3 comments about Antarctica Cruising Guide.

1. I met the authors on a recent cruise to Antarctica and could not wait to purchase the book. During the cruise, they gave insightful and interesting talks about the continent. Once they told us about the book I was first in line in Ushuaia, Argentina at the only bookstore where it was available as I was still away and the book was not available at Amazon.com yet. This book is a must for anyone thinking of going or is going to Antacrtica. It is a beautiful book and I went and saw a lot of the places in the book. It reads easily as there is plenty of information on the wildlife and various places to see, but there is not too much information to overwhelm you. It is also very compact and can easily be brought on a trip. My only regret is that I didn't have it before I went to Antarctica.



2. I bought this book as a gift for a scientist who will be going to Antarctica next year. It was a mistake. It doesn't have the information I was expecting.
   In addition, this is not a full-sized book. It's only 5 inches by 7 inches.
   I don't want to ruin someone's livelihood so I will try to be fair. This book is not suitable for my purposes and might be right for a tourist to tuck into a suitcase.



3. This is a great guide book designed for people cruising to Antarctica. The person who gave it one star doesn't know what s/he is talking about. It's not meant to be a coffee table book or a gift book: 5x7 is the ordinary (and very convenient) size for a guide book.

5 comments about The Lost Men: The Harrowing Saga of Shackleton's Ross Sea Party.

1. I have read nearly every book in print dealing with the exploration and saga of Shackleton and his men. Kelly Tyler-Lewis' book The Lost Men rates as one of the best. The "harrowing story" of these hearty men stranded in the desolate Ross Sea is incredible, for lack of words.
   
   Duty-bound, these men laid the stores for a transantarctic voyage that would never materialize. These were men who risked their own lives to ensure the safety of others whose whereabouts were unknown.
   
   The Lost Men is an epic struggle of man versus the ravages of nature and reveals the triumphs and the tragedies involved. It is a book of determination, leadership and accountability.
   
   Of special interest are the generous notes included dealing with such issues as diet (e.g., Their diet lacked nearly all essential vitamins necessary for such a feat), body temperature (e.g., One man recorded a body temperature of 94.2), and navigation of pack ice (e.g. in 2002 it took two Coast Guard ships over two weeks to break through ice roughly thirty miles to Hut point.)
   
   The Lost Men is an exciting and riveting book. As a two-time traveler to McMurdo Sound, I highly recommend this work.



2. The attractive front-cover design is the first indication of the quality of this work, which is well researched and written and a thoroughly engrossing read. Highly recommended.



3. Both sucessful and failed feats of courage are lauded by literature. Many have heard (and read) of the failed expedition of Ernest Shackleton to cross Antarctica. Shackletom failed to even reach the continent, as his ship, the Endurance failed to reach land.
   
   Less well known is the story of the Ross Sea Party -- the group charged with laying in supplies that Shackleton would need as he crossed the pole and returned northward. This book tells the saga of the poorly funded "other half" of the planned expedition.
   
   Focusing more on the shore party, rather than on the shipboard party on the Aurora, the book details the mistakes that were made in the first summer attempt to stock the depots, where Macintosh drove the sled dogs to death and made very little progress, to the stranding of the shore party at the end of the first summer when they were not picked up by the ship.
   
   Presuming the ship lost, and wondering if a rescue would even be attempted during WWI, the 10 men were determined to do the job they were sent to do and proceeded through all odds to strive to lay the depots that Shackleton would never need.
   
   Kelly Tyler-Lewis examines the physical and mental struggles of the shore party including their deep divisions over leadership styles. Culled from the diaries of the expedition, she has weaved a gripping tale of man's struggle against incredible odds.



4. This book is quite a gripping story both in based in tragedy and triumph.
   I saw the PBS special on the Shackleton Journey, but many times, like this, the book is much better.
   The book was highly researched and vividly written describing the many astonishing moments of the expedition.
   It was a ten-man journey the relies heavily on personal journals about some happy moments and some very terrible times. It goes into detail about the decreasing health of the journeymen and stuggles with scurvey, frostbite, snow blindness and the horrible mental and emotional anguish that many sucumb to on this dangerous 1330-mile mission to Antarctica.



