Wonderful. Strong. Beautiful. It is a great book. You end up thinking that the five hundred pages are not enought. Amundsen is the project management himself. It is a pleasure to read such an adventure in a such complete edition, with all maps, photos, cientific info, etc. Highly recommended.
June 07, 2007

Disappointed with the Indy Publishing edition.

Don't waste your money on the Indy Publishing edition of this book. No pictures, no maps, no dust jacket. It is no fun to read a full paragraph description by the author of an incident that was recorded with a photograph that is not in the book. A better investment would be the paper back edition.
January 15, 2007

Amundsen was funny!

This book was a lot of fun, in a geeky documentary sort of way.

Amundsen had a dry sense of humor, kind of like Tolkien. You know, polite and proper but every once in a while you can picture an arched eyebrow. Like Gandalf cracking a subtle joke. If you are not paying attention, you will miss it... but if you *are* paying attention, it'll make you chuckle.

I laughed out loud several times when reading this book, which is something I never did when reading other Antarctica books.

So if you are worried about this book being "dry" and "boring", well, did you like Lord of the Rings? If so, Amundsen's writing might "click" with you too.
February 22, 2006

The Norwegian Method

Roald Amundsen's "The South Pole" is a detailed, even exhaustive account of his successful 1910-1912 expedition to the South Pole. Amundsen's expedition was the first to reach the South Pole, after failures by other expeditions.

Amundsen was relentlessly methodical and practical in planning and executing the expedition. He identified a practical method of travel for the long haul to the South Pole from the Antarctic coast: dog sleds and skiis. He and his crew experimented and tested all their equipment and supplies in the Antarctic while patiently waiting for the right weather to travel. In striking contrast to his British competitor, Robert Falcon Scott, Amundsen correctly estimated the amount of food that would be consumed by physically active men operating for weeks in sub-zero temperatures. Amundsen's preparation is so complete that the actual expedition sometimes has all the drama of a weekend fishing trip. Amundsen was apparently a modest man, and it falls to Roland Huntford in an introduction to draw the obvious comparison with the catastrophic failure of the Scott expedition.

Amundsen's account provides all the detail necessary for anyone who might wish to duplicate his feat. Unfortunately, his writing style is very dry and even dedicated students of polar exploration may find finishing this book a long haul.

This book is highly recommended to students of the history of polar travel.
February 12, 2006

Preparedness Leads To Success

In the Foreword, Roland Huntford describes Amundsen's narrative as "all that Scott's is not". How right he is! This a very large book, but nonetheless an easy read. Amundsen relates a fascinating tale of fortune, misfortune, hardship, and ultimately - success. The narrative is detailed, but not overly so. In many places, a dose of humor is weaved in. Complete with numerous photos, maps, and scientific data, this book should be considered one of the great narratives of exploration. The great moral lesson of this tale is that preparedness ultimately leads to success. Is it any wonder that Roald Amundsen and his comrades won the race to the South Pole?
May 27, 2003

SIMILAR PRODUCTS

The Last Place on Earth (Modern Library Exploration)
by Roland Huntford
by Paul Theroux

Journals: Scott's Last Expedition (Oxford World's Classics)
by Robert Falcon Scott
by Max Jones

Mawson's Will: The Greatest Polar Survival Story Ever Written
by Lennard Bickel
by Edmund Sir Hillary

The Worst Journey in the World
by Apsley Cherry-Garrard

Scott, Shackleton and Amundsen: Ambition and Tragedy in the Antarctic
by David Thomson