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A review by lanternheart
Madhouse at the End of the Earth: The Belgica's Journey Into the Dark Antarctic Night by Julian Sancton
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
4.75
A riveting and increasingly absorbing account of Antarctic exploration — and more specifically, the people who were able to find a way to survive it against a barrage of horrific odds. I came out of this book not just with an inspiration to read more about the Antarctic and Heroic Age of Exploration, but an understanding of why it's a topic that enraptures so many minds.
The later-life failures and stories of Cook, especially, were an interesting coda to the Belgica's exploration — he comes out (perhaps rightfully so) as something of a hero in keeping the expedition's men alive, having diagnosed and largely correctly treated a fatal scurvy outbreak to the best of his ability, as well as creating the most-effective channeling method through the pack to render the Belgica able to move once again. Even if the latter effort largely turned to nature's lead, that he became so maligned in the press was difficult to square with this picture of earlier intuition — though perhaps a point in how it can get to anyone's head to survive against unthinkable odds if given enough time. Amundsen's own friendship to Cook, beyond and through everything, was deeply moving, and his disappearance and later exploits will doubtlessly prove fertile ground for future reading.
The later-life failures and stories of Cook, especially, were an interesting coda to the Belgica's exploration — he comes out (perhaps rightfully so) as something of a hero in keeping the expedition's men alive, having diagnosed and largely correctly treated a fatal scurvy outbreak to the best of his ability, as well as creating the most-effective channeling method through the pack to render the Belgica able to move once again. Even if the latter effort largely turned to nature's lead, that he became so maligned in the press was difficult to square with this picture of earlier intuition — though perhaps a point in how it can get to anyone's head to survive against unthinkable odds if given enough time. Amundsen's own friendship to Cook, beyond and through everything, was deeply moving, and his disappearance and later exploits will doubtlessly prove fertile ground for future reading.