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Summary: Classic description of the race for the South Pole
Review: This is the classic work describing the experience of life in the Antarctic during the Heroic Age, written by a participant. Apsley Cherry-Garrard went "South with Scott" in 1912. Unlike his expedition leader, Cherry-Garrard came home to England - minus most of his teeth, but alive. One of England's richest young men, he seemed to have every prospect of succeeding in whatever new challenges life would throw at him. And yet, for Cherry-Garrard, his years with Scott's Last Expedition would prove to be the most intense and all-consuming experience of his life, and in a very real sense he would spend the rest of his days re-living his days in the Antarctic.
Cherry-Garrard wrote and rewrote his memories to produce this classic book. It interleaves pages from his diary, quotes and letters from many of Cherry-Garrard's surviving expedition comrades, memories, and reminiscences - some of them startingly piercing and balanced. The reputation of Robert Scott and his fellow explorers has come under sharp scrutiny in recent decades, with many criticisms pointed at the explorer's weaknesses. In many cases these criticisms are based upon Cherry-Garrard's own sharp insights and balanced judgment.
In the end, however, Cherry-Garrard was loyal to his dead commander and deceased comrades. The men who died on their way back from the South Pole, Robert Scott, Dr. Edward Wilson, "Birdie" Bowers, "Titus" Oates, and Edgar Evans, had been among Cherry-Garrard's closest friends in life. Cherry-Garrard is honest enough to point out the mistakes they all made, but his concluding judgment is that these men wrote a page of heroic endeavor that is unlikely to ever be surpassed. Read about it here.
Rating: 
Summary: The Better Read
Review: While Cherry-Gerrard book does give an excellent first hand account of Scott's ill-fated attempt to reach the South Pole in 1911/12, a better read for the scientific evaluation of the event can be found in Susan Soloman's chronical, THE COLDEST MARCH. Here, actual scientific facts are brought together with accounts from the writings of Cherry-Gerrard, Wilson, Scott, as well as others from the Terra Nova expedition. While both are excellent reads, I prefer THE COLDEST MARCH given the overlay of modern scientific data to support what may have gone wrong on the Scott expedition.
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Summary: This book simply has to be read in its entirety
Review: You cannot get the full impact of this whole era, the voyage, the way men were in that time, the astonishing depth of their isolation, etc. if you do not slog through Cherry's ambitious (and really long) work even as these mad Englishmen did through the Antarctic wilderness.Of course it's not "well-written." It is, however, quite adequately written: it gets the point across. I defy anyone to read just the section called "The Winter Journey" and not want to scream at them: are you insane? Whether or not the writing is up to certain literary standards is entirely beside the point. It's about one of the most harrowing events of the 20th Century and should speak, however haltingly, for itself. Suggested also: "South" by Sir Ernest Shackleton about his 2-year nightmare in the Southern Ocean And for an interesting fictive/literary take on Scott's voyage, "The Birthday Boys" by Beryl Bainbridge EKW
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Summary: When will there be another Apsley Cherry-Garrard?
Review: You cannot read this book without being inspired by the courage of the early Antarctic explorers; you cannot read it without being impressed by the good literary taste of the author; nor can you, after reading this book, fail to have admiration grow in your heart for the self-ignoring author. Cherry-Garrard was a first-rate Antarctic explorer, a first-rate writer, and a first-rate human being. What makes Capt. Robert F. Scott, Dr. Edward Wilson and their fellow explorers particularly admirable is that their chief goal was not fame, but to acquire Scientific Knowledge: it was the interest in the penguins as an important evolution chain that led to the Worst Journey by the three valiant men, and it was, in part, the insistence not to abandon the 30 pounds of specimen (let alone a companion) that eventually resulted in the tragedy of the Polar Journey. Indeed, what a price to pay! Whereas the book _Endurance_ may have created a "Shackleton mania", it is books of such quality as Cherry-Garrard's book that will have a lasting, lofty place in the history of the exploration literature. My favorite passage is also the concluding paragraph quoted by some other people, but here I cannot resist sharing with you another one in its entirety (and chuckling one more time), which is certainly a little far from the main subject of the book, but which shows that even in recounting a side episode like this one, Cherry-Garrard surpasses many writers in that he makes memorable, not only the scene, but the words that describe it: "One day there had been a blizzard, and lying open to the view of all was a deserted nest, a pile of coveted stones. All the surrounding rookery made their way to and fro, each husband acquiring merit, for, after each journey, he gave his wife a stone. This was the plebeian way of doing things; but my friend who stood, ever so unconcerned, upon a rock knew a trick worth two of that: he and his wife who sat so cosily upon the other side. "The victim was a third penguin. He was without a mate, but this was an opportunity to get one. With all the speed his little legs could compass he ran to and fro, taking stones from the deserted nest, laying them beneath a rock, and hurrying back for more. On that same rock was my friend. When the victim came up with his stone he had his back turned. But as soon as the stone was laid and the other gone for more, he jumped down, seized it with his beak, ran round, gave it to his wife and was back on the rock (with his back turned) before you could say Killer Whale. Every now and then he looked over his shoulder, to see where the next stone might be. "I watched this for twenty minutes. All that time, and I do not know for how long before, that wretched bird was bringing stone after stone. And there were no stones there. Once he looked puzzled, looked up and swore at the back of my friend on his rock, but immediately he came back, and he never seemed to think he had better stop. It was getting cold and I went away: he was coming for another."
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