Race for the South Pole

The Expedition Diaries of Scott and Amundsen

By: Roland Huntford

Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot

Length: 14 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's summary

For the first time ever Roland Huntford presents each man's account of the race to the South Pole in their own words. In 1910, Robert Falcon Scott and Roald Amundsen set sail for Antarctica, each from his own starting point, and the epic race for the South Pole was on. 2010 marks the centenary of the last great race of terrestrial discovery. For the first time Scott's unedited diary entries run alongside those of Amundsen and Bjaaland, never before translated into English. Cutting through the welter of controversy, with the polar journey at the heart of the story Huntford weaves a narrative from the protagonists' explanations of their own fate. What emerges is a whole new understanding of what really happened on the ice.

Download the accompanying reference guide.

©2010 Roland Huntford (P)2014 Audible Inc.

Full of lessons to be applied in ones own journey

Exceeded expectations.
Bronson Pinchot brings life to the story.
Full of lessons everybody in business and elsewhere should take note of.

Incredible book!

This story embodies so much about leadership, organization and the human/animal will. Couldn’t recommend more for anyone who wants to glean immense wisdom for extremely cold conditions.

Great Book Horrible Naration

I will never listen to another book narrated by Bronson Pinchot. He ruined it. He got lost on the accents, sometimes sounding like an Indian gas station owner instead of a Norwegian. And He should just read the book and not try to make a radio drama out of it. He added his own interpretation and conclusions thru his inflections - which is totally inappropriate. Oh and the 13-year old girl voice? I don’t know why he felt it necessary to apply accents. Just READ the book. He should apologize to Roland Huntford who wrote a great book. I am surprised Audibles let this go out like this.

Excellent Story, Well Narated

A gripping story and fascinating to hear the parallel entries each day. I felt like a participant, especially as I referenced several maps of the journeys during the reading. Several crevasses in the edits were the only negative. Narration was strong and carried appropriate but not overblown emotion.

Day by day comparison shows a clear victor

Very interesting to see how the two different expeditions approached navigating the harsh reality of the icy desert that is the polar Antarctic. Team work is essential and so is planning and skill and the side by side diary comparison clearly exposes this. They both accomplished great things but one at great cost - which begs the question of why. Even after over a hundred years later.

Amazing Profiles of Two Kinds of Men..

A most interesting treatise done very well by the author in uncovering a very important historical truth.

Spellbinding

I loved this book. The back and forth between the two expeditions was most interesting. It held my attention as though by magic!

A More Clear Picture

The readings of the daily journals in parallel allows a stark view of the dual, dueling expeditions. this will be hard to forget. The dramatacized characterization and accented voices for each party was a distraction. I believe also that there was some dramatic license influencing certain inflection or emphases. Ultimately, the epicness of the overall story is what lingers.

Strongly suggest this book

This was an amazingly enjoyable book to listen to. Although sparse, the added narrative was well thought out and engaging, and the diaries themselves were easy to follow. All three explorers who’s diaries are followed throughout the grand majority of the book are unique and bring their own aspects and personality to the listening experience. Each interprets the harsh polar conditions in different ways, which made this book for me a study of psychology just as much as it was a history of adventure and exploration. The narration was overall very well done, and although the accents did slip on occasion they were usually well executed and portrayed the characters speaking very well. Overall I loved the experience of listening to these amazingly hardy men, and I feel much more educated and knowledgeable about many things now that I have finished.

Excellent!!

Narration and story are a delight to listen to. Cannot recommend this book enough.