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Books to read if you're planning a vacation in "antarctic", sorted by average review score:
South with Endurance: Shackleton's Antarctic Expedition, 1914-1917
Published in Hardcover by Simon & Schuster (25 September, 2001)
Author: Frank Hurley
Average review score:

A must for any adventure library
If you are a fan of Antarctic exploration then this wonderful book should be in your library. Many know the incredible story of the Endurance and the trials those 28 men endured when the ship was locked in the ice and eventually crushed. The beauty of this book is that it documents the story with the remarkable photos of the expedition photographer, Australian Frank Hurley. When you consider the time period of this story (1914-1916) you can only marvel that Hurley produced such amazing images with the equipment that was available at that time. Additionally, the initial introduction to this photo collection is excellent. It presents a good recap of the Endurance expedition with many quotes from crewmembers that have not appeared in previous books.If you are a professional photographer, or even an amateur, the information on Hurley's equipment and the story of his early training will be of special interest. The over 500 photos will hold your interest for hours! I've read almost every book on Endurance and this will rank as one of my favorites.

Excellent
I was fortunate that I could follow Shakelton on T.V. while reading and viewing these excellent pictures. This book is outstanding and I would urge anyone interested in either Shakelton or photography to get it. I could not help but think that every member of this expedition had story to tell. We have heard only a few. Amazing the limits of human endurance and to think that they had a photographer with them who realized what he was filming, and did so for all of us to see.To Hurley was far ahead of his time, and I am inclined to think that Ansel Adams had probably learned from Mr. Hurley.

A real treasure
This is the most defenitive retelling of Shackleton's adventure in pictures. Frank Hurley was an exceptional photographer who just happened to take pictures of a journey that without them would be simply unbelievable. Any Hurley's picture of the Endurance expedition is a treasure, and in this book are all of them!

South : The Last Antarctic Expedition of Shakleton and the Endurance
Published in Paperback by The Lyons Press (November, 1998)
Author: Sir Ernest Shackleton
Average review score:

A True Leader
Shackleton was an amazing man full of true grit and true leadership. Among the many things that stand out in his story of survival is the importance of keeping a journal. Even after many supplies and equipment were left on the ice, the men were instructed to continue to carry their journals. And what if they had not? Where would be the true story that outshines most fictional adventure stories in the minds and imaginations of many, including myself?

If you want to read more about Antarctica, I suggest T.H. Baughman's "Before the Heroes Came."

Sheer will and nerve.
Ernest Shackleton's description of his voyage into and subsequent escape from Antartica is amazing. The matter of fact tone with which he describes his adventure seems wildly juxtaposed on the events which he led his men safely through. It's an interesting read which gives some glimpse into the calm and mechanically rational mind of Shackleton, the reason he and his men survived. I highly recommend this book.

Edge of Your Seat
Fascinating and exciting book. Shackelton writes in the most British of style -- he describes an ice floe splitting beneath his tent in the same plain delivery as the description of a depth sounding. The book is overflowing with the most amazing of events, placing Shackelton's crew in an adventure every bit as great as Lewis and Clark's expedition (read the Ambrose book "Undaunted Courage" if you like this one).

This is a fine edition, as it includes approx. eighty photographs of the expedition. From the outset of the voyage to the harrowing crossing of St. George Island, this guy would put today's extreme adventure-seekers to shame.

The Polar Regions, The Arctic, The Antarctic (Draw Write Now, Book 4)
Published in Paperback by Barker Creek Pub (June, 1997)
Authors: Marie Hablitzel and Kim Stitzer
Average review score:

Thank You!
This is a special Thank you to the authors of this book. My 6 yr. old daughter and I have tremendesly enjoyed this book together. She is a great artist and loves to read. The drawing lessons both help to improve on her reading ability, while giving her great tools for drawing the beautiful and fun pictures displyed. We are both looking forward to more great "Draw Write Now" books.

This is a must for little ones who love to draw.
My son (eight years old) (very good artist) ate this book up. He copied every page in just three days then he was mixing scenes. His drawings took on a superb quality that he had not reached before. The bonus is, he practices his handwriting while learning interesting facts that are good to know. We'll be buying each edition for Christmas for him.

Wonderful!
This book is brightly illustrated and well priced for the high quality. It is a wonderful resourse for parents as well as children. The subject matter covers a broad range of interesting information. Bravo!

