The home of the blizzard : being the story of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911-1914
by Douglas Mawson
On This Page
Tags
Recommendations
Member Recommendations
Member Reviews
Douglas Mawson's "The Home of the Blizzard" is a very comprehensive account of his two years exploring Antarctica. It is really a terrific description of the trials and hardships, including an incredible sledge journey in which Mawson lost one of his two teammates, his best dogs and most of his food. From a pure adventure standpoint, I enjoyed Lennard Bickel's "Mawson's Will" slightly more -- just because Mawson somewhat downplays just how incredible his survival was. However, this book is really terrific and a must-read for arm chair polar adventurers. While there is an abridged version, this two volume set has such amazing maps and plates it is worth seeking it out, even though it makes for a longer read.
Ratings
Members
- Recently Added By
Lists
Australia's Greatest Books, as chosen by Geoffrey Dutton (1985)
97 works; 6 members
Author Information
14+ Works 338 Members
Sir Douglas Mawson was an Australian geologist and Antarctic explorer born in 1882. In 1909, he was among the first party to reach the Magnetic South Pole as a member of Ernest Shackleton's Nimrod Expedition. He manned his own expedition to Antarctica in 1911.
Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 1915
- People/Characters
- Douglas Mawson; B. E. S. Ninnis; Xavier Mertz; Frank Hurley; Frank Wild; Cecil Madigan (show all 8); Charles Hoadley; John King Davis
- Important places
- Antarctica; Macquarie Island, Australia; King George V Land; Queen Mary Land; Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
- Important events
- Australasian Antarctic Expedition (1911 | 1914)
- Original language
- English
- Disambiguation notice
- There are three versions of this book, with various subtitles. The original, published in 2 volumes in 1915 by W. Heinemann, includes plates and folding maps and sells for hundreds of dollars. In 1930 an abridged version wa... (show all)s published by Hodder & Stoughton, and was out of print for many years until it was republished by St. Martins in 1999. The most commonly available publication is the abridgment by Wakefield (1996). I am unclear whether the two abridgments are identical, although they are referred to separately in the literature. But the original is definitely a separate work.
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 25
- Popularity
- 1,069,865
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (4.25)
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- UPCs
- 1
- ASINs
- 7
