Antarctica Books

There is no derring-do in this story of 3 mens voyage to Antarctica. And not just a voayge, a 528km Kayaking trip from the Northern most tip of Antartica, heading south......as you do for your summer holidays....While there are threats and potential problems, the reality of the trip was that most of them didn't come to fruition. So this is more than just a book about close shaves, encounters with man-eating wildlife, and battling the odds- but it is a very real tale of three men and their close encounter with Antartica from Kayaks.

I didn't really enjoy the book in the first few chapters at first. It felt trite, there was a great deal about planning and the problems of expeditioning. HOwever once the trip began it suddenly became a very real and fascinating read. Each chapter is told in turns by one of the three paddlers and their perspective, tone and issues come through adding colour and depth to each of the sections.

The book is beautifully illustrated by Graham Charles's photographs. And while the wildlife was gorgeous - penguins, seals, and whales, and the landscape spectacular - the photo which haunts me is the pictures by Charles of 'Jonesy' hood up, head down, paddling through sloppy seas, with wind howling around him, said most to me about the trip. It was probably easier and more scenic to take the spectacular shots, but this was ultimately human.

Once I had read it through I went straight back and read this book again. It is a great read. I suppose for the needs of their sponsors they mentioned pretty much everyone who helped them in the beginning, but their planning chapter - while logically at the beginning of the book, I found made better reading the second time around.

The great thing about these three is they are good friends, and the friendship has clearly stayed with them - they have since done another trip which is a book I would also like to read now. I enjoyed reading the human element of their voyage, and their individual way of doing things. As they point out, expeditions often fall apart because small individual differences in the way each member operates become annoyances to other members.

The three men write well, without interlarding their text with unnecessary superlatives. They leave issues to the intelligence of the reader to sort out. So when they are sunbathing naked on the shores of a bay and a cruise ship with 500 passengers turn up, it is discussed sparingly and left to the reader to imagine, not just what the cruise ship passengers must have felt seeing three naked kayakers on shore, but how it feels for the three men to be in the middle of one of the most remote regions in the world, with 500 extra guests.

This book is a real keeper - and I will be getting other books by the group.

My brother and I went on an expedition ship along the Antarctic Peninsula last year. We brought back some great images, but 8 days in the area wasn't nearly enough. The images in this book are magic, especially so when you remember everything was carried in and done from 3 kayaks. The typical Kiwi understatement may hide the true passion that must be there to undertake such an unearthly challenge. I can understand the immense effort involved, and also the absolute fascination of this unique environment. So much so, that we're going back next January for a 21 day trip. Can't wait.

Thanks guy's for an un-put-downable read and set of images!

Very well written. Read from cover to cover without stopping. A tribute to the vision, research and sheer determination to succeed and overcome awesome conditions at times. Very philosophical in attitude to overcome daunting prevailing circumstances.

The trio of authors are New Zealanders, with Charles the photographer. With the journalist Moodie, they do a journal of their incredible kayak trip around the Antarctic Peninsula jutting out toward South America. Charles's dramatic photos shift back and forth between shots of the kayaking and camping, and the forbidding, rugged, yet entrancing Antarctic landscape. The journal records the hardships and satisfactions on the challenging trip. The section "Equipment" following the text and photos lists the varied gear and supplies needed for the trip--which list in itself testifies to the uniqueness of the physical challenge and the hardships the kayakers had to overcome by careful preparation, ingenuity, and determination.

One day New Zealander Graham Charles realizes that no one else has kayaked the Artarctic Peninsula, and so he rounds up two similarly experienced Kiwi paddle pals to join him on a 528-mile voyage that is so well-planned it's almost dusty. (The fourth author, Sarah Moodie, is a journalist involved only in the writing end.) The three men write a little about each other and a little more about the trip per se (this is not a text-heavy production), each taking for himself one section of the journey. All in all there's more hard work than drama here, at least partly because their planning (exemplified by an excellent chapter on equipment) precluded the endless death-defying adventures, mishaps and show-off machismo that are all too commonly the stock of books of the into-the-void variety. In short there are some thrills--but no thrills. The gang's greatest drama, in fact, comes when they're in someone else's hands, being ferried back to Argentina.

The prose is workmanlike and in all there's a rather muted emotional tone here: The paddlers seem to think the voyage is a bit of all right as a fairly extreme male-bonding experience, but clearly no one's actually obsessed with it. To pump the emotional temperature up a bit, Mme. Moodie is dragooned to staple on some sonorous and high-flown prose about the idealism of adventure: how man must needs go a-questing, a-daring the unknown, and how the race needs people test themselves. Jeez: There's even a Mission Statement! Adding this claptrap to a lot of sudden realizations of man's wee-tiny place in the vast universe occasionally made me long for George Mallory's empty-headed (but brief!) explanation of why he wan ted to climb Everest: "Because it's there."