What the Ice Gets : Shackleton's Antarctic Expedition 1914-1916
Published in Paperback by Van West & Co. (15 November, 2000)
Authors: Melinda Mueller and Gary Holthaus
Average review score:

Overwhelming story, finely crafted
The Shackleton story is amazing, but this accounting of it is stunningly thought through and executed. Read it over and over.

A stanza may be worth ten thousand words of prose.
This is a case where the economy of a well-crafted poetic line accomplishes what might take a page of prose. The imagery and emotion evoked by this slim volume more than capture the beauty and desperation experienced by Shackleton and his company. No space is wasted on mundane logistical cataloging and diary-keeping. Instead the reader is in the grip of perilous nature from beginning to end. The final section sketching the fate of the men after their great adventure on the ice shows that miraculously overcoming one peril does not innoculate you against life's other afflictions.

Shackleton Brought to Life
This epic poem brings Shackleton's attempt to reach the South Pole to life! Some of the chapters tell the story from the point of view of individual members of the expedition; some describe particular events. Each fact is documented. Its one thing to know that Shackleton and a part of the crew left the rest of the crew behind, and travelled 800 miles in a dory on a rescue mission. Mueller brings the situation to life, describing the plight of both the rescuers and the rescuees. And then, in a moving and haunting conclusion, she tells of some of the individual's lives after the voyage. In sum, its an adventurist's story, a naturalist's story, a poet's story. A book you will want to reread, read out loud, and give to your friends.

The Worst Journey in the World: Antarctic, 1910-13
Published in Hardcover by Pan Books Ltd (August, 1994)
Author: Apsley Cherry-Garrard
Average review score:

Worst Journey - best book
Apsley Cherry-Garrard's amazing tale of life in the Antarctic as the youngest member of Scott's fatal expedition. I was gripped from the very first line of this book; "Polar exploration is at once the cleanest and most isolated way of having a bad time which has been devised." He describes wearing clothes for 6 months with no dirt building up on them, or it being 'more lonely than London' and later he talks of his later experiences in the Great War (1914-18) where the polar explorers felt, considering what they had been through, the trenches were a relatively comfortable alternative. In short Cherry-Garrard has a simple way with words that I loved.

This Antartctic trip lasted some three years and ended with Scott's heroically-futile death - painfully close to supplies and help. Cherry-Garrard was one of those left at the base camp so he survived the trip - but don't think that his lot was much easier than those that struggled to the Pole. The book is as much about the Antarctic and the terrible hardships as about the people of the expedition. Cherry-Garrard's writing and his character seem to personify the stoic, good-humour of the men around him.

The book is very long and I have to admit that I needed extra maps to make sense of where they were - even though there are maps throughout the book. This is not a book, I think, for someone who is not interested in reading further about exploration in the Antarctic, but it makes an excellent start point to read others.

On a purely aesthetic note, the hard-cover version from Picador has the most wonderful cover and comes with a little ribbon to mark your place. It feels really lovely to read it.

One of the best Antarctic adventure tales
One of the members of Scott's last expedition to Antarctica was the author of this book, who at the time was one of the youngest members of the group. Cherry-Garrard recounts his personal adventures as part of the expedition, as well as the fate of the small group who trekked to the South Pole with Scott (they died on the return journey). However, Cherry-Garrard, with two other expedition members, made a journey that was far more harrowing than Scott's trek to the pole -- a journey of some weeks across the Antarctic ice shelf in winter! Walking in the near-total darkness, Cherry-Garrard's group man-hauled their heavy sledges, almost lost their tents in a gale(without which they would have perished), and endured extremes of temperature that not even Scott experienced -- all in pursuit of the rarest of prizes -- the eggs of an Emperor penguin (in order to study the animal's development). Unfortunately, in later years Cherry-Garrard would suffer from repeated nervous breakdowns, partly due to his war experiences and partly to his (misplaced) conviction that he might have been able to save Scott and his polar party. Cherry-Garrard was the last person to visit the farthest supply dump, called One-Ton Depot; Scott and his group would die a mere eight miles from this depot. However, at the time Cherry-Garrard visited the depot, Scott and his men were much farther away than this -- they also weren't expected to arrive back yet for some weeks. Although his expedition comrades in later years would try to make it clear to him that it would be absolutely impossible for him to have saved Scott, he was never entirely convinced. Of all the polar adventure books I have read, this will always stand out to me as one of the most thrilling.

