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A review by sevenlefts
Alone on the Ice: The Greatest Survival Story in the History of Exploration by David Roberts
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.