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Alone on the Ice: The Greatest Survival Story in the History of Exploration by David Roberts
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.
ladytiara's review against another edition
4.0
Douglas Mawson is one of the unsung heroes of Antarctic exploration. He's not one of the big three, so his story isn't as famous as those of Scott, Amundsen, and Shackleton, which is a shame, because it's a gripping tale of survival in the face of unimaginable conditions. The author relies a bit too much on really long quotations from various polar memoirs (especially Mawson's), but it's an amazing story, well told.
saraa_t's review against another edition
3.0
Roberts himself acknowledges that the narrative around this true story is a difficult one to organize, but I still had to constantly reference previous chapters for names, timelines, and relationships.
An interesting adventure/survival story, but my perpetual confusion and inability to become invested in any of the characters' outcomes made this a difficult one to really get into and enjoy.
An interesting adventure/survival story, but my perpetual confusion and inability to become invested in any of the characters' outcomes made this a difficult one to really get into and enjoy.