5. The world remembers swashbuckling Antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton as a selfless leader who would do anything for his men. But this tale of the hardships suffered by his support crew paints a different picture of Shackleton - a charismatic and courageous figure, yes, but also a man whose disorganization and carelessness wasted the lives, health, loyalty and courage of half his party. Three members of Shackleton's Ross Sea party died while leaving supplies of food that Shackleton never used. Historian Kelly Tyler-Lewis uses the survivors' journals and interviews with their families to chronicle the Ross Party's relationships and sacrifices in compelling detail, illuminating the missteps and mismanagement that caused the expedition to go awry. We recommend this study to managers who want examples of how to respond - and how not to respond - in a crisis.

5 comments about Terra Incognita: Travels in Antarctica.

1. This is a good choice for a predeparture read for people going to Antarctica as tourists. Of course, you can always read Shackleton's, Scott's, Amundsen's and Fienne's accounts of their epic journeys into the unknown, but that'll take you a long time, and you may be a bit distracted by the old-fashioned language therein. For a modern description of what life is like in the Antarctic nowadays, and what goes on in the head of a thirtyish female when she gets to visit (for free) with the scientists down there, you can't do better than this one.
   
   The book is part diary of Sara Wheeler as she goes through some sort of change during her visits to Antarctica (three different trips during a seven month period, not one seven month stay as you may be led to believe at first). She's a bit too, hm, spiritual for me, "the landscape talked to me", to the degree that she suddenly decides to stop drinking alcohol, for no apparent particular reason. She describes her feelings well, although I wasn't really interested in reading about them.
   
   The other part (and these two parts are closely intermingled throughout the book) is heaps and heaps of Antarctic history and "folklore". You get to learn all the basic facts about what happened to the pioneers and discoverers of Antarctica (with a VERY British bias, mind you), which definitely should be of basic interest to people who are going to Antarctica themselves.
   
   "Travels in Antarctica" as a second title is not really fitting. She is not traveling. She is a guest of the American and British Antarctic Survey organisations, and is well taken care of by them, both when it comes to supplying her with equipment and with transportation. It is nothing like what traveling in Antarctica is for someone who pay their way through travel agents.
   
   Still; good one, for what it is!



2. As a lover of all things glacial (with Antarctica holding a particularly special place in my heart), I was thrilled to come across this book in my local library. The book promised to deliver an enjoyable blend of history, science and culture in an entertaining travelogue format. Sadly, I soon found myself disappointed. By the time I was halfway through, I was struggling to make progress through what should have been an engaging read.
   
   Wheeler suffers for the most part from a lack of direction. Her "travels" consist of spur-of-the-moment helicopter rides to various locations on the ice that fail to be distinguishable after the fourth or fifth trip. Indeed, at times the book reads more like segments of a blog interspersed haphazardly with snippets of polar exploration history or the odd fact about glacial ice or penguins. This is further muddled with somewhat contrived musings on American culture (they're all depicted like they're ex-cowboys from Texas), or anomalous personal asides that try to be meaningful but come across as undeveloped filler material.
   
   Individual chapters have no particular structure or purpose, and so the finished product feels a bit like slogging along through the variations of the same thing: funny anecdote, helicopter ride, historical bit, description of another station's toilet facilities or the food they eat, personal aside. After several chapters of this jumpy, disjointed writing style, following the narrative stops being fun and feels more like work. This is unfortunate; Wheeler's writing isn't necessarily poor, but seems to suffer from a bad editing job and a lack of planning.
   
   The anecdotes are amusing, the history fascinating, but when it comes to the science and the researchers themselves Wheeler largely fails to make a case for their relevance. Instead, they come across as slightly eccentric guinea pigs with odd-but-quaint obsessions. Still, perhaps the book's greatest crime is that she largely fails to capture the beauty and utter wildness of this last frontier on Earth, and in the end I felt no closer to Antarctica than when I first picked up the book.
   
