Official Blurb
In contrast to Scott’s South Pole expedition, Amundsen’s expedition benefited from good equipment, appropriate clothing, and a fundamentally different primary task (Amundsen did no surveying on his route south and is known to have taken only two photographs) Amundsen had a better understanding of dogs and their handling, and he used of skis more effectively. He pioneered an entirely new route to the Pole and they returned. In Amundsen’s own words: “Victory awaits him who has everything in order — luck, people call it. Defeat is certain for him who has neglected to take the necessary precautions in time; this is called bad luck.” Short accounts by other members of the party are appended.
My Review
Absolutely facinating account of true life adventures exploring the white land. I've enjoyed other books from Librivox relating to the snowy wastes (which for some unknown reason have always had a appeal to me).
This story was not quite on the same heroic scale of "South!" which I reviewed a good while ago, but is epic in it's breadth of detail about this journey.
Here we get the details of the journey to the south ( which in itself was quite an impressive sail journey ), and how they crew fell in love with the dogs.
We hear the details of journey across the ice, the dangers, the discovereries and the terrible, heart wrenching issues in dealing with the sled dogs later on in the journey.
In all I was bouyed up at this story of human endurance and fortitude and at times sadened by the horror of hunting and sledging in such extrems.
Readng 2
Production 2
Story 2
Total 6/9
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