What attracts people to the Arctic? How can one strive to go where cold and silence reign? Answering these questions, the author - scientist and polar explorer Ramiz Aliyev - talks about what the Arctic was for humanity in different eras. For many, it became a place of exploits in the name of science; some set “sports” records, competing for the right to be the first to reach the pole or pave a new path. Some, despite their desire, became participants in political and ideological performances. Many ended up beyond the Arctic Circle by someone else’s will, as prisoners. Possessing extensive knowledge in this topic, the author paints for the reader a three-dimensional picture of the development of the Arctic, without being afraid to present his own, sometimes paradoxical, view of history and the place of the individual in this history. For the first time A work is entering the book market that so seriously and deeply analyzes the relationship between the Arctic and humans, and does so in a popular and exciting form.