Customer Reviews

The South Pole: An Account of the Norwegian Antarctic Expedition in the Fram, 1910-1912

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Recent years have seen a re-examination of the Golden Age of Antarctic Exploration. Roland Huntford in his excellent books "The Last Place on Earth" and "Shackleton" helped to debunk the myth of the glorious failure (Scott the Martyr) as an example to follow.

The greatest tale of this age was surrounded by no great tales of hardship, no honeyed or sanitised versions of the deed. In this book we hear in the words of the greatest exponent of the art of polar travel, the story of that rarest of plans - the perfectly executed coup.

For a coup it was. When Amundsen turned from the North Pole to the South after the question of "the great nail" had been settled by Cook & Peary, his decision was treated in many sectors (most notably an unbalanced and jingoistic British Press) as underhanded and double dealing. Amundens account of the reasoning behind it makes clear that any deceit was necessary to ensure no forestalling of his plans by others - not only Scott. To ensure the future of his extended plan (the drift across the Arctic which was eventually carried out in the "Maud") he knew the Press Barons would need an exclusive and juicy story. The South Pole would give him this currency.

The book is written in an honest and clean style - an extension of the Man and his nature. The hardships faced are almost disguised by the simple tale of their telling. To strike up an unknown glacier and forge his way over virgin ground on the way to the polar plateau and the Pole itself displays fortitude and grit we can only marvel at in todays world. But his description of the task is hidden behind a work-a-day narrative. To truly appreciate the splendour of the achievement is difficult in our modern era.

One cannot help but admire the total outcome of the plan. There are few tales in history and few great men who can truly say they accomplished exactly what they set out to do in the manner in which they planned. Those who can are Masters of their field. Amundsen is such a man - and master.

A feature of this book is the credit given by Amundsen to those who went with him. Where others claimed responsibility for the great deeds of their men, Amundsen retreats to the background and gives the credit to those who did the act. Natural humility is a trait of the Norwegian nature and Amundsen shows this in the writing of the book. There is no playing to the crowd but deeds are allowed to speak for themselves.

To appreciate the tale, read the book and marvel.

Don't waste your money on the Indy Publishing edition of this book. No pictures, no maps, no dust jacket. It is no fun to read a full paragraph description by the author of an incident that was recorded with a photograph that is not in the book. A better investment would be the paper back edition.

Roald Amundsen's "The South Pole" is a detailed, even exhaustive account of his successful 1910-1912 expedition to the South Pole. Amundsen's expedition was the first to reach the South Pole, after failures by other expeditions.

Amundsen was relentlessly methodical and practical in planning and executing the expedition. He identified a practical method of travel for the long haul to the South Pole from the Antarctic coast: dog sleds and skiis. He and his crew experimented and tested all their equipment and supplies in the Antarctic while patiently waiting for the right weather to travel. In striking contrast to his British competitor, Robert Falcon Scott, Amundsen correctly estimated the amount of food that would be consumed by physically active men operating for weeks in sub-zero temperatures. Amundsen's preparation is so complete that the actual expedition sometimes has all the drama of a weekend fishing trip. Amundsen was apparently a modest man, and it falls to Roland Huntford in an introduction to draw the obvious comparison with the catastrophic failure of the Scott expedition.

Amundsen's account provides all the detail necessary for anyone who might wish to duplicate his feat. Unfortunately, his writing style is very dry and even dedicated students of polar exploration may find finishing this book a long haul.

This book is highly recommended to students of the history of polar travel.

Be aware that the "book" of the above title is a very poorly made OCR scan of the original at Stanford. It is barely readable and loaded with errors and missing pages. My copy was printed two days after I ordered it, according to a note on the last page. So be careful! Other books of similar title are vastly preferable, such as those from Forgotten Books, similarly priced.

This book was a lot of fun, in a geeky documentary sort of way.

Amundsen had a dry sense of humor, kind of like Tolkien. You know, polite and proper but every once in a while you can picture an arched eyebrow. Like Gandalf cracking a subtle joke. If you are not paying attention, you will miss it... but if you *are* paying attention, it'll make you chuckle.

I laughed out loud several times when reading this book, which is something I never did when reading other Antarctica books.

So if you are worried about this book being "dry" and "boring", well, did you like Lord of the Rings? If so, Amundsen's writing might "click" with you too.

Don't buy the "General Books, LLC" edition of this book. It was recreated using an "Optical Character Recognition" software, which means that there are errors in spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc. It has no foreword, maps, pictures, or Figures, even though the original book included these things. In addition, about 7 pages filled with 1's and 0's, perhaps as a translation to figures or pictures. Buy the alternate edition with Huntford's foreword.

Scanned with an Optical Character Recognition program and poorly done at best. Some sections are incomplete or unreadable The title sort of suggests the actual assault on the South Pole. The title should have not included the words "The South Pole(1):"

What a shame. The actual contents of this book by explorer Roald Amundsen was 5 stars. Incredible action, great descriptions of their ship the fram, provisions, their food....everything was great. I really got into the book and was enjoying it very much when I get to an OCR software mistake, misprints, misspelling and words together. Many mistakes throughout the book. Also one large paragraph so bad I could not make it out.