But then there are the photos. Many of them are so perfectly exposed and beautifully composed that they look like studio shots or Sierra Club posters. They make you wonder who carried the 8X10 view cameras--and who lugged Ansel Adams. I'd like to see these shots three times as big and three times as many. They're perfect for winter dreaming by the fire with your feet up and some wine at your elbow. You can stare at them until you fall right into the frame.--Bill Marsano is an award-winning editor and writer whose own kayaking voyages fill only pages, not books.

This is a book I happened on by chance. I picked it out of the new book section of the library by the title and checked it out after reading the inside cover. I'm glad that I did. While I only rate it 4 out of 5, it was an interesting book and worth reading.

The book is centered on telling the story of a Royal Navy officer and his trials to survive against impossible odds. The main story is set during the Second World War on the continent of Antarctica. The British Royal Navy sends a small force to establish a weather station while also carrying out a top-secret mission. A German U-Boat intercepts the periodic weather forecasts and is able to triangulate the stations position. The station is attacked when the protagonist and a junior man are off taking core samples. Upon returning, they find the station totally destroyed and the commander barely clinging onto life. As they race for the northern peninsula, the adventure begins. If they don't make it in time, the ice will make rescue impossible. And a winter without a proper shelter is impossible to survive in this harsh continent. In the end, only one man survives. He claims to have lost his memory of the events before his rescue and he longs to return. Then we are able to learn why.

I have often wondered why anyone would want to visit or live in Antarctica. It seems like a barren place, devoid of life. But this book has shown me the beauty and wonder of that most untouched of our continents. I did not realize the amount of life existing during the summer months, that can exceed almost all other places on earth during the peak. It was truly a memorable story that was as shocking at time as it was touching.

There is only one complaint that I have about the book. It seems quite petty, but it was a major detraction as I was really getting into it. The setting is 1942. I am in a mindset of World War Two. All surrounding are described with the technology available then. The tent material wasn't modern day synthetics. But, at one point, the penguins jumping over a 5 feet ridge are described as "jump jets". This really hit me wrong. I was taken out of the 1940's mindset and propelled back to modern day, with one poorly chosen metaphor. This is a minor issue and you will certainly enjoy the book.

This book is beautifully written and will appeal to people who enjoy various disparate genres: mysteries, nature/science writing, travel writing, historical narratives. I've passed this book on to nearly everyone in my family and we've all found it riveting.

This story actualy tells the truth about what practicaly any man would do in a certain situation which meant life or death. You would have to forget every humaine thing you've learned to survive. This story proves it.

White-Out is a powerful novel of survival on the most desolate place on earth--Antarctica. Marshall weaves one man's tale of human survival with the majesty of life on the desolate continent. The protagonist, Lockwood, finds himself trying to survive on the most inhospitable place on earth and in the process comes to love the god-forsaken land. Its majestic beauty and rich varied wildlife, unmarred by human-kind becomes the sole confidant in Lockwood's fight for survival. The end finds Lockwood returning the favor in a compelling moral climax.

British author James Vance Marshall, best known for his novel of the Australian outback, "Walkabout," has written a riveting psychological study of an ordinary man's struggle for survival through an Antarctic winter in 1942.

The novel begins after his rescue, in the office of a military psychologist assigned to treat the uncommunicative Lt. James Lockwood, sole survivor of the Royal Navy's secret mission to the forbidding continent. The doctor, directed to break through Lockwood's suspect amnesia and uncover the results of his top-secret mission, sympathizes with his patient's obvious trauma and recommends he be left alone.

Later, the case haunts him. "I am afraid that if Lockwood keeps his secrets (whatever they are) perpetually bottled up, they will become an incubus, like a dead albatross tied for the rest of his life round his neck."

The novel then drops back to the beginning of the mission, ostensibly a military weather station, but also an urgent, secret hunt to find uranium for Britain's nuclear bomb project. Meanwhile, a German U-boat, forced south by an Allied ship, discovers the station and destroys it, killing everyone but the commander, John Ede, who is badly wounded, and two men out fetching rock samples, Lockwood and Petty-Officer Ramsden.

Returning to the devastation, Lockwood and Ramsden realize their only hope is to reach the Antarctic Peninsula before it's iced in - 200 miles in two or three weeks. Carrying their helpless commander and the uranium rock samples will render their task even more hopeless. But Lockwood cannot abandon Ede and Ede will not abandon the uranium, so the two able-bodied men take turns dragging the heavy sledge.

