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Madhouse at the End of the Earth: The Belgica's Journey into the Dark Antarctic Night by Julian Sancton
6 reviews
modernhobbitvibes's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
informative
tense
medium-paced
4.0
I CANNOT find the bookstagrammer who recommended this in a video, but shout out to them, this was kind of a banger.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Terminal illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Confinement, Mental illness, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Animal death, Animal cruelty, and Chronic illness
Moderate: Violence and Gore
Minor: Racism, Colonisation, and Suicide
Entire book is about survival situations in extreme conditions, including the risk of death by starvation/freezing and explicit death by drowning. There is also discussion of the effects of global warming in the author's notes.not_another_ana's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
tense
slow-paced
4.75
Only two things were certain: it would get colder, and it would get darker.
An account of a little known Antarctic expedition, the triumphs they achieved and all the calamities and horrors they had to endure during the long polar night. It's the end of the 19th century and there's still a couple of wild places unconquered by men, one of them being the Antarctic. While the Arctic had seen its fair share of famous (and tragic) expeditions, until then the southernmost continent had remained practically untouched. Enter Adrien de Gerlache, a young Belgian navy officer with a dream and an unquenchable thirst for adventure. Putting together an expedition for scientific purposes, and the glory of the then new nation of Belgium, he embarked on a voyage that would prove fruitful yet dangerous and disturbing.
Incredibly engaging and well narrated story. I was hooked from the very beginning and desperate to know more. As a modern person it is hard to imagine what the crew of this ship went through for almost two years, completely trapped and separated from the rest of the world, but the author does an upstanding job at creating the ambience and putting the situation in perspective. You can tell this was a well researched labor of love, that Julian Sancton was fascinated with all the little details that make up this story. Not only was the situation captivating and terrorific, but the actual people who lived through this were engaging, intelligent, flawed and deeply human. The use of the diaries in this book was masterfully done and really connected me with the men trapped in the ice.
While I think it all flows quite nicely and it is easy enough to get into, some of the heavy sailing and ship terminology did fly over my head quite a bit. I never felt like it dragged, but it certainly required concentration and imagination to be able to wrap my head around the scale of the situation. I also read this while on a cruise ship and I very much recommend it, it gave the book an extra atmosphere and added to the horror of it all.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
Moderate: Animal death, Medical content, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
singlier's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
4.0
Madhouse at the End of the Earth: The Belgica's Journey Into the Dark Antarctic Night by
Julian Sancton 4/5 🏔️s
This nonfiction text tells the story of the Belgica, one of the first expeditions to chart the South Pole led, by Belgian commandment Adrien der Gerlach. Although based on diary entries from the crew (of the 18 man crew, 10 kept diaries of the expedition), the book reads in most cases like a novel: it's not sensationalized, but it approaches it's subject matter with unflinching detail. Centering on the first four officers of the ship, de Gerlach, Roald Amundsen, Frederick Cook, and Georges Lecointe, the book paints a vivid picture of each man, laying out their personalities, drives, goals, and ambitious as they impacted the decisions made throughout the expedition.
See, the Belgica is famous not only for being one of the first ships to map the coast of Antarctica, but for being the first ship to survive a winter in the Antarctic. The extensive record keeping kept by the crew and the ships doctor has made this exploration a case study in human behavior within isolated environments, and has impacted the way humans prepare for space travel, deep sea travel, as well as other forms of extreme isolation. Cook's theories of maintaining mental stability, born out of his experience on the ship, represent some of the first documents indicating a relationship between light and human health (think of seasonal affective disorder). His knowledge of first nations practices of hunting and food preparation are also the main reason his crew survived, and helped legitimize indigenous techniques of health and wellness in the eyes of white scholars during this period.
Overall, I enjoyed this book and learned a lot from it. The amount of research the author put into it really shows in the descriptions of the landscape and the characterization of the men onboard, helping to humanize this story of nearly one hundred years ago.
Julian Sancton 4/5 🏔️s
This nonfiction text tells the story of the Belgica, one of the first expeditions to chart the South Pole led, by Belgian commandment Adrien der Gerlach. Although based on diary entries from the crew (of the 18 man crew, 10 kept diaries of the expedition), the book reads in most cases like a novel: it's not sensationalized, but it approaches it's subject matter with unflinching detail. Centering on the first four officers of the ship, de Gerlach, Roald Amundsen, Frederick Cook, and Georges Lecointe, the book paints a vivid picture of each man, laying out their personalities, drives, goals, and ambitious as they impacted the decisions made throughout the expedition.
See, the Belgica is famous not only for being one of the first ships to map the coast of Antarctica, but for being the first ship to survive a winter in the Antarctic. The extensive record keeping kept by the crew and the ships doctor has made this exploration a case study in human behavior within isolated environments, and has impacted the way humans prepare for space travel, deep sea travel, as well as other forms of extreme isolation. Cook's theories of maintaining mental stability, born out of his experience on the ship, represent some of the first documents indicating a relationship between light and human health (think of seasonal affective disorder). His knowledge of first nations practices of hunting and food preparation are also the main reason his crew survived, and helped legitimize indigenous techniques of health and wellness in the eyes of white scholars during this period.
Overall, I enjoyed this book and learned a lot from it. The amount of research the author put into it really shows in the descriptions of the landscape and the characterization of the men onboard, helping to humanize this story of nearly one hundred years ago.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Mental illness, Violence, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Animal cruelty, and Death
rubymacbeth's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.75
A captivating story; I like that Julian Sancton really made an effort to delve into the psyche of all the main characters — it made the story that much more gripping, and the harsh landscape of Antarctica that much more vivid and disturbingly beautiful. My only reservation was that we need less books that focus on the privilege of white men and their exploits, but this isn’t a criticism of the book per se.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Death, and Animal cruelty
Minor: Violence
spooderman's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Colonisation, Confinement, Cultural appropriation, and Death
Moderate: Child death, Sexism, Drug use, Excrement, Racial slurs, and Racism
Minor: Addiction, Infidelity, Cancer, Cannibalism, Child death, and Suicidal thoughts
sirissacgluten's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
informative
tense
slow-paced
4.0
I love reading about the Arctic, so I decided to venture southward and learn more about its polar (ha) opposite. Madhouse at the End of the Earth is a detailed, gripping account of the Belgica expedition in the late 1890s. Julian Sancton has deftly recreated the unforgiving Antarctic landscapes the crew encountered, using excerpts from the sailors’ diaries to bring the ship’s fraught tensions to life.
It took the story awhile to get to the southernmost continent, and I wasn’t as captivated by the backstory as I was by the time spent in Antarctica (though it was helpful groundwork for certain decisions and dynamics). I was especially intrigued by the ship surgeon (Frederick Cook, who later became an infamous huckster after oil schemes and widespread doubt over his purported discovery of the North Pole). Cook’s innovative tactics and keen observations saved the Belgica and her passengers more than once.
4/5: An entertaining (and stressful) story of polar exploration gone awry. Perfect for fans of other survival stories and anything Arctic/Antarctic.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!
It took the story awhile to get to the southernmost continent, and I wasn’t as captivated by the backstory as I was by the time spent in Antarctica (though it was helpful groundwork for certain decisions and dynamics). I was especially intrigued by the ship surgeon (Frederick Cook, who later became an infamous huckster after oil schemes and widespread doubt over his purported discovery of the North Pole). Cook’s innovative tactics and keen observations saved the Belgica and her passengers more than once.
4/5: An entertaining (and stressful) story of polar exploration gone awry. Perfect for fans of other survival stories and anything Arctic/Antarctic.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, and Medical content
Moderate: Colonisation and Violence
Minor: Cannibalism
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