More from Sir Edmund Hillary

From Sir Edmund's Introduction to Shackleton's Boat Journey...

"Most of us have a hero or two that we openly or secretly admire, even if we cannot always explain why one particular person should have greater appeal to us than anyone else. Do we sometimes choose our heroes because they are larger-than-life versions of our own aspirations and abilities? Certainly in the sphere of Antarctic exploration I have always had a great admiration for Sir Ernest Shackleton - and even after my own share of adventures in the Southern Continent I still retained the conviction that of all the explorers I would like to have known, Shackleton was the most admirable. The reading I have done of old diaries and new books in order to write this introduction has only confirmed this opinion."