from the polar regions to the moon

Books designed to inspire people of all ages.

High Octane Excitement. Risk, Danger, and Success.

It Takes Two or Three - The Superpower of Small Teams

From Hollywood to the Moon and Everything in Between

Inspiring stories of  the small teams that shaped our world and built our future.

  • Women’s rights (Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton)
  • Flight (the Wright Brothers)
  • Exploration (Hillary and Tenzing on Everest)
  • Space (Apollo astronauts)
  • Entertainment (Gilbert and Sullivan, Rodgers and Hammerstein)

And others who excelled in art, design, music, pop culture, comedy, movies, and so much more.

When Your Life Depends on It

Extreme Decision Making Lessons from the Antarctic

Grab a warm blanket. This book puts you right into the action of the life-and-death decisions made by early Antarctic explorers.

In When Your Life Depends on It you’ll discover:

  • 11 of the most thrilling survival stories.
  • True tales of courage, resilience and even humor in the most risky  circumstances.
  • Heroic situations where life literally hangs in the balance.

All set in the most hostile environment on Earth, where split seconds determine who gets out alive. 

Audacious Goals, Remarkable Results

How an Explorer, an Engineer and a Statesman shaped our Modern World

When others exclaimed, “It can’t be done,”  three titans of history proved it could. 

Audacious Goals, Remarkable Results profiles the men and their larger-than-life endeavors:

  • Roald Amundsen — the Norwegian explorer
  • Isambard Kingdom Brunel — the greatest engineer the world has ever seen
  • Theodore Roosevelt — the cowboy turned statesman

Audacious Goals reveals the outsized risks and setbacks each faced in their quest to change our world.

Dynamic Alignment

The Power of Finding Your Purpose, Achieving Your Goals, and Living a Passion-Driven Life

Why is it that some people wake up energized, raring to go, enthralled with all the challenges ahead?

They encounter obstacles and enjoy overcoming them. And how do you bring this into your own life?

Building on insights from the books of Brad Borkan and David Hirzel, Brad teamed up with author and podcaster Holly Worton to answer these questions. 

This book provides an 8-step process showing you how to achieve Dynamic Alignment.

1st Place

Chanticleer International Book Awards

Gold Medal Winner - Wishing Shelf Awards

Gold Award Winner

Wishing Shelf Literary Awards

Finalist

Voice Arts Awards: Best Audiobook - History category

Best Decision Making Books 3 logos

Top 100 Best Decision Making Books of All Time

Book, eBook, and Audiobook categories

Brad Borkan

Brad Borkan is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and a member of the Society of Authors. He has presented at business and Antarctic conferences and appeared on numerous leadership and history podcasts. Brad is a former senior director at leading high tech companies like SAP and Oracle. His expertise is blending his business experience and history knowledge to  create compelling stories offering direct lessons for today’s world.

David Hirzel

David Hirzel’s passion as a maritime historian and author is best expressed in his books on Arctic and Antarctic exploration history. His Sailor on Ice polar biography series brings the story of the explorer Tom Crean to life. David also created a small, independent publishing company called Terra Nova Press which publishes polar-focused books as well as the Borkan-Hirzel co-authored books featured on this website. When not writing or publishing, he can be found designing residential architecture from his home office “Sky Ranch” overlooking the sea in Pacifica, California.