Epic tales of survival and discovery in Antarctica

Apsley Cherry-Garrard recounts the heroic stuggle for survival during the exploration of Antarctica early in the 20th century. Much of the text was collected from the diaries of the explorers, and includes excerpts from Sir Robert Falcon Scott's ill-fated journey to the Pole, and Cherry-Garrard's deep winter trek across the Ross Ice Shelf to obtain an emperor penguin's egg.

An incredible history of triumphs against relentlessly harsh conditions. It's enough to make even the most hardy armchair-explorer huddle closer to the fireplace

America on the Ice: Antarctic Policy Issues
Published in Paperback by Government Printing Office (January, 1991)
Author: Frank G. Klotz
Average review score:

The most neglected continent
Most works on the Antarctic describe the region with a series of forbidding extremes. The continent is said to be the coldest, driest, highest, windiest, and most remote place on earth. At least one other extreme merits inclusion on this list: Antarctica also is the most neglected continent in both the practice and study of American national security policy. The reasons for this neglect are not hard to fathom. Precisely because of all Antarctica's extremes, only a handful of Americans have ever expressed an interest in the region. During the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, sailors from New England explored the waters of the Southern Ocean in search of seals for trade. Later, commercial exploitation of the region's living resources gave way to heroic feats by famous explorers. The adventures of Roald Amundsen, Robert Falcon Scott, and Admiral Richard Byrd opened up the Antarctic in both a literal and figurative sense, as the popular imagination became seized with the haunting images of the last earthly frontier. Yet, for all its majestic beauty, the Antarctic never possessed sufficient wealth or strategic significance to command broad and sustained attention from the American body politic. Even as more Americans became aware of the region, Antarctica remained the province of the few. Indeed today, it is populated only by a small circle of scientists, and the civilian and military officials who support their research. Not surprisingly then, US decisionmakers have generally paid only scant attention to Antarctica. Consequently, policy toward the region traditionally has suffered from a lack of strong direction from the top and a corresponding air of ambivalence. For example, in the first half of this century, the State Department carefully laid the foundation for a territorial claim there

Ice Capades
The author has put together a poignant and well-written analysis of what promises to be a hot topic for international politics in the coming years. Though some of the conclusions may leave the reader cold, Klotz's work provides an excellent guide for those interested in both Antartica and national strategic policy in general. The author's astutely critical presentation makes it much easier for the reader to warm up to the material than in many similar contemporary works. Frank Klotz has done the professional readership a tremendous favor by writing this book. One can only hope that with this sort of analysis out there, unresolved political tensions might not boil over in the foreseeable future.

Heart of the Antarctic, Being the Story of the British Antarctic Expedition, 1907-1909
Published in Hardcover by Greenwood Publishing Group (June, 1968)
Author: Ernest H. Shackleton
Average review score:

Shackleton's furthest south
For me the highlight of this book is the extract from Shackleton's diary describing the 'furthest south' journey in which Shackleton reached just 97 miles from the pole before being forced to turn back. This turned into an epic struggle for survival (unlike Scott 3 years later, they won) which is splendidly recounted with diary extracts. The rest of the book describes the first ascents of Mount Erebus and the first journey to the south magnetic pole as well as the rest of the expedition. Although it is well to bear in mind that nearly all of these period books were written in a style that shows only the positive side of the expeditions I find them more enjoyable to read than some of the more critical modern descriptions.

Not nearly as well known as the Endurance expedition a few years later I actually found this book more interesting and whole heartedly recommend it.

A fascinating look at an overlooked expedition
The epic story of the Endurance expedition has overshadowed Shackleton's earlier Nimrod expedition, during which he and three comrades trekked to within 100 miles of the South Pole and other members of his expedition were the first to climb Mount Erebus and locate the South Magnetic Pole. This is a well-written account and gives a complete overview not only of the expedition but also of Shackleton's careful preparations. Read "South" by all means, but read this book by Shackleton too; it's excellent.

