Customer Reviews

Discoveries: North Pole, South Pole (Discoveries (Harry Abrams))

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Overall, an informative book on the race for the poles. Just be sure you know a bit about the subject before you read this.

This book is loaded with illustrations and photos, covering all periods of polar exploration. Unfortunately, maps aren't given the same treatment. Dozens upon dozens of voyages are covered in the text, but when it comes to showing the paths these explorers took, you are stuck with two maps, one for each pole, with lines, dashes, arrows, and dates all thrown together. Many of the explorers aren't even represented on the maps at all. It would be nice to have the maps broken up more, grouping the earliest voyages, the ones that almost crossed the Circles, etc.

Also, the format of the chapters could use some cleaning up and more chronological order. The text rapidly darts from one subject to another, and jumping forward and backward in the text was often required. Startling to me was the fact that a discussion of Antarctica's environment, geography, etc, is presented in the BACK of the book! Sure, this book is on the explorers, but it would be nice to let the reader know early on exactly what the explorers were up against and why they were limited in how far they could go.

My final problem with this book, and probably the largest, is its emphasis on Scott's Antarctic expedition, romanticizing it like so many other texts (and history in general) have done. Even though Amundsen was first, he always gets overshadowed by Scott's disaster. More emphasis should be put on Amundsen's expedition, which succeeded due to experience and planning, instead of relying on luck and "the human spirit".

The "Discoveries Series" appears to be designed for first-time readers, but I couldn't recommend this book to one.