Alone: The Classic Polar Adventure (Paperback)

by Richard E. Byrd (Author) "BOLLING ADVANCE WEATHER BASE, WHICH I MANNED ALONE during the Antarctic winter night of 1934, was planted in the dark immensity of the Ross Ice..." (more)
Key Phrases: Little America, Advance Base, Charlie Murphy (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
This reissue of Byrd's account of a grueling five-month stay at the South Pole in 1934 includes original illustrations by Richard Harrison.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal
In this 1938 volume, the great explorer recounts four months he spent alone gathering scientific data in a shack in Antarctica. The result is a remarkable story of survival and adventure. This facsimile edition is published in a blue typeface.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 310 pages
• Publisher: Island Press; 1 edition (August 8, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1559634634
• ISBN-13: 978-1559634632
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #209,348 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Admiral Byrd Goes Bipolar, December 27, 2000

By	Kenneth Blum (Orrville, Ohio USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Alone: The Classic Polar Adventure (Kodansha Globe.) (Paperback)

How low can it go.

That's the key question about the thermometer - an average of about -60 degrees - and Admiral Richard Byrd's mental state as he struggled to survive when he was, by choice, stranded "Alone" near the South Pole in 1934.

It is a rather amazing true tale of physical and psychic endurance. Admiral Byrd planned to set up an "Advance Base" (a weather station in the inland area of Antarctica) that was separated from the rest of his exploration team at Little America by 123 miles. For six months of the Antarctic winter, there would be no way for a rescue team to reach Advance Base.

Almost unbelievably, he decides to man the weather station by himself. The plan had been for three men to operate Advance Base, but he opts to go it alone because some supplies were lost and - the real reason - he wants the spiritual experience of being by himself.

Not a smart idea. Unless you're a bear with a whole lot of white fur, sitting on your duff during a bitter winter at the South Pole is not Club Med, South. As the fantastically frigid, dark and brutal winter sets in, Byrd discovers that it really is cold outside, and inside as well thanks to a faulty furnace that leaks carbon monoxide.

He blames the latter for the deterioration of his mental facilities and becomes all but immobilized by what appears to be, in today's psychobabble, severe clinical depression.

The resulting tale of mind over a continent of murderously icy, windy matter is eloquent and well-told. Admiral Byrd's courage and perseverance is inspiring. But his judgment, which got him into this polar predicament in the first place, is less than zero.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Classic Endures, November 19, 2005

By	D. S. Thurlow (Alaska) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

The polar explorer Richard E. Byrd's "Alone" is an absolutely gripping narrative of his winter-over at a remote weather station in the Antarctic in 1934. Byrd, the leader of a U.S. polar expedition based at "Little America" on the Ross Ice Shelf, had intended to place a three-man station in the interior of the Antarctic to gather valuable weather data. Circumstances drove him to limit the crew to just one person, and rather than subject anyone else to the accompanying dangers, Byrd elected to man the station by himself. Byrd's account of his stay, probably written with the assistance of his good friend Charles Murphy, captures the mundane details of survival in complete darkness and staggeringly cold temperatures. It also candidly relates his struggles to survive relentless solitude and an increasingly dangerous equipment failure that came near to taking his life.

Byrd writes from another era, when mechanization was just beginning to have a major impact on exploration in extreme environments and when the interior of the Antarctic was still very much a forbidding place, nearly as remote to the world of 1934 as the surface of the Moon is now. His narrative captures the vast primitive awesomeness of the polar regions, something largely unknown to those who live outside the high latitudes. His struggle to survive is in part an effort of will to define himself against this awful grandeur; it is this element of the story that endures and fascinates today.

Kieran Mulvaney's afterword provides necessary context for Byrd's narrative and should not be overlooked, although it includes what may well be an unjustified slur on the achievements of Robert Peary. This book is highly recommended to the reader who desires to know something of a world foreign to the relatively comfortable existance most Americans experience today.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Can fundamentally alter one's perception of nature and life., December 1, 1998

By	Matt Taylor (Brooklyn, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Alone: The Classic Polar Adventure (Kodansha Globe.) (Paperback)

This book has the capacity to fundamentally alter the way one perceives nature and life. However, the most striking aspect of the book was Byrd's view of religion. While religious discussion does not consume a large portion of the text, Byrd's insights into the matter are unique and very interesting, especially to to the freethinking agnostic. Without catering to a particular denomination, his take on religion is a self-reliant, logical, hearty one that somehow manages to be spiritual and graceful at the same time. This is due, in large part, to the fact that so much of this view is based on his admiration and astonishment at the complexities of nature. A truly inspiring piece of work, it can crack chinks into the souls of even hardened skeptics and remind us all that life is a panorama of personal emotional relationships with others that make our own continued survival worthwhile.