Leading at the Edge : Leadership Lessons from the Extraordinary Saga of Shackleton's Antarctic Expedition
Published in Hardcover by AMACOM (May, 2000)
Authors: Dennis N. T. Perkins, Margaret P. Holtman, Paul R. Kessler, Catherine McCarthy, and Dennis N. T. Perkins
Average review score:

Insightful!
When British explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton was busy saving his crew after a shipwreck in the Antarctic in 1914, you would guess that he wasn't thinking much about teaching leadership lessons. But author Dennis N.T. Perkins uses Shackleton's expedition to show how the leadership principles the explorer exercised can be applied to your work. He even adds modern case studies as illustration. This excellent book is at its best when it describes Shackleton's courageous rescue. He led his men to safety through a frozen wilderness by focusing on the ultimate goal of survival, setting a personal example, overcoming conflict, minimizing status differences, stressing teamwork and applying other essential leadership qualities. Though the principles may sound familiar, the book provides a dramatic new view of them, and it is written in a clear, crisp style. We at getAbstract.com recommend it to all corporate explorers.

Adventure, Survival, & Leadership
This outstanding book is a collection and analysis of leadership lessons from Ernest Shackleton's heroic 1914-1916 Antarctic expedition at the edge of survival. Shackleton's amazing adventure saga alone is a great read, but it is the leadership insights that make this book a "must-read."

Perkins carefully organized the book into four inter-related parts. After briefly summarizing the Shackleton expedition, in Part One Perkins presents his 10 strategies for leading at the edge:

1-Vision and Quick Victories: Never lose sight of the ultimate goal, and focus energy on short-term objectives.

2-Symbolism and Personal Example: Set a personal example with visible, memorable symbols and behaviors.

3-Optimism and Reality: Instill optimism and self-confidence, but stay grounded in reality.

4-Stamina: Take care of yourself: Maintain your stamina and let go of guilt.

5-The Team Message: Reinforce the team message constantly: "We are one - we live or die together."

6-Core Team Values: Minimize status differences and insist on courtesy and mutual respect.

7-Conflict: Master conflict - deal with anger in small doses, engage dissidents, and avoid needless power struggles.

8-Lighten Up!: Find something to celebrate and something to laugh about.

9-Risk: Be willing to take the Big Risk.

10-Tenacious Creativity: Never give up - there's always another move.

Interwoven with these strategies are detailed accounts from Shackleton's expedition and real world business examples to fully illustrate the strategies' applicability to today's leadership environments.

Part Two is case studies of four organizations that successfully applied the strategies and achieved remarkable success. In Part Three, Perkins "outlines a number of qualities and actions that...contribute to living, learning, and thriving at "The Edge."" Part Four provides the reader with some tools to further develop individual leadership skills.

Written by a former combat Lieutenant of Marines in Vietnam and current "President of The Syncretics Group, a consultancy that focuses on effective leadership in demanding environments," this book was a very enjoyable and informative study of leadership. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in learning about, and seeing if they have what it takes for, leading at the edge.

Authentic Leadership for the Real World
This is simply one of the finest, most fascinating, and most instructive leadership books I have ever read. Dr. Perkins and his co-authors have succeeded in clarifying the universal leadership principles and practices as they exist in the real world. Using the incredible true story of Shackleton's Antarctic Expedition as backdrop, and interweaving modern business examples to further illustrate the critical leadership lessons, Dr. Perkins has captured the heart, soul, and guts of leadership for the modern leader. Rather than stopping there, he also gives us the benefit of leadership lessons learned through his own intense experiences "leading at the edge" as a Marine Corps Infantry Officer in Vietnam, and as an organizational leadership consultant. It doesn't get any better than this extremely well-written work. If you, like me, are tired of the "leadership cookbooks" which crowd the bookstore shelves, search this one out. Read it. Discuss it with your family and your colleagues, and truly grow from the experience. The lessons are powerful, the stories are inspiring and instructive, and they work at the level of both metaphor and real-world example of what is possible in any organization when authentic leadership is present. Sean M. Georges, JD, LLM, is a former Marine Corps Officer and now serves as Vice President, Human Resources for a publicly-traded corporation.

Antarctic Antics
Published in Audio CD by Weston Woods Studios (September, 2001)
Author: Judy Sierra
Average review score:

Antarctic Antics
I purchased the CD because of the good reviews on the book. My seven year old loved the CD and I was surprised to find myself singing along. He's been learning about penguins at school - this is definitely a good way to reinforce what he has learned while having lots of fun in the process.

