Mawson's Will: The Greatest Polar Survival Story Ever Written
Product Details | Similar Products | Customer Reviews | Author: Lennard Bickel List Price: £10.25 Our Price: £10.11 You Save: £0.14 (1%) Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours  |
|
 | Product Details: Paperback 272 pages Release Date: March 2000 Publisher: Steerforth Press ISBN: 1586420003 Rating:   Sales Rank: 80969 | | Look for similar books by subject: | | Customers who bought this item also bought:
| | Customer Reviews: A true survival story (17 November 2008)If any book captures the spirit of human survival it is this one by Douglas Mawson.It is the story of an Antarctic expedition that went horribly wrong and tells how Mawson had to deal with the death of his colleagues.How he survived is a minor miracle and it is hard to believe that he came out of his horrible situation alive. Mawson tells his story in a professional and unemotional way and this is always a compelling read.It shows just how deep a person can dig down within his soul in order to survive.It isn't the best book I have read about polar exploration,that is probably 'Endurance' by Alfred Lansing but it is very good effort indeed.Recommended. And then there was one (31 December 2007)What is just as unbelievable as this truly remarkable story itself is that Mawson has never had the same recognition as his contemporaries, Scott and Shackleton. The story is even more remarkable, not just because of the terrible deaths of his comrades or the near starvation or physical pain and mental exhaustion, but that Mawson is further tormented by his total isolation in a vastness unimaginable. A grim tale with emotion, the reader will find Bickel's account vivid and moving. Mawson's Will (08 December 2007)Without being fully aware of the history of the polar expeditions or polar travel in general, I began this book expecting a great adventure story and nothing more. This book more than delivered in that respect. Not only is it immensely easy to read, but I found it difficult to put down and became completely engrossed in the story that unfolded. I got choked up a great deal towards the end and felt anxious and exhausted along with the people in the book. For the two days that it took to read, I lived the fears and exhaustion along with the author and finished the book feeling wrung out, yet strangely exhilarated. I can not imagine what it must be like to travel in such a hostile environment, but this book goes some way to helping you picture what it may of been like. It also has some great old photography. If you like survival stories or are interested in the polar expeditions you must add this book to your library, it is a superb read that will keep you gripped throughout. Highly recommended. Bickel's Gift (22 October 2007)Rarely has fiction served the truth so well. Rarely has the truth served fiction so well. Mawson's own account of his ordeal, in "The Home of The Blizzard", seems relatively matter of fact. We may not have marvelled at Mawson's accomplishment in surviving if we relied only on his way of telling it. Although a good writer, his specialities were geography and exploration. Bickel's presentation here in "Mawson's Will" makes Mawson's accomplishment more touching than Mawson's own presentation. But it took an extraordinary writing accomplishment by Bickel to convey Mawson's accomplishment. Poetic license? To fail to understand how much faithful art it took to go from Mawson's diaries and book to Bickel's account would be to not appreciate how much effort and skill it took for Bickel to bring Mawson's tale so fully alive. If Bickel hadn't taken poetic license, this tale may have been of more interest to the most purist historian but it would have been of far less human interest. Sensitive to our lack of understanding of the Antartic experience, Bickel put us there in a way we never could have gotten from Mawson's own account. The last one hundred pages of "Mawson's Will" are as riveting as anything I've read in years. Bickel's faithfulness to Mawson has made this a special work of art. Because of Bickel, we can be amazed at how Mawson survived and understand something profound about the human will. P.S. I wake up the next day to find the story is still strong on my mind. Mawson returned to Australia to find his beloved waiting, married her, in time actually returned to the Antartic for exploration, and lived til 73. While we may never face as extreme a challenge as he did, there seems lessons here in the value of perserverence, in the benefits of careful self-management, and in the role of loved ones in making life worth living. This is an unusual book and Mawson and Bickel have made a special contribution far beyond whether land was claimed through exploration. Mawson's Will review (19 December 2006)As a fan of real life tales of adventure, I loved this book. I found it gripping, the detail, the anguish, the physical and mental hardship, the historical detail - awesome read. This is probably less of a good read for someone who isn't into the outdoors and so has no empathy with the situation. | |
