The Last Place on Earth
Registered by 
GoryDetails
of Nashua, New Hampshire USA on 9/25/2003
This Book is Currently in the Wild!
GoryDetails of Nashua, New Hampshire USA on 9/25/2003 This Book is Currently in the Wild!
1 journaler for this copy...
Having finally found a release copy of this (since I didn't want to part with mine!), I'm registering it - note that this is the Atheneum '85 paperback edition, not the one pictured, but I thought I'd link to the currently-in-print copy in case anybody wants to go shopping. ;-)
I read this book shortly after seeing the (excellently done) Masterpiece Theatre miniseries based on it [bought the miniseries on tape, too!]. The book (which was originally published as Scott and Amundsen) presents a rather different view of Robert Falcon Scott than I'd read or seen before, and while subsequent criticisms suggest that maybe Huntford went a little too far in de-mythologizing Scott (and he certainly did seem to have it in for the guy), in general I think the book's an excellent look at two very different men and their equally different leadership techniques. The book also examines the nature of fame, to some degree; even while admitting that Amundsen's expedition was infinitely better-planned, I have to agree that Scott's tragic ending makes the better story, but it's worth wondering why that is... Anyway, I heartily recommend this book if you're interested in true stories of exploration, adversity, and heroism [and no matter who may have bungled what, there's still a lot of heroism to go around in this story].
Poignant footnote: while visiting the British Museum some years back, I noticed a small notebook in one of the display cases; it turned out to be Scott's actual notebook, the pages open to the last words he scrawled in pencil as he lay, snowbound, waiting to freeze to death. Made it all more immediate, somehow...
I read this book shortly after seeing the (excellently done) Masterpiece Theatre miniseries based on it [bought the miniseries on tape, too!]. The book (which was originally published as Scott and Amundsen) presents a rather different view of Robert Falcon Scott than I'd read or seen before, and while subsequent criticisms suggest that maybe Huntford went a little too far in de-mythologizing Scott (and he certainly did seem to have it in for the guy), in general I think the book's an excellent look at two very different men and their equally different leadership techniques. The book also examines the nature of fame, to some degree; even while admitting that Amundsen's expedition was infinitely better-planned, I have to agree that Scott's tragic ending makes the better story, but it's worth wondering why that is... Anyway, I heartily recommend this book if you're interested in true stories of exploration, adversity, and heroism [and no matter who may have bungled what, there's still a lot of heroism to go around in this story].
Poignant footnote: while visiting the British Museum some years back, I noticed a small notebook in one of the display cases; it turned out to be Scott's actual notebook, the pages open to the last words he scrawled in pencil as he lay, snowbound, waiting to freeze to death. Made it all more immediate, somehow...
Journal Entry 2 by GoryDetails at Shell Station At Exit 4 in Nashua, New Hampshire USA on Friday, February 6, 2004
GoryDetails at Shell Station At Exit 4 in Nashua, New Hampshire USA on Friday, February 6, 2004
Released on Friday, February 06, 2004 at Shell Station at Exit 4 in Nashua, New Hampshire USA.
It's a snowy/sleet-and-ice-type day, and I'm only leaving the house in hopes that my snowplow guy will come by and clear the driveway while I'm gone. I plan to run a few errands and then swing by the gas station on the way home; I expect to leave the book inside the ATM booth at about 3 pm, and hope that whoever finds it enjoys it!
It's a snowy/sleet-and-ice-type day, and I'm only leaving the house in hopes that my snowplow guy will come by and clear the driveway while I'm gone. I plan to run a few errands and then swing by the gas station on the way home; I expect to leave the book inside the ATM booth at about 3 pm, and hope that whoever finds it enjoys it!