Fun for kids of all ages
An adult friend recommended this book to me (also an adult), figuring that I'd enjoy anything containing a poem titled "Regurgitate." She was right, and I found the rest of the book well-written and well-crafted, full of similar humor and the kind of realism-in-viewpoint that is sometimes (too often) lacking in books that feature animals. The illustrations are also excellent. I'm told that children do enjoy this book, but it's also captivated many of my adult friends ... including one woman to whom I presented a copy for her 55th birthday. Quality shines through any good work, and that's definitely true of "Antarctic Antics."

Charming
The book was very entertaining for my five year old granddaughter, making her laugh as well as learn about penguins.

The art work was as well done as the writing. I recommend it to anyone who is sly enough to teach through laughter and rhyme.

Endurance: An Illustrated Account of Shackleton's Incredible Voyage to the Antarctic
Published in Hardcover by Orion Publishing Co (14 September, 2000)
Authors: Alfred Lansing and Frank Hurley
Average review score:

Just Buy IT
....

OK, just go order this book right now and read it.

Now that we have that out of the way. Wow what a story! Ernest Shackleton what a man. Since the south pole had already been "discovered", in 1914 Shackelton decided to dog sled across the continent of Antarctica! Unfortunately opon reaching the east coast his ship became locked in the ice eventually completely demolished by the ice flow. Cast out they lived on a floating ice pack for five months! When they were down to one small berg they abandoned the ice and sailed in very small lifeboats to a barren rock Elephant Island. Here the majority stayed behind and Shackleton and small group sailed again in one of the lifeboats over 600 miles to a whaling port! Talk about endurance, the word pales in the accomplishment of these men. And mostly in the fortitude of will that one man Shackleton had.

Some enlightening aspects:

The men on Elephant Island so desperate for cigarettes they smoked the inside packing of their boots.

Shackleton dirty, stinky and having just climbed over impassible mountains knocking on the door of the whaling portmasters door and stating:

"My Name is Shackleton".

I highly recommend this white-knuckle, bone crunching, gut-wrenching adventure story that you will not be able to put down and will enthrall you. I was so excited I also bought the complete photo record by Frank Hurly.
....

Beyond Unimaginable
I literally couldn't put this book down. And that rarely happens. Yes, the story begins slowly as Lansing has to give us some background on the crew and some context for the expedition, which goes as planned for the first few months. But both the story and Lansing's telling of it become increasingly compelling as the events become more and more unbearable.

I mean, think about being stuck on a floating island of ice for 5 months, eating seals and penguins, exposed continually to sub-freezing (even sub-zero) conditions roughly 1000 miles from civilization's last outpost. And the truly horrendous conditions are yet to come! The story pushes you well into the territory of the unimaginable... and just keeps going. There seems no end to their trials, no constraints on the degree of their suffering. And yet all survive.

Others have said the Lansing version is the best, and I was very satisfied to read it first. It has narrative power. But I would also recommend you buy Caroline Alexander's book as a companion, mainly for Hurley's amazing photos but also for even more context on the flawed aspects of most expeditions during this period and the class differences among the Endurance's crew.

Still, this a story everyone should know. It really stretches the limits of what one imagines is humanly possible for one to endure. It's as if Shackleton and his men made definitive claim, for all time, to some capacity for survival that should make us all potentially much stronger than we tend to think we are.

Gripping, harrowing, triumphant
The story of the ill-fated 1914 Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, bent on glory, but ultimately humbled to the barest thread of survival. The Endurance becomes locked in an ice pack in the Weddell Sea, and is eventually crushed and sunk. The ship goes screaming into the icy deep. The men scurry for safety onto the surrounding ice. And that's just the beginning. I'm frankly surprised ANYONE survived this horrendous ordeal; if this were a novel, I'd say it's far-fetched. But it happened, and all hands survived. Imagine an acute scarcity of food, months on end in darkness, an interminable landscape of featureless whiteness, no sanitary facilities, and all through this you're cold and wet, and it's windy, and the temperature's below zero. You eat your sled dogs. You're nauseated from undercooked food. Your face and hands are frostbitten. You shiver even in your sleep. And no one knows you're marooned. Your only escape is to travel by open boat through the gale-wracked Drake Passage-the most treacherous body of water on Earth. Imagine your fingers are frozen numb, and yet you must chip off ice from the sail, and raise the sail, and tie the lines fast. Otherwise you'll sink and die. These men did the impossible-and they lived to tell about it.

Related Vacation Book Subjects: VacationBookReview anguilla antigua and barbuda Antarctica French_Southern_Territories South_Shetland_Islands
More Pages: antarctic Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8