Weather favors them, giving rise to hope. Each day Ede grows weaker but remains alive. Ramsden, more practical than Lockwood but accustomed to following orders, would abandon Ede to save themselves and their mission but Lockwood will not. Their streak of luck falters, fails, and the continent batters them.

Marshall slowly strips Lockwood of the accoutrements of civilization - bodily comfort, companionship, food, light. Isolated in the frozen dark, on a continent abandoned by all forms of life, Lockwood falls back on the primal instinct to survive. His mind becomes his only solace and his greatest peril.

The vast, majestic, terrifying beauty of Antarctica comes alive in this penetrating and sympathetic portrayal of a man thrown upon his deepest resources. Instinct and spiritual epiphany meet and mesh in a manner impossible in civilized society, a contradiction Lockwood must reconcile upon his return. But can he? And if he could, would anyone understand?

Marshall's plain, simple style, and attention to detail, reflective of Lockwood's mind, makes a perfect foil for the immensity of the landscape and the man's ordeal. Powerful, suspenseful and moving, "White-Out" succeeds on many levels.

I purchased this book for it's content(penguin info), and the illustrations. It exceeded my expectations.

Very good book, came quickly, faster then was told. I'm looking forward to my next purchase.

This is a story about the emperor penguins of Antarctica and it touches on the Weddel seals and the Adélie penguins as well. The first have of this beautifully illustrated book explains how the female emperor lays her egg and how the male tends to it for up to two months while the female is at sea. It's just a fascinating introduction for a child about how different animals can be from us and also, how important they are.

The story also introduces the child to the effects man is having on the lives of the animals that live in the frozen south. Ms. Cowcher's drawings are just so captivating, that your child can't help caring about the animals. It's a good primer for the Greens, for caring, for perhaps a future Rainbow Warrior.

Sophie Cacique Gaul

The first thing that drew me to this nonfiction book was the gorgeous illustrations by Cowcher. They are beautiful. Her use of "cool" colors such as blue, purple, green, and gray add to the wonder of this book. If you are a teacher, this would make a great addition to your personal library to use with units on penguins or Antarctica. It also comes in a "big book" format and is worth the money!

If you can find a copy of this book, read it. Douglas Mawson, a veteran of the 1907-1909 Shackleton expedition, returned to the Antarctic in 1912 with his own team. His sledge journey with two companions turned from a harsh but rewarding exploration into a terrifying fight for survival in an instant. At almost the same time as Scott was busily scribbling inspiring hoo-hah in his diary trying to cover up his appalling faults of leadership and organization, Mawson was courageously fighting for his life and refusing to lie down and die. An incredible story! One hopes that Australia remembers Sir Douglas Mawson and his fortitude. He is an example to all of us.

I am so delighted this book has been reissued because the original version was impossible to find. This is a story that earns its subtitle, "The Greatest Survival Story Every Told". This story is incredible and you truly feel that you as a reader are experiencing Mawson's ordeal yourself. It does what a book should do--it puts you on the ice with Mawson, his companions and the dogs. This is a rare book that makes you think--at the moment when Mawson thinks it--that you are so glad he still has "one more paw" left to eat.
Read this book and you will never be the same. It's an awesome book, thrilling and it shows you by comparison what is lacking in so many so-called adventure tales: cojones.
I am surprised this has never been made into a movie and I might write it myself. It's just a fantastic, inspiring story.

The other reviewer's comments are appreciated, this book will redefine your definition of "discomfort". He may not be one of the most well known, but Mawson was one of the world's greatest, and toughest explorers.

This is a depressing book. But you should read it. You will learn from it something about will and determination. You may also learn that you are not doing yourself a favour by making your life, and your family's life so comfortable.

My wife asked, "Why do they go there?"

You will have to read the book to find out.

The Mom's Choice Awards® honors excellence in family-friendly media, products and services. An esteemed panel of judges includes education, media and other experts as well as parents, children, librarians, performing artists, producers, medical and business professionals, authors, scientists and others. A sampling of the panel members includes: Dr. Twila C. Liggett, Ten-time Emmy-winner, professor and founder of Reading Rainbow; Julie Aigner-Clark, Creator of Baby Einstein and The Safe Side Project; Jodee Blanco, New York Times Best-Selling Author; LeAnn Thieman, Motivational speaker and coauthor of seven Chicken Soup For The Soul books; Tara Paterson, Certified Parent Coach, and founder of The Just For Mom Foundation(tm) and the Mom's Choice Awards®. Parents and educators look for the Mom's Choice Awards® seal in selecting quality materials and products for children and families. This book has been honored by this distinguished award.

