Reviews
Alone on the Ice: The Greatest Survival Story in the History of Exploration by David Roberts
jeremyanderberg's review against another edition
4.0
With the subtitle "The Greatest Survival Story in the History of Exploration," this is another title that had long been on my reading list. The dead of winter seemed to be the perfect time to dig in.
Don't get me wrong: this is a very good book. But, I do wish the actual survival story encompassed more than just the final third or so. The book is actually sort of a mix of biography of polar explorer Douglas Mawson, as well as a recap of the Antarctic expedition he led from 1911-1913. Part of Roberts' point is to give more credit to that expedition, which doesn't get as much attention as the likes of Shackleton, Amundsen, and Scott.
After that's all taken care of, we get to the truly crazy survival portion.
Mawson and two crewmates made it a few hundred miles from this basecamp along Antarctica's coast. (It should be noted that they found literally the windiest spot on the continent, with average winter wind speeds over 100mph.) On the way back, one crewmate — the one with most of the supplies and sled dogs — fell through an ice crevasse to his death. Eventually, the other crewmate deteriorated as well, and died in madness about 100 miles from basecamp.
So Mawson continued alone, while his own body started to fail him, including the bottoms of his feet basically falling off. At one point he fell through a crevasse and only saved himself by climbing up 20 feet of rope in a severely weakened state — twice. (On his first try, he fell while nearing the top of the ledge.) When he made it back to basecamp, he was so emaciated that nobody there recognized him. They also informed him that the rescue ship had departed just hours earlier, and they would have to stay another entire winter in a small hut. Can you fathom the mental agony? But at least he was alive!
I'm not sure Alone on the Ice quite lives up its subtitle — I've read plenty of crazy survival stories — but it's certainly up there. Read it during the winter if you're feeling bold; read it during the summer if you feel like you need a good chill.
Don't get me wrong: this is a very good book. But, I do wish the actual survival story encompassed more than just the final third or so. The book is actually sort of a mix of biography of polar explorer Douglas Mawson, as well as a recap of the Antarctic expedition he led from 1911-1913. Part of Roberts' point is to give more credit to that expedition, which doesn't get as much attention as the likes of Shackleton, Amundsen, and Scott.
After that's all taken care of, we get to the truly crazy survival portion.
Mawson and two crewmates made it a few hundred miles from this basecamp along Antarctica's coast. (It should be noted that they found literally the windiest spot on the continent, with average winter wind speeds over 100mph.) On the way back, one crewmate — the one with most of the supplies and sled dogs — fell through an ice crevasse to his death. Eventually, the other crewmate deteriorated as well, and died in madness about 100 miles from basecamp.
So Mawson continued alone, while his own body started to fail him, including the bottoms of his feet basically falling off. At one point he fell through a crevasse and only saved himself by climbing up 20 feet of rope in a severely weakened state — twice. (On his first try, he fell while nearing the top of the ledge.) When he made it back to basecamp, he was so emaciated that nobody there recognized him. They also informed him that the rescue ship had departed just hours earlier, and they would have to stay another entire winter in a small hut. Can you fathom the mental agony? But at least he was alive!
I'm not sure Alone on the Ice quite lives up its subtitle — I've read plenty of crazy survival stories — but it's certainly up there. Read it during the winter if you're feeling bold; read it during the summer if you feel like you need a good chill.
pferdina's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
3.5
Great story about this Antarctic exploration that was actually going on while Robert Scott’s last expedition was taking place on the other side of the continent. Douglas Manson was Australian and a scientist who wanted to fill in the blank spots on the map. He also survived an amazing solo journey of 300 miles to reach his base only hours after the relief ship departed.
babyskillet's review against another edition
not my favorite. Couldn't get into it completely.
asherl's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
5.0
geve_'s review against another edition
3.0
2.5 stars
The story itself is probably very interesting. The author is the real problem here. The title is ridiculous, and it starts out talking shit about Shackleton, Amundson and other polar explorers, as if their greatness detracts from the main love interest in this book, Mawson. I was frustrated with the obvious desire to make this event out to be the GREATEST. It was certainly amazing, but it doesn't rise above many others for lots of reasons.
