Rating: 
Summary: If you think life is tough...
Review: There is something buried deep within us all called the survival instinct. It's in the cancer patient fighting for another day no matter how painful, it's in the Apollo 13 astronauts alone and thousands of miles from safety, the lone sailor or even that person you pass on the street and barely notice.Perhaps it's the result of 4 billion years of evolution, an involuntary reaction to the need to continue the species forward. Or maybe it's altogether more spiritual, part of the journey that gives life meaning and value. Whatever, clearly it's a very important part of what makes us who we are. But in these comfortably numb times, it's all too easy to lose touch with these very basic principles of existence. We are not challenged for survival and we barely understand that such a need can exist. Which is why Mawson's Will, the story of the epic battle for life by Antarctic explorer Douglas Mawson, is more than just an epic tale of adventure. While his lonely struggle to cross 300 miles of frozen wasteland after the death of his colleagues is in itself a wonderful tale of courage and resourcefulness, it resonates far deeper than just an explorer's tale. Wracked by the pain of mysterious illness (later discovered to be fatal levels of Vitamin A poison from eating husky dog livers to stay alive) and caught in the most hostile environment on the planet, Mawson has many reasons to give up. Agony, loneliness and despair were his constant companions. On more than one occasion, dangling suspended by a rope through a fallen crevice all it would take was to reach into his pocket for the knife that would cut the thin line that held him in limbo. It a moment it would be over, the pain and useless struggle over. But Mawson refused to succumb, and eventually, through extraordinary efforts, survived. Even to this day it hard to imagine how. In his wonderful account of this story, culled mostly from Mawson's own heart wrenching diary of the events, veteran Australian writer Lennard Bickell has managed to capture superbly the details of Mawson's battle to survive. While he spends little time contemplating the inner meaning of such a struggle, it is plainly there for the reader to contemplate. We are left to consider our own resources, our own inner strength. For anyone involved in a difficult situation that requires courage and fortitude, 'Mawson's Will' is an inspiration. And for those of us merely intrigued by the real nature of existence, here at least is a definition of the outer borders of human willpower, that strange and unknown land where the real world meets the spiritual. A wonderful book.
Rating: 
Summary: Readable but Undistinguished Account
Review: This slim volume details the plight of the Antarctic expedition of the Australian explorer Douglas Mawson in 1911. Seemingly few people are aware of this particular foray into the polar south, as the Scott tragedy looms largest in the public consciousness and there is a new vogue for the remarkable exploits of Ernest Shackleton in this same time frame. However, this is a story worth telling. For those who are not obsessively interested in accounts of polar exploration, this books serves as a good introduction to the genre. It's almost novelistic in its easy yet vivid narrative flow, and unlike more encylopedic works, it avoids getting bogged down in excessive side treks about rival explorers or earlier achievements in the mapping and scouting of the continent. Even so, it has a glaring weakness in its lack of footnotes or a bibliography. Bickel recounts entire conversations verbatim and even details the thoughts of several individuals, all without documenting the sources for such material. Since some of the quoted individuals died on the journey, one can only assume that the author is drawing from their expedition journals, and yet there is only a vague allusion to this in the afterword. More annoyingly, Bickel describes the immediate events preceding the death of one of the men from the point of view of the soon-to-be-deceased explorer, even though his two surviving comrades weren't even eyewitnesses to the moment of the tragedy. This gives rise to the suspicion that poetic license may have been somewhat abused in the composition of this book. There are a number of photos of expedition members, their ship, and their camp. Sadly, no map is provided, making it difficult for the reader to follow Mawson's progress. Bickel certainly does good work in shedding some light on this little known expedition, especially on the causes of the death of the second explorer. But the lack of notation of sources is a serious drawback.
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Summary: Amazing Story of survival
Review: This story blew my mind. I don't think any other book has had the impact on me the way Mawson's Will did. I am truly insipred by this man and his journey.
Rating: 
Summary: Hollywood ending-but real
Review: This story could translate well into a movie plot with little, if any, changed made. I agree with some of the random conversations between characters with no idea of how the author knows that they occured but it wasn't enough to give it 1 star. I also don't understand the giving of 1 star becase the story is great but it didn't include any maps. That's a bit harsh. I bought this book based on the reviews on here. I am not an antarctic exporation buff-actually I have no previous experience with this sort of genre-but I really enjoyed the story and would certainly do some further studying in the field of polar exploration if another book surfaced as well written as this with as compelling of a story.
Rating:
Summary: Hollywood ending-but real
Review: This story could translate well into a movie plot with little, if any, changed made. I agree with some of the random conversations between characters with no idea of how the author knows that they occured but it wasn't enough to give it 1 star. I also don't understand the giving of 1 star becase the story is great but it didn't include any maps. That's a bit harsh. I bought this book based on the reviews on here. I am not an antarctic exporation buff-actually I have no previous experience with this sort of genre-but I really enjoyed the story and would certainly do some further studying in the field of polar exploration if another book surfaced as well written as this with as compelling of a story.
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