   ~ Jacquelyn Gill



3. This is a wonderful, beautiful book that takes you to a place that most of us can only dream of. The author has an intelligent and witty voice and can tell a good story well - there are some really memorable passages that stay with you long after you've put the book down.
   
   This is one of those rare travel books that make you feel like you've been there yourself, so much so that I'll never have to pollute Antarctica with my presence, at least...



4. After reading the thoroughly enjoyable Travels in a Thin Country, I figured on some entertaining travelogue action in Terra Incognita.
   
   Didn't happen.
   
   What ever happened to the adventurous Sara Wheeler of the Travels book? After slogging my way up to the middle of the book, my level of interest experienced a whiteout worthy of winter in Antarctica. I realized, as I laid the book momentarily aside, that the reading was getting pretty tedious. A bad sign, usually meaning a book is targeted for the pile heading for the used book store.
   
   Most of this book comes across as journalizing that never got the attention of a re-write before heading off to the publisher. The lack of cohesion that should be glueing this narrative together is palpable; this is a narrative devoid of any sustaining "pull". Terra Incognita is a muddle through a pastiche of the historical events of Antarctica although it is interspersed with some pretty decent reportage of current life at the bottom of the world.
   
   Still, there ain't much to redeem the tediousness of this book except Wheeler's wry British humour. But even that's not enough to keep one's attention from freezing to death. Wheeler is encamped with predomitably groups of scientists; as such, this isn't much of a travelogue but rather a logbook of how to hang out with the transients.
   
   I think Sara Wheeler is worthy of producing some real decent travel writing; Travels in a Thin Country bears testimony to this. Terra Incognita, however, is a big hiccup; hopefully she will produce a better read the next book that comes our way.
   
   
   Extracts: A Field Guide for Iconoclasts
   
   The Cloud Reckoner
   
   
   



5. Sara Wheeler relates her months in Antarctica with vivid discription that as an artist I can "see" her experience. Any one who loves to travel will take this trip with her.

5 comments about Mawson's Will: The Greatest Polar Survival Story Ever Written.

1. I couldn't put the book down, once I started. I was awestruck by the courage and will demonstrated by Mawson. I would have given up long before. These types of men are fast-disappearing from our society--a real tragedy for us.



2. Rarely has fiction served the truth so well. Rarely has the truth served fiction so well.
   
   Mawson's own account of his ordeal, in "The Home of The Blizzard", seems relatively matter of fact. We may not have marvelled at Mawson's accomplishment in surviving if we relied only on his way of telling it. Although a good writer, his specialities were geography and exploration.
   
   Bickel's presentation here in "Mawson's Will" makes Mawson's accomplishment more touching than Mawson's own presentation. But it took an extraordinary writing accomplishment by Bickel to convey Mawson's accomplishment. Poetic license? To fail to understand how much faithful art it took to go from Mawson's diaries and book to Bickel's account would be to not appreciate how much effort and skill it took for Bickel to bring Mawson's tale so fully alive. If Bickel hadn't taken poetic license, this tale may have been of more interest to the most purist historian but it would have been of far less human interest. Sensitive to our lack of understanding of the Antartic experience, Bickel put us there in a way we never could have gotten from Mawson's own account. The last one hundred pages of "Mawson's Will" are as riveting as anything I've read in years.
   
   Bickel's faithfulness to Mawson has made this a special work of art. Because of Bickel, we can be amazed at how Mawson survived and understand something profound about the human will.
   
   P.S. I wake up the next day to find the story is still strong on my mind. Mawson returned to Australia to find his beloved waiting, married her, in time actually returned to the Antartic for exploration, and lived til 73. While we may never face as extreme a challenge as he did, there seems lessons here in the value of perserverence, in the benefits of careful self-management, and in the role of loved ones in making life worth living. This is an unusual book and Mawson and Bickel have made a special contribution far beyond whether land was claimed through exploration.



