Customer Reviews

Mawson's Antarctic Diaries

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A GREAT BOOK. What makes it so special is the honesty and generosity of Sir Douglas Mawson's dairy, the dairy of a true real-life hero. Normally in any Polar book or narrative, everybody enjoys everybody's company, all works hard, they all help each other. No so in Mawson's story.

First, he tell us with surprising frankness about Edward Wilson "I don't like him". This is VERY unexpected because Uncle Bill Wilson was viewed by everybody who's been in contact with him as a charming man, a man with a good ear, a mediator, a man who has got along with everybody, and then, you have Mawson say this! Secondly, his picture of the time spent in the Cape Denison hut (AAE) is very interesting. He talks at lenght about some lazy or mentally unstable men he had to live with at close quarters like Leslie Whetter and Sydney Jeffries.

That's the kind of info and honesty you won't find anywhere else.

Finally, you may have heard about his solo return journey in Antarctica after Ninnis and Mertz tragic deaths (that alone is worth the book) but you will learn about how he cope and recovered from all the privations and cruel conditions he so heroically endured after he was rescued.

That's the kind of book you won't read only once.