Penguins are all over the place on TV and at the movies these days, and here is a great picture book to take home to your kids that shows the real plight of penguins in Antarctica! The Riley books blend fantastic action with artwork that blends illustrations and photographs together in a very realistic way. Plus, all of his adventures are scientifically accurate and peppered with kid-friendly fun facts on all the major animals he comes across. If your child loves penguins, he or she will LOVE this book! (Endorsed by Jack Hanna, the Smithsonian Institution, World Wildlife Fund and Wildlife Conservation Society.)

Reviewed by Lake Furney (age 9) for Reader Views (1/08)

Riley goes to Antarctica, the coldest place on Earth, with his Uncle Max, Aunt Martha and his cousin Alice for this adventure. They go there to study penguins and their food supply because the Earth's temperature is rising. They study the Arctic food chain to find out if the penguins are getting enough.

This book is educational but a story as well. I learned that when Antarctica was discovered, everyone wanted to claim it. An agreement was made that it belongs to no one and anyone can go there.

I think "Adventures of Riley: South Pole Penguins" is good for kids ages 6-10.

This book is a must read for anyone who plans to travel south of Argentina. The book has brief but satisfying histories of the area, discriptions of what difficulties and enjoyments polar regions offer visitors and masses of what to do and how to do it. It is a splendid little manual for all who hanker after an exotic, safe and pleasant trip to Antarctica, the Falklands and South Georgia..

I really enjoyed this book. I bought it to learn about Antarctica, and initially, I was a little disappointed with the seemingly superfluous information such as which cruises are available, etc. But there is some really interesting information in this book that seems trivial but is really fascinating, such as what people on Antarctica eat or what they do to keep themselves occupied. I really enjoyed this book and I finished it thinking I had just acquired a wealth of knowledge about the mysterious continent.

This book basically covers it all- wildlife, history, how to get there, what there is once you get there. It is portable and readable, with all the most basic information you need- but it is not a comprehensive guide book, like the Lonely Planet guide. José Kirchner

To begin with, Keegan's title story is a killer, a dark classic. She's great, like the Irish all-stars (Roddy Doyle, Colm Toibin), but also some of our Americans, particularly contemporary masters like Edward P. Jones and Mary Hood, with whom she shares that that deep, rueful knowledge of place and people, and habit of telling stories that are rich as novels. Anyone who loves good short stories and/or Irish writers will appreciate Claire Keegan's Anarctica.

This collection of stories stumbled into my notice completely by accident. I am so glad that it did. If you are a fan of the short story, pick up Keegan's book! This is writing at its very best, in my opinion, and I anxiously await her next publication.

Some very well known writers endorse the sixteen short stories that form the debut of Ms. Claire Keegan entitled, "Antarctica". There are times these enthusiastic comments are a poor indicator of what the reader will find inside. This is not the case with Ms. Keegan's work. Not every story is memorable, however most of them are, and that is enough reason to look forward to what this writer may present readers in the future.

The collection's range is as diverse as the locales they unfold in. Ms. Keegan's talent is not limited to the land of her birth. She writes beautifully of Ireland, however she also writes as competently of Mississippi. Like all good writers she not only has an eye for detail and the ability to put what she sees on a page, she also has an ear for dialects that she can reproduce with equal skill.

Her stories range from the terribly sad when an event has unbalanced a person, to one who has been second all her life until she takes primacy with a set of scissors, and does so without harm. There are stories of misplaced guilt, respect for the past and those that remain as representatives of it. Her stories are not sentimental; they are uncluttered, and at times uncomfortably direct.

I doubt this is the last work we will see from this lady, and I look forward to reading her work again.

'The Puckered Penguins', an air unit of the US Navy flew in the early days of post-WWII Antarctic exploration. This book talks about the activities of that unit (actually VXE-6 in the Navy's numbering system) from 1955 to 1999. In the early days they flew mostly RD-4's (the Navy's name for the C-47 or DC-3). Over the forty-four year time span, the equipment was upgraded and of course the men were cycled through. This is their story.

This was a little known activity that went on at considerable risk. There was a lot of flying, and not many places to put down safely if you had a problem. This book is the complete history of the unit and goes into considerable detail about the rigors of operating aircraft in conditions far beyond what their designers had in mind.

The story is well told, and well illustrated, however the illustrations are of rather poor quality, having the appearance that the printing system was not up to the detail in the original picture.

The book is well written and covers a lot of information that one would find hard to access. However the photo reproduction in the book of this value lets it down.

As a U.S. Coast Guard member of Deep-Freeze One I appreciated this book of VX-6. The Kiwi author did a great job of researching the air wing we had with us down on the ICE..