3. Lennard Bickel's "Mawson's Will" is the story of Australian geologist Douglas Mawson's 1911-1912 Expedition to Antarctica, and more particularly, his desparate struggle to return alone from a sledging expedition gone badly.
   
   While exploring a previously untraveled portion of the Antarctic coastal plateau, Mawson loses one traveling companion, and most of his team's supplies and sled dogs, in a crevasse. His other companion dies an agonizing and lingering death of a mysterious illness. Mawson, himself suffering the same symptoms, marshals his remaining food and limited strength to walk back to the expedition's base through horrendous conditions of weather and terrain.
   
   Bickel, working from the surviving diaries of the expedition members and interviews with family members, does a remarkable job of recreating Mawson's heroic struggle. The story is told in the third person, yet through Bickel's narrative, we are able to share in Mawson's heart-breaking daily dilemmas, as he leans out his remaining food, adapts his gear to overcome the ice and snow, and forces his rapidly deteriorating body to carry on. Mawson, possessed of a fierce will to live and a strong faith in God, was determined to fight to the last step and be open to any possibility of survival or rescue. Bickel's narrative allows us to appreciate the inner struggle of will as well as the outer one against the elements.
   
   Mawson's expedition occured in the same timeframe as the Amundsen and Scott expeditions to the South Pole, and consequently received much less notice at the time. Bickel's narrative does an excellent job of capturing the dramatic arc of the expedition's story. This book is highly recommended to readers of polar exploration.



4. Doug Mawson just kept going through the antarctic freezing climate on foot when it would have been much easier to just go to sleep and never wake up. A brilliantly written and experienced account.



5. I have read Endurance (about Shakelon's trip) and been to Antarctica in the last few years. The temperature, conditions, and struggle of this book didn't match what I have experienced or read by other authors. I was in Antarctica during the winter, and crossed the Antarctic Circle. The weather conditions were not anything like Mawson's description. He endured great hardships, but it was overdone. The precipitation level on Antarctica is some of the driest in the world and very similar to a desert climate with total precipitation at about 1 inch of water per year. He seemed in the story to be in constant blizzard conditions during the entire summer. Maybe it was an unusally wet year, but the others who went with him on other journeys got by much better. Not my favorite.

1 comments about The Ends of the Earth: An Anthology of the Finest Writing on the Arctic and the Antarctic.

1. While I have read more about the Antarctica so far, as opposed to the Arctic side of the book, I would like to recommend this to people of all ages with an interest for the far reaches of our planet. At times, the reader will become so engrossed in the stories that are written in 1st person, she will want to curl up in a warm blanket and become VERY thankful for all comforts we take for granted, especially the healthy benefits of the sun. This book is hard to put down and luckily each individual story allows you to read bit by bit. You will discover how incredibly wonderful these brave men had such determination to succeed on their journeys into the wild, wicked, and unrelenting frozen tundras. I thank all who have made this book possible and I will cherish it forever.

5 comments about South: The Last Antarctic Expedition of Shackleton and the Endurance.

1. Shackleton was an amazing man full of true grit and true leadership. Among the many things that stand out in his story of survival is the importance of keeping a journal. Even after many supplies and equipment were left on the ice, the men were instructed to continue to carry their journals. And what if they had not? Where would be the true story that outshines most fictional adventure stories in the minds and imaginations of many, including myself?

   If you want to read more about Antarctica, I suggest T.H. Baughman's "Before the Heroes Came."




2. What an expedition! There is a lot to be learned about leadership and survival by the adventurers on this journey. If you like men against the elements, who survive by their wits and never ever give up, this is the tale for you. A great winter read.



