The Worst Journey in the World (Penguin Classics)
Selected Book Details
- Paperback
- Author: Apsley Cherry-Garrard
- Publisher: Penguin Classics
- Release Date: February 2006
- ISBN-10: 0143039385
- ISBN-13: 9780143039389
- List Price: $18.00
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Summaries and Customer Reviews provided by Amazon
SummaryThe Worst Journey in the World recounts Robert Falcon Scott’s ill-fated expedition to the South Pole. Apsley Cherry-Garrard—the youngest member of Scott’s team and one of three men to make and survive the notorious Winter Journey—draws on his firsthand experiences as well as the diaries of his compatriots to create a stirring and detailed account of Scott’s legendary expedition. Cherry himself would be among the search party that discovered the corpses of Scott and his men, who had long since perished from starvation and brutal cold. It is through Cherry’s insightful narrative and keen descriptions that Scott and the other members of the expedition are fully memorialized. |
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Stark and stunning
Rating: 
Having enjoyed books on the subject of Shackleton's attempt at the South Pole, a friend suggested I check out this book concerning Scott's journey. The irony of these two stories is that Shackleton's trip (detailed very well in the book Endurance) was a failure in all regards except for the fact that he brought home every man in his group alive, whereas Scott's journey was successful at reaching the pole but then suffered multiple casualties.
The Worst Journey in the World is an amazing read, but very difficult at times. It's assumed that the reader knows a decent bit about polar expeditions as you are dumped into terminology and basic maneuvers with no explanation. I had very little knowledge of such things and found myself looking up words fairly often and rereading passages to understand what "hoosh" was or what the point of depoting supplies is. The result is that I learned a lot and eventually came to read this book on it's terms, which was highly enjoyable. However a quick crash course on polar exploration in the early 20th century wouldn't have been the worst idea before starting this read.
With all of that out of the way I have nothing left but praise. Making heavy use of the actual journals and diaries of the explorers this book gives the reader a delicious sense of immediacy. The title trip, for example, in which a three man team makes a journey in the dead of the antarctic winter to retrieve some penguin eggs for study, is one of the more gripping accounts I have ever read anywhere. Likewise, the final words and notes from Scott himself, recovered after his death, as he attempts to stumble and slog his way back from the pole during a freak blizzard are heartbreaking.
I highly recommend this book but am also compelled to give warning that it can get a bit technical at times and requires some outside knowledge for decent comprehension.
An unforgettable journey
Rating:
The story of an unforgettable journey. This book has details of the journeys undertaken in 1910-1912 by the men of this polar expedition. Their courage and "never give up" attitude are a testament of the type of men they were. Reading the account of their adventures from the diaries of several different men gives a more complete perspective than the diary of one man could give. Definitely an exciting book. Leaves you in awe of what they achieved with no more than they had almost 100 years ago. They were true explorers.
Antarctic Thriller
Rating:
An adventure story just doesn't get any better than this, and what adds to the readers pleasure is that it is all true. I was fortunate enough to read this while on an Antarctic cruise. The descriptions of Antarctica and the conditions faced by this expedition are terrific. This book is about character, endurance, hope, tragedy, and ultimately, wonder and awe !
These had to be the toughest and craziest guys on the planet
Rating:
This is one of those books where I was constantly putting it down to tell my wife the amazing thing I had just read only to dive right back into the book. This is the tangible definition of the term "page turner." Set in the early 1900's a group of mostly British explorers set sail and make the long journey to Antarctica. The ship voyage alone is an amazing adventure and I was awestruck by the challenges this group had to overcome before they even made it to the continent. Once there, they spent 3 years on Antarctica eating almost nothing but pemmican and biscuits and drinking tea and cocoa.
These guys were born to explore - the ultimate extreme environment junkies. Battling unbelievable cold temperature (-10 F was considered warm) where they would be disappointed if the temperature rose above freezing (the ice on their clothes would thaw and then quickly freeze again, hardening their attire) this group of explorers set up bases all over Antarctica and then start exploring.
