The Last Explorer: Hubert Wilkins, Hero of the Great Age of Polar Exploration [Hardcover]

Simon Nasht (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 6, 2006

This riveting biography recounts the life of the world's first truly modern explorer, a life of unrelenting adventure and the high drama of polar exploration. Hubert Wilkins was the most successful explorer in history: no one saw with his own eyes more undiscovered land and sea. Largely self-taught, he was a celebrated reporter, pilot, spy, war hero, scientist, and adventurer. He captured in his lens war and famine, cheated death repeatedly, met world leaders like Lenin, Mussolini, and King George V, and circled the globe on a zeppelin. Knighted for being the first person to fly across the North Pole, Wilkins was also the first to fly in the Antarctic, discover land by airplane, and take a submarine under the Arctic ice.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Unlike such famous explorers as Amundsen, Peary, Scott, and Shackleton, Sir Hubert Wilkins is little known. Nasht has now brought Wilkins' exploits to readers' attention with this book. He writes that Wilkins began his exploration by sledging thousands of miles across ice and slogging for years on foot through the deserts and tropics. He was the first to grasp the potential of discovery from the air and by submarine and, in 1928, completed a map of the world in eight months of flying. In August 1931, aboard the submarine Nautilus, Wilkens and his crew were the first to dive into the Arctic Ocean. He was the first to fly across the North Pole, resulting in a knighthood; the first to fly to the Antarctic; and the first to discover land by plane. Wilkins, a scientist, was the first to understand the link between the pole and changing global weather. Anyone interested in the history of polar exploration will want to read this book. George Cohen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

Simon Nasht's thoroughly captivating account of the exploits of Hubert Wilkins makes for an exhilarating edge-of-your-seat read." -- John Berendt

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Arcade Publishing; 1St Edition edition (September 6, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1559708255
• ISBN-13: 978-1559708258
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,229,519 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Simon Nasht is an Australian-born writer, journalist and filmmaker. He has worked all over the world, lived in half a dozen countries and reported for leading newspapers and TV networks everywhere. His acclaimed documentaries have been shown by the likes of the BBC, ABC, National Geographic, PBS and public broadcasters in Europe, Japan, Canada and Australia. Simon's first non-fiction book, 'The Last Explorer' (aka No More Beyond) has been published in Australia, the UK and US. He is currently working on a new book and completing an international documentary series

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Greatest Unknown, March 30, 2006

By 

Roderick Eime (Sydney, AU) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Last Explorer: Hubert Wilkins, Hero of the Great Age of Polar Exploration (Hardcover)

The fact the Sir George Hubert Wilkins is a virtual unknown against the supposed greatness of his contemporaries, Hurley and Mawson, is due mainly to his "aggressive modesty".

Now Australians are rediscovering this truly remarkable man's life and Simon Nasht does him an immensely great service.

Simply a 'must-read'!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A blockbuster, February 19, 2007

By 

Gordon J. Sanderson (London, Ontario) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Last Explorer: Hubert Wilkins, Hero of the Great Age of Polar Exploration (Hardcover)

This true account of one man's lifelong exploration
of the polar regions makes history come alive. Yet for some reason Hubert Wilkins amazing exploits have faded from public memory.
This biography about a far-sighted adventurer who understood the importance of polar ice caps on global climate. It is a page turner that deserves a place on every bookshelf,an inspiration to the youth.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Any library interested in adventure biography will welcome this vivid account., February 2, 2007

By 

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

This review is from: The Last Explorer: Hubert Wilkins, Hero of the Great Age of Polar Exploration (Hardcover)

THE LAST EXPLORER: HUBERT WILKINS, HERO OF THE GREAT AGE OF POLAR EXPLORATION tells of the most successful explorer in history: a self-taught farm boy from the Australian outback who became a cameraman, reporter, pilot, spy and adventurer. His surveys were captured on camera, he helped map the Canadian Arctic, and his amazing life has only not received much in-depth coverage in past because he avoided publicity. Author Simon Nasht discovered Wilkins' journals, records and photos and used them to recreate his life and achievements: any library interested in adventure biography will welcome this vivid account.