3. When the Antarctic explorer ship Endurance became trapped by ice in the opening days of World War I, Sir Ernest Shackleton and his companions found themselves stranded for the winter. Months later, when the ice floe that had been their "home" became unstable as spring breakup began, the party - with their ship long since broken apart - took to their three open boats, and made their way to Elephant Island. There they set up a precarious camp, where most of the group waited while Sir Ernest and a few carefully chosen companions struck out for South Georgia. That South Atlantic island, 800 miles away, was known to have year-round British inhabitants.
   
   Those are the bare facts of one of the great true adventures, a story told here by Sir Ernest himself. His dry writing style may take some slogging, at first, for contemporary (especially American) readers; but his wit is equally dry, and his descriptions vivid. I was especially interested to note the differences between the Shackleton party's attitudes and those of today. Not only is this a magnificent survival tale (NOT ONE of Shackleton's men died!); it's also a snapshot of how those quintessential English explorers of another era thought about the world they were discovering. For better or for worse, how times and attitudes have changed!



4. After more than a year of seeing pretty much nothing but ice and snow, and living in, at times, sub-zero temperatures, Sir Ernest Shackleton writes about his camp's current conditions; "Drifts four feet deep covered everything, and we had to be continually digging up our scanty stock of meat to prevent its being lost altogether... On this day, and for the next two or three also, it was impossible to do anything but get right inside one's frozen sleeping bag to try and get warm. Too cold to read or sew, we had to keep our hands well inside, and pass the time in conversation with each other." He's so matter-of-fact... no fluff here. He just tells it like it is. I love that about this book. The conditions worsen by leaps and bounds as the story continues, but I'll leave that for you to explore on your own. Anyway, the first few chapters are very informative regarding how the expedition was planned, where they were headed, how they got there, etc... for me, it started a little slow, but I understand why the writer wanted to include this information. So, then you get into the "meaty" survival stuff... and is it ever so fascinating. And for me, it's especially fascinating because it doesn't seem to be sugar-coated, as so many writers are proned to do when telling their story. In fiction, I don't mind so much the way a writer gives you every detail, written ever so eloquently, but when it comes to true stories... especially survival stories, I personally just want to hear the straight talk. A GREAT SURVIVAL STORY AND PERFECTLY WRITTEN for this reader.



5. SOUTH: THE LAST ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION
   
   Here is a list of equipment that Sir Ernest Shackleton did NOT have for his memorable Endurance expedition: GPS location finders; radio ; RADAR, SONAR; computerized navigation; professional medical care; thermal clothes; MRE'S (Meals Ready To Eat), double steel hull; air and logistical support, public relations agents; marketing proposals; lawyers.
   Shacketon's crew navigated with a sextant; traversed the icecap with dog sleds instead of ski-doos, and ate canned herring, tinned meat, pemmican, biscuits and occasional seals.
   
   What he did have was an old ship, a strong crew, an incredible work ethic, classic British stoicism and unerring sense of the right thing to do.
   
   His book reads like a Robert Louis Stevenson or H.G. Welles story, but it is the unvarnished truth. His matter -of -fact account is brilliantly illustrated by Frank Hurley's dramatic black & white photos of The Endurance encapsulated in ice, its masts and spars dripping frozen water like the maritime apparition in Melville's "Benito Cereno."
   I seriously doubt whether a modern expedition equipped with all the bells and whistles and sponsored with corporate money could duplicate what Shackleton's Endurance accomplished under the most adverse circumstances imaginable.
   Because the Endurance expedition occurred in 1914-15 at the start of World World War I
   Shackleton's accomplishment was largely overshadowed, and the Antarctic was all but forgotten until the `fifties and `sixties when its scientific and strategic value was rediscovered.
   Now, as the Antarctic ice cap melts from global warming, one wonders at Shackleton's accomplishment.

5 comments about Antarctica: The Global Warning.

1. this is a very short review ! The book is absolutely beautiful ...amazing pictures !



2. The pictures must be amazing, but to try to sell a book by tying it to "Global Warming" (what other "Warning" might it refer to?) is perverse, since Antarctica has been COOLING ever since people arrived there to read thermometers, and its overall ice cover has been increasing (except in one small region). Google it! (stations amundsen daly). The South Pole graph is there. Knowing the pubishing business I do not fault the photographer for the title though of what is likely a beautiful book.