Heavy on the scientific aspects of their journey and even heavier on the human effort to withstand their atrocious surroundings, THE WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD is better than any action/adventure novel you'll ever read. It's ROBINSON CRUSOE but real life and much, much colder!
I was heartbroken whenever a member of the expedition died from extreme fatigue brought on by excessive frostbite, or when a group of them were found frozen in their sleeping bags, or when one brave soul knew that the only way to save his party from his own fatigue was to walk alone into a blizzard and never come back.
I live in Minnesota and happened to be reading this during a very cold winter but felt guilty going from a warm house, into -20 temperature and into a warm building and listening to people complain about the cold. Imagine if -20 F was considered room temperature and 10 above considered a heat wave?
For adventure readers and lovers of stories about human beings stretching themselves to the extreme THE WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD is a must-read!
Mark McGinty is the author of ELVIS AND THE BLUE MOON CONSPIRACY
Information about editions
Rating:
`The Worst Journey in the World` (1922) is often cited as a masterpiece of travel literature. It is number one on National Geographic's list of 100 all time best travel literature, and is the first title in the prestigious Picador Travel Classics series. A. Alvarez has praised its "perfect prose: lucid, vivid, bone-simple, and full of feeling." The expedition was literary from the start and the "good modern fiction" the party brought along included Thackery, Charlotte Bronte, Bulwer-Lytton and Dickens. The poetry packed to the pole on the final fateful journey was Browning and Tennyson. Authors who stirred discussions included Shaw and Wells. Authors who were friends with members of the expedition included Galsworthy and Barrie. Robert Louis Stevenson is often mentioned. Each of the chapters of the book begins with poetry fragment from Shakespeare, Browning, Huxley, etc.. even the structure of the book is literary, re-telling the same events from different perspectives, building up to the climatic discovery of the fate of Scott. Cherry himself often delights with brilliant insightful views on travel, man, the meaning of life. This is Travel "Literature" with a capital L.
Apsley Cherry-Garrad ("Cherry") was the wealthy heir of two estates who joined Scott's team as an assistant zoologist at the age of 24. He was educated at Oxford in Classics and modern history. In the tradition of the British amateur explorer he took on multiple roles, ultimately becoming the expeditions historian. He wrote Journey using the diaries of the team in the years after WWI while recovering from an illness.
From their base camp at McMurdo Sound the three-year expedition made a number of trips composed of different groups. The trip to the pole by Scott is the most famous, but there were others. The title of the book, "Worst Journey", actually refers to a 67-mile 5-week trip by three members, including Cherry, in what at the time was twice as long as any previous Antarctic journey on the open ice. It only composes about 1/8th of the books length but is probably the most remarkable. They survived -70 degree temperatures and hurricane storms with primitive gear made from leather and canvas while man-hauling multi-hundred pound sleds and living on 4000 calories or less per day of nearly vitamin-free biscuits and pemmican (considered "adequate" at the time, today twice that is usual for explorers). Cherry interlaces his narrative with allusions to Dante, The Pilgrims Progress and Walt Whitman all the while maintaining that plucky cheery Edwardian foolhardiness that would run aground in the trenches of WWI. Cherry's teeth shattered from the cold, killing the nerves.
The retelling of Scott's trip to the Pole is equally gripping, and "horrific", also living up to the books title. In later years Cherry suffered from survivors guilt and wrote `Postscript to the Worst Journey in the World` (1948) in which he severely reproaches himself for not doing more to save Scott and the party. Cherry died in 1959.
EDITIONS: Only some editions contain this Postscript. The Penguin edition does not. Officially it was re-printed in the 1951 edition, and maybe in the 1994 Picador Travel Classics edition with an Introduction by Paul Theroux (Update: probably not. See comments to this review below). It should also be noted the 1951 edition was "corrected by the author" so it probably contains other changes - these changes I think might be reflected in the Picador edition (although not sure), but for sure not in the Penguin edition which is based on the 1922 text, as most are since it is now in the public domain.
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