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Alone on the Ice: The Greatest Survival Story in the History of Exploration by David Roberts
sevenlefts's review against another edition
3.0
I can't seem to get enough of Mawson's story. I've read a few versions of this mind-blowing ordeal, including Racing With Death and Mawson's own account, The Home of the Blizzard. Nothing, of course stacks up reading Mawson's original account, but, being a scientist, his version does tend to meander into the scientific minutiae of the expedition's purposes -- temperature's, wind speeds, visibility. I still think Mawson's own book is the best way to approach the expedition, but it's not for everyone.
Roberts' book (which I discovered through Staci - thanks!), is a great overview of Mawson and the 1912-1914 Australasian Antarctic Expedition(AAE). For an expedition that was supposed to be about collecting data, this foray was one dramatic episode after another. Besides choosing as their base the windiest place on dry land on the planet, they had to endure malfunctioning equipment, whiteout conditions, last minute plans that left members stranded on the ice for months at a time, and colleagues that slowly lost their grip on reality. Mawson managed to hold it all together.
And he walked the walk. Literally. 300 miles - a big chunk of it by himself, alone, with the soles of his feet having peeled off.
Roberts' history is as good as any I've read. I appreciate how he describes the various diaries, memoirs and other sources form which he draws, how they agree and disagree. And his description of the Mawson collection at the museum in Adelaide toward the end of the end of the book gave me chills. I'd so love to visit it some day.
Roberts' book (which I discovered through Staci - thanks!), is a great overview of Mawson and the 1912-1914 Australasian Antarctic Expedition(AAE). For an expedition that was supposed to be about collecting data, this foray was one dramatic episode after another. Besides choosing as their base the windiest place on dry land on the planet, they had to endure malfunctioning equipment, whiteout conditions, last minute plans that left members stranded on the ice for months at a time, and colleagues that slowly lost their grip on reality. Mawson managed to hold it all together.
And he walked the walk. Literally. 300 miles - a big chunk of it by himself, alone, with the soles of his feet having peeled off.
Roberts' history is as good as any I've read. I appreciate how he describes the various diaries, memoirs and other sources form which he draws, how they agree and disagree. And his description of the Mawson collection at the museum in Adelaide toward the end of the end of the book gave me chills. I'd so love to visit it some day.
alexisgarcia's review against another edition
informative
tense
slow-paced
1.0
the writing of this book really dulled the story. the writing was disjointed, the pacing was ridiculously slow, and the different expeditions and people got so confusing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
bluesleepy's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
4.0
alykat_reads's review against another edition
slow-paced
4.0
This seemed like an interesting choice to read after reading about survival on Everest (and Edmund Hillary made an appearance in this one too). And just.. HOW, how in the world did Mawson survive that?! After going 5 miles downhill in comfortable hiking shoes my feet were hurting and I couldn't wait to yank my shoes off and get off my feet; yet Mawson goes tens of miles with the flesh detached from his feet in the Antarctic?! OMG. Not a guy that would be bedridden with just a minor cold, that's for sure. And not only did he make it back, he then had to winter over until the next ship could come back. This is only 100 years ago, but it's absolutely wild to me because there were people who were taken out by a papercut level of injury in the best of circumstances, and then there's people like Mawson who went through all this in the worst of circumstances and lived.
It was interesting to get a background on some of the explorers, but it did make the story a little confusing because you weren't always sure which expedition the author was referring to. This may have been more clear in print format vs audiobook, but idk. It does start out talking about this particular expedition, then bounces back in time after we are told Ninnis (and their tent and most of their supplies) fell in a crevasse and died; and it was a while before I realized he was talking about the current expedition again with Mawson and Mertz.
It was interesting to get a background on some of the explorers, but it did make the story a little confusing because you weren't always sure which expedition the author was referring to. This may have been more clear in print format vs audiobook, but idk. It does start out talking about this particular expedition, then bounces back in time after we are told Ninnis (and their tent and most of their supplies) fell in a crevasse and died; and it was a while before I realized he was talking about the current expedition again with Mawson and Mertz.
alisonkinkead's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
4.0
protoman21's review against another edition
3.0
I've read a bunch of survival tales and endurance stories, but usually they are told by the person who survived or endured, so although the story here was still impressive and entertaining at points, the threat of death was a bit removed and the overall experience lessened. I found Mawson's epic journey across the ice to be by far the highlight of the story with everything else mostly coming off as routine exploration. It was interesting to hear about Jeffryes decent into madness and how the other explorers were forced to live with him and coup with his instability over the course of a long winter, and some of the other stories of how the explorers entertained themselves were nice to hear, but overall the material lacked the excitement that I expect from this brand of story.