A review by brontherun
The Ice Balloon: S. A. Andrée and the Heroic Age of Arctic Exploration by Alec Wilkinson
2.0
I generally seek out exploration books, and have previously devoured polar expedition books with much enjoyment. Often the larger-than-life expedition members grab your attention even if their egos may not endear them to you for long.
Sadly, Wilkinson skips and hops from a variety of arctic trips, before finally landing on Andree's unique balloon attempt at the pole somewhere around the final third of the book. After a somewhat disjointed path, I still didn't get an in depth dive into the inner workings of the 3 ballonists: Andree, Fraenkel, and Strindberg.
More time is spent discussing the Greely expedition, which was interesting from a historical and psychological bent. "All that ignorance, stupidity, and an egotistical mind without judgment can do in the injury of our cause is being done." That was one quote about leadership from the journal of Sergeant Brainard from that doomed group. One has to wonder if this hints at Wilkinson's thoughts about Andree as well, although the journals from that expedition are much more scientific and less colorful.
Again from this other expedition account, we get, "Greely added, 'It drives me almost insane to face the future. It is not the end that frightens anyone, but the road to be traveled to reach that goal. To die is easy. What was difficult was to strive, to endure, to live. It was easier to think of death than to dare to live.' "
After reading multiple accounts of ships locked in ice, crushed by ice, and crews abandoning their vessels to live on the ice, I was hoping for something a little different from the Swedish balloonist. Alas, he was not only not good at enduring and survival, he was boring enough to apparently give in to death without the violent struggle of most polar explorers. While I suppose you could call the manner of his death a mystery, I am not curious enough to look for more. I think I'll head back to the south pole for my next arctic expedition read.
Sadly, Wilkinson skips and hops from a variety of arctic trips, before finally landing on Andree's unique balloon attempt at the pole somewhere around the final third of the book. After a somewhat disjointed path, I still didn't get an in depth dive into the inner workings of the 3 ballonists: Andree, Fraenkel, and Strindberg.
More time is spent discussing the Greely expedition, which was interesting from a historical and psychological bent. "All that ignorance, stupidity, and an egotistical mind without judgment can do in the injury of our cause is being done." That was one quote about leadership from the journal of Sergeant Brainard from that doomed group. One has to wonder if this hints at Wilkinson's thoughts about Andree as well, although the journals from that expedition are much more scientific and less colorful.
Again from this other expedition account, we get, "Greely added, 'It drives me almost insane to face the future. It is not the end that frightens anyone, but the road to be traveled to reach that goal. To die is easy. What was difficult was to strive, to endure, to live. It was easier to think of death than to dare to live.' "
After reading multiple accounts of ships locked in ice, crushed by ice, and crews abandoning their vessels to live on the ice, I was hoping for something a little different from the Swedish balloonist. Alas, he was not only not good at enduring and survival, he was boring enough to apparently give in to death without the violent struggle of most polar explorers. While I suppose you could call the manner of his death a mystery, I am not curious enough to look for more. I think I'll head back to the south pole for my next arctic expedition read.