When the book came out, I wrote themthat I wished it had been around beforemy first trip to Antarctica! What ahelp it would have been. They respondedvery quickly to my criticisms of whatthey had left out.

If you plan a trip to The Ice, you will find this book invaluable. If you do not, you will find it fascinating, and it will make you want to go. In addition to all manner of practical advice for travelers, it is packed with thorough and interesting history of the continent, its wildlife, its geography, and also contains tempting suggestions for further non-fiction and fiction reading, films and videos, and even CD's. It is written with grace and humor, and contains really useful maps and charts. (How about that map of "Non-Existent Islands"!) Highest recommendation.

When the book came out, I wrote themthat I wished it had been around beforemy first trip to Antarctica! What ahelp it would have been. They respondedvery quickly to my criticisms of whatthey had left out.

This book really should have been two. I found the first half, where the author explained what it was like for him to 'break into' the Antartic meteorite-searching world, quite interesting. Unfortunately the second half delved into meteorite-recovery statistics in WAY too much detail -- that portion of the book I feel would have been better left out, with the information contained published in scientific journals. Overall I finished this book wishing for more personal stories about 'life in the Antartic' and 'dealing with the science community'. Also I wished something on 'what to look for when on the ice, and how to do recovery correctly' had been included.

But it is a "better-than-OK" addition to my meteorite library. I recommend it for the non-casual meteorite-lover.

Meteorites, Ice, and Antarctica by William A. Cassidy is three books in one. The first book is a highly accessible account of ANSMET, the US Antarctic Search for Meteorites program. Part Antarctic adventure story, part exposition on the difficulties of doing scientific research in the late 20th Century, the first part of the book should thrill any interested reader. The second book lays out the spoils of the research, the meteorites - those leftovers from the formation of the solar system and chips off of other planets. This section is much more technical, but Cassidy's writing style and ability to explain makes the second part as readable as the first. The third book brings in statistics to evaluate the scientific worth of the Antarctic meteorite collection and Cassidy speculates on what it all means. Even though this section is clearly aimed at a scientific audience, the interested reader that has made it this far should find this section only slightly harder reading than the previous two. I must confess that my BS in Geosciences helped with part two and three, but even a lay reader with an interest in meteorites and Antarctica should find the entire book well worth the challenge. One of the things I most enjoyed about Cassidy's writing is his ability to inject his geologist's personality throughout the book, even in the sections that could have been as dry as cosmic dust. Most of this book is not for the casual science reader, but those with an active interest in meteorites should find it a welcome addition to their library.

Meteorites, Ice, and Antarctica is a masterpiece of communication! Few science books teach technical matters and yet leave the reader experiencing only a great adventure and joy of learning. Yet, on every challenging subject (from Antarctic ice meteorite-stranding surfaces and the thrilling finding of the first lunar meteorite, Alan Hills 81005, to the Antarctic Martian meteorites like the now famous Alan Hills 84001 that might or might not include signs of very ancient Martian life), Cassidy amazes and informs the reader by successful teaching. He shares the cold reality of Antarctic winds with the warmth of a father recounting his own youth, around a campfire, or as with colleagues around a bar.

Talk about translating meteorite science into terms of human experience! Under, "THE SOCIOLOGY OF CHONDRITES [A broad class of meteorites]", we gain easy access when Cassidy smilingly speaks of "mixed neighborhoods" and the "melting pot" effect. But a few words do no justice to Cassidy's wonderful analogy. One must read it and smile while learning.

Cassidy neither talks down to his audience nor resorts to jargon just to sound 'scientific'. As a reviewer having read almost every meteorite book published in the English language (with help of the NASA-Goddard library), this one emerges as my favorite because of the clarity of presentation and even its 'salt' of good humor.

The entire book is permeated with an air of open honesty and objectivity. When anyone, including the author, has an unproven idea about, e.g., the origin of certain meteorite parent bodies, it clearly is labeled as such. Readers are encouraged in the valuable lesson of thinking for themselves, and with such evoked pondering, Cassidy applies one of the best learning tools.

So it is that this book is enthusiastically recommended, whether you be an intelligent novice just wanting to learn about meteorites and the origin of our solar system, a wayward wanderer who has glimpsed the majesty of a 'falling star' and wondered how it might be to relieve loose bowels in the Antarctic wind, or whether you are one of Cassidy's fellow scientists desiring to share the adventures of a colleague.

This book is learning at its most pleasurable, an adventure into life as a scientist at the terrestrial climatic extreme, a view into the politics of financing scientific adventures, and, furthermore, just one doggoned wonderful reading experience!