Ebook The Last Place on Earth Scott and Amundsen Race to the South Pole Revised and Updated Modern Library Exploration Roland Huntford Paul Theroux 9780375754746 Books
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At the beginning of the twentieth century, the South Pole was the most coveted prize in the fiercely nationalistic modern age of exploration. In the brilliant dual biography, the award-winning writer Roland Huntford re-examines every detail of the great race to the South Pole between Britain's Robert Scott and Norway's Roald Amundsen. Scott, who dies along with four of his men only eleven miles from his next cache of supplies, became Britain's beloved failure, while Amundsen, who not only beat Scott to the Pole but returned alive, was largely forgotten. This account of their race is a gripping, highly readable history that captures the driving ambitions of the era and the complex, often deeply flawed men who were charged with carrying them out. THE LAST PLACE ON EARTH is the first of Huntford's masterly trilogy of polar biographies. It is also the only work on the subject in the English language based on the original Norwegian sources, to which Huntford returned to revise and update this edition.
Ebook The Last Place on Earth Scott and Amundsen Race to the South Pole Revised and Updated Modern Library Exploration Roland Huntford Paul Theroux 9780375754746 Books
"Very excellent look at the personalities of two polar explorers, their journeys, and their fateful competition finally to reach the South Pole. I was fascinated by the differences between these two people, Amundsen and Scott. Amundsen was methodical to an extreme. He learned about every aspect of polar travel, through visits with explorers, volunteering on expeditions, reading, and direct training about skiing, running dogs, nutition, sailing into polar waters, etc. etc. He was conpulsive about understanding everything possible about everything that might have an impact on an expedition. Amundsen also valued the knowledge of indigenous people about traveling in polar regions, food, clothing, etc. He didn't see them as savages with nothing to teach. Scott was haphazard and careless in his approach. He took the attitude that a large and well-funded team could wing it and overcome problems as they occurred. He didn't value the knowledge of indigenous people who had lived in the Arctic for eons. He took ponies to the Antarctic as pack animals. He hated sled dogs. What is there for a pony to eat in the pack ice? Nothing. What can a dog eat? Seals. Penguins. In the worst case even another dog. The author also discusses the more general differences between Norwegians and the English as regards exploration and even behavior toward subordinates."
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The Last Place on Earth Scott and Amundsen Race to the South Pole Revised and Updated Modern Library Exploration Roland Huntford Paul Theroux 9780375754746 Books Reviews :
The Last Place on Earth Scott and Amundsen Race to the South Pole Revised and Updated Modern Library Exploration Roland Huntford Paul Theroux 9780375754746 Books Reviews
- This book launched me onto a 3 month reading project of other books related to the subject matter, including books about Laurence Oates and I especially enjoyed Cherry-Gerard's very comprehensive work The Worst journey in the World, and finally Captain Scott by Fiennes, which debunks much of the misinformation presented by Huntford, generally without true references. You will get a different perspective on both R.F. Scott and E. A. Wilson from these other books , and, it's helpful to get beyond Huntford's compulsively negative rendition. I gave this book five stars initially, and it is very well-written, but I have come full-circle and see it as too biased against the English Expedition personnel. I found that Fiennes book is especially good at giving the whole picture including both good and bad sides of the all of the main characters. Fiennes carefully picks apart every one of Huntford's mis-statements. This book presents a negative bias toward Captain R. F. Scott. This is not to deny that Scott make technical errors or lapses of judgement which undoubtedly contributed to the Expedition's failure, like foot wear not up to the task, and insisting on man hauling, and failure to remember from 1902-03 that paraffin (kerosene) typically had faulty valves which leaks the contents to atmosphere in very cold temperatures. Because paraffin cans were red, the polar team placed them atop the cairns to over-winter, guaranteeing that they'd be empty a year later, when badly needed. But you can't blame the extended cold periods with colder than normal temperatures on Captain Scott. And even with food and fuel, those poor three who died in the tent had feet which had failed completely. You just can't walk around a high plateau with wet of freezing feet, for months at a time....Antarctica is not a forgiving place and technical mistakes become fatal mistakes.
- Very excellent look at the personalities of two polar explorers, their journeys, and their fateful competition finally to reach the South Pole. I was fascinated by the differences between these two people, Amundsen and Scott. Amundsen was methodical to an extreme. He learned about every aspect of polar travel, through visits with explorers, volunteering on expeditions, reading, and direct training about skiing, running dogs, nutition, sailing into polar waters, etc. etc. He was conpulsive about understanding everything possible about everything that might have an impact on an expedition. Amundsen also valued the knowledge of indigenous people about traveling in polar regions, food, clothing, etc. He didn't see them as savages with nothing to teach. Scott was haphazard and careless in his approach. He took the attitude that a large and well-funded team could wing it and overcome problems as they occurred. He didn't value the knowledge of indigenous people who had lived in the Arctic for eons. He took ponies to the Antarctic as pack animals. He hated sled dogs. What is there for a pony to eat in the pack ice? Nothing. What can a dog eat? Seals. Penguins. In the worst case even another dog. The author also discusses the more general differences between Norwegians and the English as regards exploration and even behavior toward subordinates.
- Having read a number of works that neglect to properly analyze the bungling of Robert F Scott, and some that attempt to persuade the reader that Scott was primarily interested in Science, and only secondarily in attaining the pole first, this book is a breath of fresh air that truly examines, compares, and contrasts the two expeditions. The great irony is that Amundsen was so over-prepared already that he could have afforded to "do science" also. However, he never pretended that the pole was secondary to science. Had he intended on science, he would have had even more provisions and preparations for the mission. Scott was trying to win the pole and make scientific observations while being poorly prepared for either aspect. Amundsen planned the finest details with years of preparation and with double and triple redundancy in provisions and equipment. Scott arrived at the barrier without understanding, or being trained for, dogs, skis, optimal clothing, or anything else that mattered. If hauling sleds was his backup plan, then he was completely underprepared for even that. He was doomed before he ever set sail.
Scott was such a bungler that I would go so far as to say that his name does not belong along with Amundsen's at the South Pole station. - When this book first came out close to 30 years ago it was such an inspiration to me that it prompted my two lengthy expedition trips to the Antarctic.
I've used this book as a lesson in leadership to young people attending high school and even college (it was required reading in a leadership class that one of my students just took over the summer at Cornell University).
The difference in leadership styles demonstrated here between Scott and Amundsen is night and day and it's clear that this is one of the main reasons why Amundsen reached the South Pole 34 days ahead of Scott and why he was able to live out his life basking in the glory of his accomplishments while Scott and his team relied on Scott's wife to try to drum up support for her husband's tragic end succumbing to the cold just 11 miles from a supply depot.
Reading the book was great but "reading" it again through the CDs while driving was very enjoyable. There were numerous times when I arrived home and sat in the driveway listening to another chapter before heading into the house.
