The Worst Journey in the World: Antarctic, 1910-13 [Hardcover]

Apsley Cherry-Garrard (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1994

Tells the story of Scott's last expedition to the Antarctic from its departure in 1910 to its return in 1913. The author was, himself, a member of the expedition. The party was plagued by bad luck, weather conditions of unanticipated ferocity and the physical deterioration of the party on the last part of the journey. Confronted by the shattering knowledge that Roald Amundsen had reached the South Pole a month before them, Scott's party then had to negotiate the last part of the journey, a doomed attempt which entered into modern history.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 688 pages
• Publisher: Picador; New edition edition (August 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0330335855
• ISBN-13: 978-0330335850
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.4 x 2.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,672,834 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Worst Journey - best book, December 14, 2000

By 

A. Woodley "Patroness, Janeites, the Austen list" (New Zealand) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Worst Journey in the World: Antarctic, 1910-13 (Hardcover)

Apsley Cherry-Garrard's amazing tale of life in the Antarctic as the youngest member of Scott's fatal expedition. I was gripped from the very first line of this book; "Polar exploration is at once the cleanest and most isolated way of having a bad time which has been devised." He describes wearing clothes for 6 months with no dirt building up on them, or it being 'more lonely than London' and later he talks of his later experiences in the Great War (1914-18) where the polar explorers felt, considering what they had been through, the trenches were a relatively comfortable alternative. In short Cherry-Garrard has a simple way with words that I loved.

This Antartctic trip lasted some three years and ended with Scott's heroically-futile death - painfully close to supplies and help. Cherry-Garrard was one of those left at the base camp so he survived the trip - but don't think that his lot was much easier than those that struggled to the Pole. The book is as much about the Antarctic and the terrible hardships as about the people of the expedition. Cherry-Garrard's writing and his character seem to personify the stoic, good-humour of the men around him.

The book is very long and I have to admit that I needed extra maps to make sense of where they were - even though there are maps throughout the book. This is not a book, I think, for someone who is not interested in reading further about exploration in the Antarctic, but it makes an excellent start point to read others.

On a purely aesthetic note, the hard-cover version from Picador has the most wonderful cover and comes with a little ribbon to mark your place. It feels really lovely to read it.

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best Antarctic adventure tales, April 30, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Worst Journey in the World: Antarctic, 1910-13 (Hardcover)

One of the members of Scott's last expedition to Antarctica was the author of this book, who at the time was one of the youngest members of the group. Cherry-Garrard recounts his personal adventures as part of the expedition, as well as the fate of the small group who trekked to the South Pole with Scott (they died on the return journey). However, Cherry-Garrard, with two other expedition members, made a journey that was far more harrowing than Scott's trek to the pole -- a journey of some weeks across the Antarctic ice shelf in winter! Walking in the near-total darkness, Cherry-Garrard's group man-hauled their heavy sledges, almost lost their tents in a gale(without which they would have perished), and endured extremes of temperature that not even Scott experienced -- all in pursuit of the rarest of prizes -- the eggs of an Emperor penguin (in order to study the animal's development). Unfortunately, in later years Cherry-Garrard would suffer from repeated nervous breakdowns, partly due to his war experiences and partly to his (misplaced) conviction that he might have been able to save Scott and his polar party. Cherry-Garrard was the last person to visit the farthest supply dump, called One-Ton Depot; Scott and his group would die a mere eight miles from this depot. However, at the time Cherry-Garrard visited the depot, Scott and his men were much farther away than this -- they also weren't expected to arrive back yet for some weeks. Although his expedition comrades in later years would try to make it clear to him that it would be absolutely impossible for him to have saved Scott, he was never entirely convinced. Of all the polar adventure books I have read, this will always stand out to me as one of the most thrilling.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Epic tales of survival and discovery in Antarctica, July 30, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: The Worst Journey in the World: Antarctic, 1910-13 (Hardcover)

Apsley Cherry-Garrard recounts the heroic stuggle for survival during the exploration of Antarctica early in the 20th century. Much of the text was collected from the diaries of the explorers, and includes excerpts from Sir Robert Falcon Scott's ill-fated journey to the Pole, and Cherry-Garrard's deep winter trek across the Ross Ice Shelf to obtain an emperor penguin's egg.

An incredible history of triumphs against relentlessly harsh conditions. It's enough to make even the most hardy armchair-explorer huddle closer to the fireplace