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Alone on the ice : the greatest survival story in the history of exploration
Roberts, David
Adult Nonfiction 919.8904 R 2013
From Publishers' Weekly:
Painting a realistic portrait of Aussie explorer Douglas Mawson and his arduous trek through some of the most treacherous icy Antarctic terrain, Roberts (The Mountain of Fear) gives the reader a very close look at the huge risks and preparations of the nearly impossible feat. The author fleshes out Mawson, the 30-year-old lecturer in mineralogy and petrology at the University of Adelaide in South Australia, earning his stripes during a hazardous 1907-1909 Shackleton expedition to the frigid continent. With a superb collection of Frank Hurley's celebrated Antarctic photographs, Roberts parallels the courageous achievements of Mawson's team on the 1911-1913 journey along the previously uncharted regions of the landscape with those of his acclaimed peers, Scott, Shackleton, and Amundsen, battling the bitter cold, starvation, and peril to the limits of human endurance. Roberts sums up the dangers Mawson and his crew were up against: "No region on earth possesses deeper or more treacherous crevasses than Antarctica." And what wreaks havoc with every team of explorers that tries to traverse its unforgiving wastes is the fact that crevasses there are not confined to the glaciers. Harrowing, exciting and brutally real, Roberts provides a chilling backstory to polar explorer Mawson's bold solitary survival tale. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
From Library Journal:
Climber and author Roberts (Finding Everett Ruess: The Life and Unsolved Disappearance of a Legendary Wilderness Explorer) presents a well-written narrative on the ambitious and arduous Australasian Antarctic Expedition of 1911-13 and its intrepid leader, Australian geologist Douglas Mawson. This large, multi-party expedition aimed to explore and study large sections of the then-unmapped Antarctic continent. Mawson only barely survived after two of his companions died and most of his food was lost in a crevasse. An experienced and knowledgeable adventure writer, Roberts deftly combines polar-exploration history and biographical background on Mawson and his companions with moving descriptions of the expedition's tragedies and triumphs. VERDICT While Mawson may be lesser known than fellow explorers Shackleton, Amundsen, or Scott, Roberts's thoroughly researched portrayal leaves little doubt that Mawson deserves a place among these giants of polar exploration. Best suited to history or adventure fans interested in the history of Antarctic exploration and tales of survival against the odds. Readers may also consider Douglas Mawson's own chronicle The Home of the Blizzard: A True Story of Antarctic Survival or Lennard Bickel's Mawson's Will: The Greatest Polar Survival Story Ever Written.-Ingrid Levin, Salve Regina Univ. Lib., Newport, RI (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Roberts, David
Adult Nonfiction 919.8904 R 2013
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From Publishers' Weekly:
Painting a realistic portrait of Aussie explorer Douglas Mawson and his arduous trek through some of the most treacherous icy Antarctic terrain, Roberts (The Mountain of Fear) gives the reader a very close look at the huge risks and preparations of the nearly impossible feat. The author fleshes out Mawson, the 30-year-old lecturer in mineralogy and petrology at the University of Adelaide in South Australia, earning his stripes during a hazardous 1907-1909 Shackleton expedition to the frigid continent. With a superb collection of Frank Hurley's celebrated Antarctic photographs, Roberts parallels the courageous achievements of Mawson's team on the 1911-1913 journey along the previously uncharted regions of the landscape with those of his acclaimed peers, Scott, Shackleton, and Amundsen, battling the bitter cold, starvation, and peril to the limits of human endurance. Roberts sums up the dangers Mawson and his crew were up against: "No region on earth possesses deeper or more treacherous crevasses than Antarctica." And what wreaks havoc with every team of explorers that tries to traverse its unforgiving wastes is the fact that crevasses there are not confined to the glaciers. Harrowing, exciting and brutally real, Roberts provides a chilling backstory to polar explorer Mawson's bold solitary survival tale. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
From Library Journal:
Climber and author Roberts (Finding Everett Ruess: The Life and Unsolved Disappearance of a Legendary Wilderness Explorer) presents a well-written narrative on the ambitious and arduous Australasian Antarctic Expedition of 1911-13 and its intrepid leader, Australian geologist Douglas Mawson. This large, multi-party expedition aimed to explore and study large sections of the then-unmapped Antarctic continent. Mawson only barely survived after two of his companions died and most of his food was lost in a crevasse. An experienced and knowledgeable adventure writer, Roberts deftly combines polar-exploration history and biographical background on Mawson and his companions with moving descriptions of the expedition's tragedies and triumphs. VERDICT While Mawson may be lesser known than fellow explorers Shackleton, Amundsen, or Scott, Roberts's thoroughly researched portrayal leaves little doubt that Mawson deserves a place among these giants of polar exploration. Best suited to history or adventure fans interested in the history of Antarctic exploration and tales of survival against the odds. Readers may also consider Douglas Mawson's own chronicle The Home of the Blizzard: A True Story of Antarctic Survival or Lennard Bickel's Mawson's Will: The Greatest Polar Survival Story Ever Written.-Ingrid Levin, Salve Regina Univ. Lib., Newport, RI (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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