Antarctica: Exploring the Extreme: 400 Years of Adventure [Hardcover]

Marilyn J. Landis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2001

Fabulous sights, hair-raising escapes, jubilant homecomings, and agonizing losses abound in this unique historical adventure. Far more complete than competing narratives of Antarctic exploration, Antarctica: Exploring the Extreme documents dozens of voyages, from the earliest days of long-distance sea travel, through the rapacious exploitation of seal and whale in the 19th century, to the 20th-century overland expeditions racing to the South Pole. The drama continues as 10 nations scramble to claim the continent, and a review of today’s Antarctica by region details further expeditions as well as geology, terrain, and historical and scientific sites.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Freelance writer and earth scientist Landis made several trips to Antarctica to research this historical survey of Antarctic exploration. The book is divided into three parts. Part 1, on general exploration, describes the voyages of the great explorers Ferdinand Magellan, Sir Francis Drake, James Cook, Capt. F.F. Bellinghausen, James Weddell, Dumont D'Urville, Charles Wilkes, Sir James Clark Ross, Robert F. Scott, Sir Ernest Shackleton, Roald Amundsen, and Richard Byrd. Part 2, on regional exploration, covers expeditions to the Antarctic Peninsula, the Weddell Sea, the Ross Sea, East Antarctica, and selected sub-Antarctic islands. Part 3, on historical geography and wildlife, chronicles the geological development of the continent and its wildlife. Landis has a knack for quickly characterizing historical figures, mentioning that Magellan "was a small, wiry, unassuming man with a severe limp" or that Drake was "permanently lamed" by a Spanish musket ball still in his leg from his exploits in Panama. There is some overlap of coverage, and names from Part 1 inevitably resurface in Part 2, but this well-written history is the best recent historical survey of Antarctica and a very good purchase for public and undergraduate collections. John Kenny, San Francisco P.L.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Landis, a geologist and earth scientist specializing in Antarctica, traveled to the continent seven times to research this book, which documents dozens of voyages to the region. She begins with diaries and narratives of the famous (and the obscure), including Magellan, Cook, Drake, Ross, Scott, Shackleton, Amundsen, and Weddell--men who searched for the unknown land and "respectively found acclaim and ignominy." With the aid of 25 black-and-white photographs, Landis narrates the Belgica expedition, which got trapped in the pack ice along the Antarctic Peninsula; the Endurance expedition, Shackleton's great epic of survival and hope in the Weddell Sea pack ice; and Douglas Mawson's horrific solo trek back to Commonwealth Bay. Landis also explores this hostile climate's geography and wildlife. George Cohen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Chicago Review Press; 1 edition (October 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1556524285
• ISBN-13: 978-1556524288
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,153,501 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A great overview of the continent - could have been better, January 6, 2003

By 

J. J. Kwashnak "voracious reader" (Monroe, LA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Antarctica: Exploring the Extreme: 400 Years of Adventure (Hardcover)

Antarctica represents for many the final frontier on a greatly explored Earth. Yet for such an unknown land (Terra Incognita) it has exerted a strong pull on the imagination of adventurers and explorers for hundreds of years. Some of the stories are not well known, others are exhaustively chronicles, such as explorations by Byrd and Shackelford. Landis takes an overview position, presenting stories briefly, to try and weave a tapestry of exploration, adventure and danger. As a result, some of the stories seem to get the short shrift, but an exhaustive history of the continent is not the objective. It is an overview exploration that she is getting at, written by one who has obviously fallen in love with the continent. It's a great starting off point for those who are interested or falling in love with Antarctica.

But the book suffers from a major flaw that so many other books on Antarctica suffer - the lack of maps and illustration. She takes great pains to describe details of trips, discoveries, and pushes towards the pole, yet there is only a rough map of explorations (which does not neatly correspond with what is being written about) and one somewhat detailed map inside the cover, which is inadequate and does not even show the entire continent. I found myself frustrated and turning to other atlases to try and put her descriptions into real life context. It keeps the book from really reaching some of its potential.

Also, in the last chapter of the book, Landis goes on to describe the animal life of Antarctica, which is very good. But it quickly gets boring and tedious with no illustration of the animals she is describing. Again, to differentiate between the various types of penguins or seals would be helpful to see what is being written about. Instead we are forced to work with the mind's eye, which is a sin when trying to introduce the wonder and diversity of life.

These deficiencies keep a good book from being a great book. Still, worth giving a chance, if nothing else that to give yourself a glimpse into an area many of us yearn for, but few will ever get to see.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent coverage of various Antarctic expeditions, April 10, 2002

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Antarctica: Exploring the Extreme: 400 Years of Adventure (Hardcover)

400 years of exploration history and adventure are charted in this survey of various attempts to reach the South Pole. From early whaling expeditions and attempts to chart the magnetic south pole to later explorations for wildlife studies and resource management, this provides an excellent coverage of various Antarctic expeditions over the decades.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A thorough account of the exploration of Antarctica., November 16, 2003

By 

Seth J. Frantzman (Jerusalem, Israel) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Antarctica: Exploring the Extreme: 400 Years of Adventure (Paperback)

This small book covers every successful and some unsuccessful attempts to conquer the southern continent. It covers the entire period, from captain Cooks first sightings of ice around Antarctica through to the present where Antarcticas frigid landscape is dotted with international stations. This is a thorough investigation of the worlds attempts to conquer a barren frigid continent, from attaining the `grail' of the South Pole to charting the landscape of Mt. Erebus. A good account and an excellent overview.

Separate sections detail exploration of the various seas(Weddel and Ross) as well as the continents wildlife and resources.