3. What a fascinating book full of lush, startling images of this disappearing part of our planet. A real wake up call about our global warming emergency. Thank you for preserving images of this beautiful, stark continent.



4. Exquisitely beautiful pictures of the natural wonders of Antarctica. It is accompanied by a political message from non-scientists such as Leonardo DiCaprio regarding the effects of global warming. That may explain why they could not be bothered by such things as the fact that ice depth is actually increasing in that part of the world. But the pictures and message of conservation in general is good.



5. I have visited Antarctica and climbed its ice in some of the very places photographed by Copeland. His amazing images capturing the majestic, awe-inspiring beauty of this magnificant continent can be beaten only by seeing it in person. The included DVD is a real treat, especially on a wide screen, where you feel you are right there with the bergs, the glaciers, the penguins, and the wild seas of the Drake. The book's climate-change warnings and insightful commentaries are timely and provocative, but hardly a huge part of the book. Ignore the global warming skeptcis who have rated it down--they don't know what they're talking about and are just plain wrong. Copeland and his commentators have it right on. I have seen with my own eyes the damage warming is causing to Antarctica. Tragically, it is very real. Buy the book for its fabulous pictures, learn why Antarctica is so compelling, then you will surely give attention to its warning and heed its SOS.

5 comments about Antarctica (Country Guide).

1. If you're one of the few actually going to Antarctica, this book will give you an excellent background on the White Continent. It's not necessarily the best for planning a trip -- you'll get more up-to-date cruise ship info. online. But Lonely Planet will tell you all about the different possible landing spots, which can help you choose which tour to take. There's also good details about the most common embarkation points for Antarctica cruises. This book was handy when my husband & I planned our trip to the peninsula, which we chronicle in our DVD "T&T's Real Travels in Antarctica" (also available on amazon.com).



2. My friend and I are off on an adventure to Antarctica in February and this book offered by Lonely Planet and authored by Jeff Rubin has been very informative and helpful in many aspects. I purchase all my travel books printed by Lonely Planet.



3. This book is a good start in discovering the many and varied ways to explore Antarctica. While the southern continent is not the usual destination for the weak of heart or wallet, Lonely Planet does give a very good presentation on the possibilities of travel to the deep south. While it mostly concentrates on the Penninsular side of Antarctica, it does give sufficient information to plan a trip there, as well as the difficulties and options for travel. Most travellers to the southland will find it to be quite expensive, though for many it is a worthwhile trip to see such a magnificent place that so few have had the opportunity to visit.
   Unfortunately it does not always give the most up to date information, particularly for the rest of the continent. It also glosses over the various scientific research projects that go on down there sponsored by the many countries that operate research stations on the continent. While Antarctica is an amazing place, increased tourism will likely lead to damage and pollution to this mostly pristine environment. The upcoming International Polar Year research will undoubtedly renew interest in the Antarctic.



4. I am involved with a Canadian research group that takes high school students to Antarctica for research and study. The Lonely Planet Guide to Antarctica was sent to us by the group to use as a primary source for learning about and preparing for the trip.
   
   My daughter and I both utilized a copy of the book for advanced planning prior to her depature. She took a copy with her and I had a copy with me. I read the majority of the book while she was preparing and continued to consult the book while she traveled. I found it to have an amazing amount of information and I really could not find anything missing from the book that I thought I needed. In addition, my daughter found it incredibly useful as the ship she was aboard traveled from site to site. She could research the next stop at night, and be totally prepared for arrival by morning.
   
   If you are planning to get only one guide book for a trip to Antarctica, I would recommend this book highly. Small enough to take with you in your carry on, yet large enough to be able to answer almost any question you can imagine!



