Rating: 
Summary: Good read, but ......
Review: Fittingly, Ms. Wheeler seems enraptured by the splendour of great white south. Most who have been to the Arctic or Antarctic has suffered the same fate. However she seems a bit full of herself at times, and this distracts noticably from the book. There were times when I thought to myself that she was in Antarctica for social reasons (to "party"!) rather than to discover the essence of the place.
Still, if you can ignore the aren't-I-great parts, it makes for a good read.
Rating: 
Summary: The next best thing to being at the bottom of the planet
Review: For many years, I've considered Antarctica my ultimate travel destination. After reading Terra Incognita, I have a craving for the white continent. Sara Wheeler mixes the ingredients of this tasty narrative with the same creativity she employs in her ever-present bread puddings (recipe included). Moldy bits from the diaries of early polar explorers, a pinch of salty scientists, fresh personal perspective, and a dollop of quirky characters, are all served up with a heaping helping of humor that will have you begging for more. On top of that, she mentions my company's most well-known product, Therm-a-Rest, by name on four different occasions.
Rating: 
Summary: Only half correct
Review: Having read the reviews of other people I feel moved to add my comments. I have worked in Antarctic science and tourism for ten years, including one continuous period of 39 months on the ice.I was working on one of the "Bawdy British", "Toilet Humour" bases when Ms Wheeler came visiting on an all-expenses-paid, freebie holiday that would cost Mr or Mrs Normal more than U$100,000 if he/she tried to repeat the trip. I.E. Forget about it being within the reach of anyone "normal". (i) We didn't know who she was (ii) We didn't know why she was coming (iii) We hadn't been told we were supposed to "entertain her" (iV) She arrived at last-call, read "last chance to read/write letters, party with "outsiders" and see others outside nine other winterers for nine months. (v) She didn't attempt to integrate Consequently, nobody took too much notice of her. Despite the slagging that the British Antarctic Survey (that still provides more results/$ than USARP) received, she writes well, albeit dreamily at times. The most interesting point, that many readers might not have noticed is that after trip 1 to Antarctica Sara hadn't really understood what the big white is all about. Only after trip 2, where she gets the chance to spend a few weeks isolated in a caboose does she begin to catch on...
Rating: 
Summary: A good account, better if you had been there though.
Review: I enjoyed Sara's account of her travels mainly due to her wonderful ability to articulate what she had seen and experienced. I do warn future readers that there are a number of these articulations meant for the Antarctic traveler. As I have traveled to Antarctica once in 1995 for science, I feel that "Terra Incognita" held infinitley more flavor. There are a number of references that anyone who has experience the ice will understand and remember with great fondness. Don't get me wrong, I feel this is a good read for anyone, but better if you have already been there. Now, enough criticism. It is a very enjoyable book, and seeing Sara's viewpoint in an all male domain (nearly) was quite refreshing.
Rating:
Summary: The best book ever!
Review: I love this book and so should everyone else! I first read it about four years ago and the longing it left in me to visit this amazing white place was tremendous - so much so that I am now studying with the intent of working in the Antarctic. You can't ask for much more out of a book. I seriously recommend it to anyone, literally anyone as you can't go wrong with it. The style of writing Sara Wheeler uses is just so informative and interesting but in such a way that you don't realise you're learning and absorbing all this information about the other side of the world but believe me you are! She may have her critics but you cannot deny that the book is one of the best ever written. Truly inspirational! Wow!
Rating:
Summary: The best book ever!
Review: I love this book and so should everyone else! I first read it about four years ago and the longing it left in me to visit this amazing white place was tremendous - so much so that I am now studying with the intent of working in the Antarctic. You can't ask for much more out of a book. I seriously recommend it to anyone, literally anyone as you can't go wrong with it. The style of writing Sara Wheeler uses is just so informative and interesting but in such a way that you don't realise you're learning and absorbing all this information about the other side of the world but believe me you are! She may have her critics but you cannot deny that the book is one of the best ever written. Truly inspirational! Wow!
Rating:
Summary: A dream land made accessable
Review: I think what drew me to this book was the idea that someone could actualy go to Antarctica. It had always been such a fantasy place in my mind. Sara Wheeler makes it real, but doesn't take away the magic. It is exciting to experience her sense of energy and adventure to explore the land. Also, her inclusions of history are made interesting by her personal connection and sympathy for the heroic, and often unfortunate, trials of those brave men.
Rating: 
Summary: Exploring the author (and her friends) more than the subject
Review: I'm not an aficianado of the literature of Antartica. I do, however, have an interest in the place and especially the epics that have taken place there - Scott, Shackleton, etc..I've enjoyed the tales of these epics immensely in my reading. Perhaps this background was a setup for disaster in my reading of Terra Incognita by Sara Wheeler. I hoped to find an account of yet another journey through this strange and remarkable landscape peppered with the history of the place and the unique adaptations necessary for survival there. Indeed, I did find this account in Wheeler's book, except it fell far short of my expectations. Wheeler tends to write as much about her friends she makes along the way as she does about her impressions/travels on the continent. It's all very superficial and without purpose as she wanders from place to place searching for new friends, recent friends, new boyfriend, etc......It seems more a compilation of tidbits and snapshot glimpses of the places and people she encounters than a profound or meaningful exploration of this unique world. The low point of the book for me was Wheeler's arrival on the continent with the members of the British scientific team (about 2/3rds through the book). She breaks down and cries shortly after her arrival. Why the emotional break? Was it the weather? The intensity of the hardship as she chugs beer in each hidden bar along the journey? Or perhaps the suffering through all that trail mix?.....Nope, she cries because people aren't being very nice to her -- just not as chummy as the kiwis and the Americans she discovers. Cherry-Gerrard said we'd accomplish our "winters journeys" as long as all we wished was "a penguin's egg." Wheeler has no interest in penguin eggs or the passions of discovery that motivated so many of Antarctica's authors. Instead, she wanders the continent seemingly in search of herself.......good luck.
Rating:
Summary: At times tedious, this modern visit informs.
Review: If the reader has little exposure to the writings of the original polar explorers, then the frequent asides to create a context for Sara Wheeler's observations is probably informative. I found the historical asides to interrupt the flow of Ms. Wheeler's thoughts and feelings upon being exposed to the immensity of Antarctica for the first time.
Rating:
Summary: A compelling introduction to Antarctica.
Review: If you're only going to read one book about Antarctica, it should be this one. Wheeler knows her Antarctic history, but she also conveys a strong sense of the culture and lives of those living on the continent today. And though the details of day to day life that she describes seem small at first, in the end they add up to a compelling, unforgetable portrait of the highest, driest, windiest place on earth.
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