The structure of the thing was also really bad. It starts out telling the sledging journey, then pauses part way to switch gears completely, then tell the whole story, starting in australia. The details are fine, but the composition was horrible. Then the end really dragged on and on, really going full in on the onverwintering issues, which were not survival related and were crazy boring.
In particular, when one of the members of the team starts having severe mental illness, that seemed to me to possibly be schizophrenia, the author basically drags this dude, and kinda blames him for a lot of issues. I didn't need to read page after page about this poor guy's deteriorating mental health like the author was there bitching about it. It was boring and also sad. Also, although he goes into detail trying to figure out why one of the sledgers died (Vitamin a poisoning?), he did give this man the same consideration. I was surprised no theories about what caused the mental break were really discussed. The author didn't seem to have much sympathy for a man experiencing severe mental health crisis while stuck overwintering in antarctica, as it sort of shed a bad light on Mawson, the captain of this whole thing. Even with the author trying his best, the guy really didn't match up, leadership wise to Shackleton, or others. But he sure could walk over glaciers.
I guess that's were it becomes interesting for me to think about. When someone shows very clear understanding of leadership, motivation and how to get a team to work through a very intense, difficult and dangerous situation successfully, that's a world class victory. When a guy survives alone while others died, that's still a great story, but it's not the greatest. Really wish he had helped his fellow sledger survive, that, perhaps would have rivaled Shackleton.
The good:
antarctic adventure
true survival
um...lots of details i guess
the bad:
dragging down other exploration events to elevate this one
very bad structure
constantly blaming people for the issues, instead of just telling the story
too in love with mawson to tell an objective story
Maybe it's the author's kinda hateful attitude that ruined it for me, but I was left not thinking all that highly of Mawson.
The story itself is probably very interesting. The author is the real problem here. The title is ridiculous, and it starts out talking shit about Shackleton, Amundson and other polar explorers, as if their greatness detracts from the main love interest in this book, Mawson. I was frustrated with the obvious desire to make this event out to be the GREATEST. It was certainly amazing, but it doesn't rise above many others for lots of reasons.
Spoiler
It wasn't the first to reach anything or cross anything. it doesn't rise above the endurance story, as the endurance is so famous because everyone survived. Certainly Mawson's lone trek was incredibly difficult, but it isn't the greatest survival story ever told, and certainly not told in this book.The structure of the thing was also really bad. It starts out telling the sledging journey, then pauses part way to switch gears completely, then tell the whole story, starting in australia. The details are fine, but the composition was horrible. Then the end really dragged on and on, really going full in on the onverwintering issues, which were not survival related and were crazy boring.
In particular, when one of the members of the team starts having severe mental illness, that seemed to me to possibly be schizophrenia, the author basically drags this dude, and kinda blames him for a lot of issues. I didn't need to read page after page about this poor guy's deteriorating mental health like the author was there bitching about it. It was boring and also sad. Also, although he goes into detail trying to figure out why one of the sledgers died (Vitamin a poisoning?), he did give this man the same consideration. I was surprised no theories about what caused the mental break were really discussed. The author didn't seem to have much sympathy for a man experiencing severe mental health crisis while stuck overwintering in antarctica, as it sort of shed a bad light on Mawson, the captain of this whole thing. Even with the author trying his best, the guy really didn't match up, leadership wise to Shackleton, or others. But he sure could walk over glaciers.
I guess that's were it becomes interesting for me to think about. When someone shows very clear understanding of leadership, motivation and how to get a team to work through a very intense, difficult and dangerous situation successfully, that's a world class victory. When a guy survives alone while others died, that's still a great story, but it's not the greatest. Really wish he had helped his fellow sledger survive, that, perhaps would have rivaled Shackleton.
The good:
antarctic adventure
true survival
um...lots of details i guess
the bad:
dragging down other exploration events to elevate this one
very bad structure
constantly blaming people for the issues, instead of just telling the story
too in love with mawson to tell an objective story
Maybe it's the author's kinda hateful attitude that ruined it for me, but I was left not thinking all that highly of Mawson.