5. Not only is this the best travel guide for Antarctica on the market, but it is incredibly fun to read! Much more than a travel guide, this book teaches you about the history and culture of Antarctica and its surrounding islands. As might be expected, wildlife also comprises a significant portion of the book.
   
   A few shortcomings:
   I wish that more detail would have been given to the sub-Antarctic islands. Wikipedia covers these in more detail than the book, and that is disappointing. I also expected more maps, particularly in the islands component. I would have also liked to see more color pictures and would have gladly paid extra for them - LP should realize that most purchasers of this book are not going to be able to go to Antarctica anytime soon and so we are experiencing it through these images.
   
   Again, outstanding book - be sure to pick up the Falkland Islands LP guide if you like this one!

4 comments about The Worst Journey in the World (Penguin Classics).

1. In 1911-1912 the author as a young man was part of the ill fated
   Robert Falcon Scott British Expedition to be the "first" at the South Pole. The larger history of that effort's limited success and the stories of the lives lost is a well told as historical fact. Within the book lies the Chapter about the author's effort with two other companions to travel in a winter journey for the purpose of observing Emperor penguins in their nesting rookeries. This is the coldest journey "on record" with howling winds at -70 degrees f under total darkness climbing between open crevasses that were endlessly deep to retrieve a few unhatched eggs for scientific research. Once you've read this author's rendition of that "worst journey" no other adventure travelog can compare. Good reading and most unforgettable.



2. This book is the author's account of his own journey to find the Emperor penguins nesting grounds in the Antarctic winter, set into the context of Scott's final journey to the South Pole.
   
   As should any really good book, it opened doors to new learning, as it informed about a subject about which I previously knew little, with interest level to match.
   
   What struck me most is reading about unusual Antarctic ice melt conditons nearly 100 years ago, when human-induced 'global warming' could not have been an issue, at least so far as vehicle (and aircraft) pollution is concerned. I could be wrong, of course, but I began to see a bigger picture. That global warming is real and that polluting is bad are givens; that we can do much about the former is likely a conceit.
   
   Also fascinating were the accounts of the nature of killer whales: Prior to this, I had assumed all killer whales were the loveable scamps shown in marine theme parks. Now? I give them a wide berth.
   
   Apsley-Garrard's high regard for his fellow explorers and his gift for description make this book a joy to read. I only wish the editor/publisher had included (preferably inside the front or back cover) a proper map or graphic listing the place names mentioned in the text. The reader has to keep guessing, flipping or seeking out another map source to follow the journeys.
   
   National Geographic ranks this book first on its list of the 100 greatest adventure books of all time. Also, see the DVD March of the Penguins, for the excellent 53-minute film on the making of the movie. This will give some idea of current challenges on a Winter Journey.



3. Apsley Cherry-Garrard was only 24 when he set out on Scott's ill-fated Terra Nova expedition. He was the youngest member of the group and, for my money, the best qualified for the later task of writing the complete story. Why? The Worst Journey in the World is an awe-inspiring adventure, told in such a way that you feel the young man's wide-eyed wonder as your own.
   
   Very few novels have gripped and excited me as this book has, and far fewer nonfiction works. Cherry--as his friends called him--writes with a vigor and attention to detail and drama usually reserved for thrillers. The blizzards, storms at sea, killer whale attacks, sub-zero temperatures, and exhausting struggles with sled dogs, ponies, and yawning crevasses are vividly depicted. By the end of the book, you almost feel as though you've been on the journey with him. The "you are there" phenomenon is something I encounter very seldom in a book. This book actually managed to make me cold.
   
   The Worst Journey in the World is not solely devoted to the adventure and the final tragedy of finding Scott and his men frozen to death. Cherry takes time out to comment on the scientific significance of their work in Antarctica, of the need for exploration regardless of immediate results, and, in conclusion, of why Scott's return from the Pole ended so bitterly. These sections of the work put the adventure into perspective, so that not only do you experience the good and bad times with the expedition, you learn what ideals drove them and what was at stake with every piece of bad luck.
   
