Reviews

“Thus began the race for the South Pole. For the privilege of being the first to tread this useless yet so desirable spot, both men were prepared to drag themselves 1,500 miles across frozen wilderness, and face any extremity of suffering and danger. The poles of the earth had become an obsession of Western man. It could be argued against but not argued away. Since the obsession was there, it had to be exorcised, and the sooner the better.”

The last place on Earth is a fascinating account of the race to the South Pole. I must confess it took me some time to tackle this book as I found it a bit daunting and intimidating, far from it, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it and how easy it was for me to read. This is a must read for anyone interested in polar exploration. It is a well-researched book by an author versed in the subject, it´s well written and includes extracts from diaries and letters; maps and photographs that help to get immersed in the story and understand the context, the letters and diary entries are also very effective in giving a voice to the characters.

The book has a very clear structure, it doesn’t merely describe the race to the South Pole, it starts by summarizing the history of polar exploration, giving an insight on the various previous voyages and attempts to conquer both the North and South Poles. After this brief introduction to the subject, the author gives us an account of Scott’s and Amundsen’s lives, motives for their respective journeys and the previous experience they acquired before their expeditions. Then, Roland Hurnford proceeds to tell us how the race unraveled, we accompany Scott and Amundsen every step of the way, from the preparation and planification, to the arrival at the longed South Pole and back again.

One of the things I loved is how well Huntford describes life in the Antarctic regions, going into great detail and telling us about the diet, pastime activities and duties of each team during the long winter months, opening a window for us to fully understand what this long endeavors really consisted on: a lot of waiting and getting ready for the last and crucial stretch of the way.

If I was to criticize anything it would be that it's very clear from the beginning that Huntford is biased against Scott, something he doesn’t really pretend to hide at any point. He provides very detailed descriptions of Scott’s ineptitude and shortcuts, including aspects of his personality, leadership style and planification. In contrast, he’s really impressed with Amundsen’s performance throughout, going as far as saying that he was the best polar explorer. Bu even if he’s biased, Huntford explains Scott’s flaws withing the context of his life in the Royal Navy and the mentality and prejudice that came with that environment.

He shows incredibly well the contrast between both characters, Scott’s interest in the South Pole was a mean to an end, he was mainly trying to advance his career in the Navy. Amundsen on the other side, had been interested in polar exploration since his teen years. Where Scott improvised and cut corners, Amundsen planned everything to the millimeter and carried all the necessary preparations with plenty of time to deal with any eventuality. We discern Scott’s lack of forethought, risking the life of his men every step of the way, contrasting with Amundsen’s logic thinking and his lack of hesitation in turning back when the conditions were not favorable or ideal, he wouldn’t risk the life of this men.

Fram Polar Exploration Museum (Oslo), here I come!

deniqd's review against another edition

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4.0

A very long book but an interesting read. At some points it drags a bit but it gives a lot of background information and it helps to understand why things turned out as they did, with Amundsen victorious and Scott dead.

knarusk's review against another edition

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5.0

Inspiring and detailed story of how to properly plan, prepare and execute something ambitious that hasn't been done before.
Huntford has two parallel paths going: to success, and to failure. And two characters that could not be more different with more different endings to their lives. One of my favourite paragraphs at the end of the book summarises the fundamentals: 'Scott wanted to be a hero; Amundsen merely wanted to get to the Pole. Scott, with his instinct for self-dramatization, was playing to the gallery; Amundsen thought of the job in hand, not of an audience.'

The level of detail and research that has gone into this duography is impressive and for all adventure lovers, simply fascinating to read.

Unfortunately, due to the timing of reading this book there are too many unfunny parallels that can be drawn to the Brexit disaster, the most important one being learning from mistakes and making decisions accordingly.

schopflin's review against another edition

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4.0

This is an impressive work, probably 4.5. Absolutely spell-binding in its depiction of the polar journeys and intriguing in its characterisation. It's written with force, almost anger, that is probably a feature of the fact that it was the first to expose the myth of Scott's heroic failure. That's not always fun to read. But, mainly, I'm not giving 5 stars to anyone who unironically refers to "a known Lesbian" and uses an archaic and offensive term like "Eskimo" because 'it's what they would have said at the time'.

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