The book, however, is a bit dry. The journey through the Northwest Passage is covered in about 25 pages. The trip to the South Pole, which he refers to as a "dash" is only mentioned briefly since he covered it in another book. His main concern here is his reputation. He defends himself against those who said he unfairly competed with Scott for the Pole. He defends, at length, the Italian's claims to have led the dirigible expedition over the North Pole. (Although, if you look at the Internet, the Italian is given equal credit for the trip, so either Amundsen is still being slighted or his protests were dubious. I also read that the Italian attempted a second flight on his own two years later and crashed on the Arctic ice and had to be rescued. Amundsen died while traveling to be part of the rescue.)