   The book isn't perfect, of course. Some of the scientific information Cherry relates is, of course, now outdated. The book starts off rather slowly, and the reader must pick up and remember the names of the other expeditionary members on their own--Cherry does not list or describe the others in detail until somewhere near the middle of the book.
   
   That said, The Worst Journey in the World is still an outstanding nonfiction adventure. Once I started this book I could read nothing else. Anyone with an interest in the Antarctic, history, or exploration in general will find this book fascinating.
   
   Highly recommended.



4. It's been more than ten years since I read Cherry-Garrard's account of Scott's journey to Antarctica, but I can still feel the lung-searing cold and hear the hellish, monstrous wind coming out of the center of the continent into which the journey was headed. I have never read of anything more terrible than this expedition including Shackleton's truncated Antarctic nightmare and Lewis and Clark's astonishing and dangerous overland haul from St. Louis to the Pacific.
   
   This particular expedition was one terrible misadventure after another almost from the very start when there is a storm at sea right out of the gate as the ship carrying everyone and everything from Tierra del Fuego is swamped and so much food, materiel, and livestock are lost overboard. From there the bad luck never seems to stop. The very fact that these men continued on under circumstances that would have discouraged and then defeated most human beings is almost past credibility. In particular I remember the constant breaking down of the diesel-engined snow cats, the terrible fate of the Asian ponies, the leopard seals, and the long dark impossible trip that Garrard and one other member of the expedition take in the dead of the Antarctic winter to the Emperor Penguin breeding grounds to retrieve a few precious eggs for science. In winter. In the dark. Wearing 1911 woolen clothes, eating preseved 1911 food, and using 1911 (non-)technology. It took 1911 men to do it. I cannot imagine anyone from our time doing this with that equipment. At times I simply had to stop reading and wonder just how much more hardship human beings could stand. I've never felt so physically uncomfortable, so drained and so worried (as a mere reader!) as I was ploughing through this book which was a feat (the writing of it) in itself.
   
   This is a story about a long-vanished era where grit and determination were measured on a different scale from what we see today. An absolute must for any lover of true adventure. It truly was the worst journey in the world against which any subsequent missioin of its kind - including extra-terrestrial - must be judged.

5 comments about Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage.

1. There's not much to add to the almost 400 reviews preceding-other than another five stars.
   
   Working almost exclusively with a palette of black, white, gray and blue, Lansing manages to craft a vivid account of the Imperial Trans Antarctic Expedition of 1914. As others have mentioned, this story, as interpreted by Lansing, is so engrossing you won't want to put the book down. (Even after a second or third time!) It's also an interesting perspective on leadership under the most dismal conditions that can be imagined.
   
   A tidbit from one of the one star reviews that deserves mention: there was more than one publisher for the paperback versions of this book; Carroll & Graf, and Tyndale. As I understand, the Carroll & Graf edition contains the familiar secular foreword followed by Lansing's original text. The Tyndale edition has a Christian themed foreword from James C. Dobson, followed by Lansing's text edited for a Christian audience. IF this bothers you, make sure you're getting the Carroll & Graf version! (Thanks, Joel Abrams, for that information.)



2. This book is a treasure. It's hands down the best retelling of a survivor tale that I've read. The author just tells the story in such a simple and yet compelling way. The details that are included are incredible. And the story is totally miraculous. I recommend this book to anyone who likes history or tales of courage/adventure. I was blown away by Shackletons (and his men's) accomplishment in the face of what was should have been sure death.



3. Great book! We used this book in our book club. Everyone enjoyed it! Very interesting and kept your attention. You really felt like you were there on the ice with the men.



4. This book was exactly what I wanted and it arrived in great shape. The service was excellent; thank you!



5. The extraordinary record of Ernest Shackleton and his company of the "Endurance". They set out for the South Pole, but their shp was caught in pack ice, and eventually destroyed. Read how Shacckleton and a few members of his crew set out in one of the ship's boats to find rescue for the remaining men. Courage and loyalty in the extreme.