Travel to Polar Regions

Alone: The Classic Polar Adventure

Format: Paperback
Author: Richard E. Byrd
ReleaseDate: 08 August, 2003
Publisher: Island Press
Rating:

Cold!!
The author describes a place no one in his right mind would want to endure. What some people will do for adventure. The descriptions of survival alone in the cold for many months are interesting. It was good , not great.
.

Related to Chaim Potok's book "The Chosen"
I approached Alone with that psychological twist in mind. I learned about Alone when I read The Promise, the sequel to Chaim Potok's The Chosen. Rather than reading it as an adventure story, I read Alone as a companion to the DSM-IV. Byrd had help making this book a good read, true; but his story is absolutely riveting. I have read the criticisms of Byrd's ineptitude, his failure of boy scout basics. I can imagine how anyone's mind would go to pieces just knowing the impossibility of rescue, the remoteness of the situation. I would not criticize this man for making the weird mistakes he made. The book is a fantastic journey not to the ends of the earth, but the depths of the human psyche.

Cold is Relative
At 50ý below zero a flashlight dies out in your hand. "Cold does queer things. At -55ý kerosene will freeze. At -60ý rubber turns brittle. " These are some of Byrd's observations from his surreal solo expedition to the heart of Antarctica's night.

The expedition took place from March - August of 1934. Byrd, a former Navy officer, rugged explorer, decides to push the envelope doing something no man had ever tried before. He was to monitor the weather while living in a shack buried in snow, by himself, for the entire night-time period that covered almost 6 months.

Although the literary value regarding this book could be argued, it is nevertheless a great story based on a unique social experiment. Byrd's trail of thoughts veers from rational, to ridiculous. His mood is altered by the extreme struggles that he has to endure to serve science. However, one can pick up the vibe that he wanted to do this for himself as much as for science. He was thrilled at first, but underestimated what he was really in for.

Byrd gets crushed while he is only halfway through. The cold and physical problems put him down. He struggles between life and death for what seems to be an eternity. And it all takes place in the absolute darkness of the polar night. Byrd goes on and on about how much he learns to appreciate the simple things of modern life, while he has lost possession of them. He makes incoherent philosophical theoriest, and struggles with faith.

Finally Byrd finds the strength to go on. I wouldn't be giving up the end of the book in here by the fact that he wrote it four years after the completion of this expedition. This book would be a perfect read in the middle of the winter. The colder the better! Get a warm cup of chocolate and relive the polar experience. You will find a new appreciation for that thermostat knob while reading it.

Related products:
click image or link for details on these Polar Regions travel books.

	Mawson's Will: The Greatest Polar Survival Story Ever Written
	In the Land of White Death