General books says in the book they are using OCR software to help print the book and avoid proof reading to keep costs low. Do yourself a favor and buy Amundsen's account part 1 or 2 NOT in an OCR software edition book. Pay the extra 2 dollars or more for an error free book. Its so frustrating reading something so enjoyable and having to stop for mistakes and sort things out. A major distraction for me.

Now the good parts. Amundsen had a sense of humor and loved his sled dogs. However his people party were most important and if a dog was not able to keep up and pull the sled he would have the animal killed and if needed the other dogs would feed on it. Animal lovers will say this is horrible but Amundsen was a realest who survived -70F temperatures and got all his men back. Poor explorer Scott lost his life and 4 others after reaching the pole after Amundsen.

Amundsen's 95% effort was to reach the South Pole first and 5% scientific exploration. He did all he planned in a most efficient method using dogs to pull sleds and clothing more in tune what the native people of the far north would wear. The man had his act together and did not try to do all things like Scott's expedition did. Scott used ponies, snow tractors and dogs. Most all failed him and his 5 man polar group manhandled/pulled their sleds to the pole and partially back by themselves. Poor planning, bad weather that cost 5 lives.

Amundsen and his men returned to Norway as heroes being the first to conquer the South Pole. Scott and his polar party were heroes too but perished.

Amundsen's tale is 5 stars and fantastic but this OCR software book for me dragged it down with many mistakes to 2 stars. I do recommend you getting Amundsen's story about going to the South Pole and the ship the "fram" but get a regular printed book NOT an OCR software printed edition.

P.S.After so much disappointment reading the crummy 2 star General OCR edition, I bought the Cooper Square Press edition. What a difference. This book is the one to get 5 star. No OCR mistakes. Great pictures. Part 1 and 2 are done so well. Also great Appendix. All about the Fram, about Meteorology, Oceanography, and Astronomical observations at the pole. This book was a masterpiece. So detailed and exciting. Make sure you get the thick Cooper Square Press edition. Do not waist your time and money on the poorly done OCR General book.

P.P.S. My family and father actually were on the "fram" in a museum in Norway and I took a picture of my Dad holding the steering wheel. Great vacation and happy memories. The General books OCR edition stunk with too many printing errors, misspelling, and words together. An entire large paragraph destroyed. What a way to ruin a great true polar exploration story.The 800 page plus Cooper edition was fantastic. Highly recommended 5 star plus.

Roald Amundsen's account of his South Polar dash reveals how modest the man really was. He, alone (with the help of brother Leon), collected funds, found a suitable vessel, recruited professional polar travelers, bought dogs, food, materials of every kind, fought against incredible odds just to leave port with the expedition...all the while keeping it a secret!

Yes he was deceptive, but he was succesful! His only concern was to get to the Pole and back. He never suggest otherwise. But woudn't you agree that there is a serious contradiction when the Scott expedition is concern? How can you brag going to Antarctica with an extensive program for the sake of "science", and still travel like cavemen over the ice man-hauling in terrible condition?

The only thing missing from Amundsen's story is his relation with Johanssen, most specifically the tension between those two that endangered Amundsen's leadership when he started too early in september.

I advise you to read both "Scott's journals" and "The South Pole" before going into all the others major books who analyses both men's work. That way, you'll be able to make your mind more freely about both explorers.

Author: Roald Amundsen
Title: The South Pole
Time: 1910-1912
Destination: the South Pole
Length: almost 2 years
Type: some sailing, then mostly on sleds
Rating: 8/10
The professional

[Note: I've been reading a German translation of this book.]

The story: RA originally didn't want the Pole in the South, instead he wanted the one in the North. But when he found out that he wasn't going to be the first up there, he chose to secretly engage in the race to the South Pole against Robert Falcon Scott instead. And he won. He was the superior planner and a sober-minded professional, and he didn't rely on ponies or on experimental electrical sleds, but on dogs. In fact he took so many canines with him that he and his team made it to the South Pole in a breeze, skiing almost all the way, despite all the dangers - and they even slaughtered a bunch of their dogs for meat!

So what about the resulting book? Honestly, I didn't have a very good opinion of this guy before I read it. My tears over Scott hadn't even had time to dry yet.

But, to my surprise, I found out that I really enjoyed RA's writing: He tells his story in a laconic voice that never sounds pretentious or self-absorbed. There is a certain sense of dry humor and self-consciousness leaking through some of his words, and I found that very charming.

Obviously, much like Scott's account, this one also has some boring parts about technical stuff and equipment as well. But RA's story is well worth reading, especially since it deals with some of the questions that his rival had no chance to answer.

A down-to-earth type of travelogue by a professional.

8/10