Paperwork: He was alone, so alone, he began to see clearly himself

Seeing the book sparked a flashback. One thing led to another.

The book was “Alone: The Classic Polar Adventure.” I was suddenly pulled back to my high school years, when I had read a printing of the 1934 edition of “Alone.”

I am not sure why I chose the memoir written by Admiral Richard E. Byrd, but I remember liking it, thinking it was an important book.

Byrd made headlines as a pilot making the first flights over the North and South poles. But this book was about how he survived his second Antarctic expedition in 1934. The book blurb renewed my curiosity:

“His plan for this latest adventure was to spend six months alone near the bottom of the world, gathering weather data and indulging his desire ‘to taste peace and quiet long enough to know how good they really are.’ But early on,