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Summary: A compelling view of another world on this planet
Review: A few courageous souls over the last hundred years have risked life and limb to uncover the secrets of segment of our Planet that seems deigned by its origin to defy man's best efforts to learn its secrets. Shielded by distance, by terraine, and by a climate so inhospitable as to shock one's capacity to retain rational elements of understanding, an attempt to portray life in Antarctica puts the author under a heavy burden to convey meaning about life and living in an environment where zero temperature is considered quite moderate, and 25 degrees (and even 40 or 50) below zero to be tolerated and rather normal.As a gifted scientist, Dr. Doumani takes the reader on a journey of many twists and turns, as he describes life in verious places in Antarctica, and at various times, all without burdening the reader to understand the minutiae of his scientific profession and the significance of his discoveries. He tells of men who have been isolated from all physical contact with their past lives and backgrounds for months on end, and how they act toward each other and feel about themselves. He includes himself in this panorama, and how he acts and reacts to his colleagues. He becomes both a narrator and at the same time a part of the landscape that is forever cold, white, frozen, and formidable. The author has been to Antarctica several times on various missions, but he never loses his love of the challenge and adventure of being there and unlocking its secrets. And the reader has an invisible, but very real, position--right there with the author--as he moves about in this fascinating, other world, called Antarctica.
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Summary: Fascinating real-life account of discovery
Review: A first-person account of the everyday details of life and work in a hostile environment. It frankly discusses the problems of living in a confined and isolated workspace over many months. The bitter-sweet title reflects the sacrifices often made by scientists, explorers and others engaged in very demanding careers. You must read the book to learn what Doumani ultimately discovered that made such a significant advancement to science. The discovery itself is almost an anti-climax to the struggles that led up to it.
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Summary: Excellent Book. A very Good Read
Review: Completed reading The Frigid Mistress in three days, a very good read. It put into perspective a lot of the detail missing from a too brief a visit to the Antarctic Peninsula. On thing is very clear, we were incredibly lucky with our weather compared with what's in the book. The detail of life on those expeditios is very graphic and illuminating; so many other writers leave interesting details out of their accounts. Some American expressions and field words sounded odd, but I have been able to guess, or at least I hoope I have got them right.
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Summary: Excellent account of survival and important exploration
Review: Dr. Doumani chonicled beautifully his experiences with an exploration team in Anarctica. He interspersed his experiences as an individual and a team member with both exact accounts of tasks, problems tempered by humor and love for his field. Dr. Doumani explained the goals of the team and various projects in a manner that brought them to life. Unexpected problems and near catastrophes were portrayed with the proper respect and the quick-thinking, creative solutions of true professionals. There were moments of adventure, reflection, admiration, awe, loneliness, and excitement that he cited throughout the "text", which rendered the book memorable and worthwhile reading. I compliment Dr. Doumani on his unique style of descriptive writing and his devotion to geological exploration. Having had the opportunity to meet him and his lovely wife, Anne, I now have even more respect and admiration for this sensitive, brilliant author who is an exemplary scientist-explorer. I eagerly look forward to reading more of his books and papers and to attending his lectures. Joyce S. Martoccia-Hagel, Ph.D.
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Summary: Classic Explorer's Journal: detailed, witty and fascinating.
Review: Dr. Doumani has written a classic explorer's journal of his service with the US team in Antartica in the International Geophysical Year of 1957-58. His book focuses on the routines, personalities and adventures of daily life in the station. In the Antartic summer, frequent sojourns break up the monotony. Dr. Doumani climbs several mountains; on one he finds fossils which indicate that portions of Antartica must have been linked to other continents. How the team managed these expeditions in adverse conditions is fascinating. One ends up admiring the organization, spunk and throughness of the US team. I found the book an interesting and important addition to the literature on the Antartic.
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Summary: A fascinating story of hardship, accomplishment, endurance.
Review: Dr. Doumani has written the best kind of an adventure tale. It is the story of hardship and scientific accomplishments, of human response to extreme and harsh conditions. But unlike so many adventure tales,the activity was not for self aggrandizement or promotion; it was a product of the need to collect scientific information about an area (Antarctica)of which little was then known. In 1957, at the start of the International Geohysical Year, more than half that frozen continent had never been seen by a human eye. Dr. Doumani takes the reader through several years of Antarctic exploration, but the emphasis is on the human aspect, on the behavior of individuals under stress of the severe climate and isolation in the most inhospitable of continents. This is not nature warm and fuzzy, but nature that will kill the unwary and guards its secrets well. The book is a tribute to the men, and I include the author, who collected the information and did the science while braving the hazards in spite of the toll it often took on their lives and their families. Also it contains descriptions of technology and ligistics utilized some 40 years ago, during a period of intense Antarctic exploration, and of the research and scientific discoveries of that time. I highly recommend this book on two counts: for the scientific discoveries that it describes, and for the human drama necessary to accomplish those discoveries.
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Summary: A personal, fascinating description of Antarctic exploration
Review: Dr. Doumani's account of Polar exploration provides another fascinating insight to the little-described human side of the geographic/scientific explorer. A modern explorer must deal with a maze of technology and knowlege;yet, as an individual human, face unknown difficulties and dangerous conditions, and individually react to achieve his exploration goals. Dr. Doumani (George) shared the challenges and fascinating/ominous unknown at my side for several Antarctic expeditions. Antarctic exploration dominated my personal goals and ambitions for a decade. When selecting a team for each new expedition, George Doumani proved a natural choice because of his skill, intelligence, humor and understanding personality. George's voice rings clear in my memory of days huddled in our "Jamesway" canvas shelter with wind howling at 50-70 mph. With our shelter jumping and shuddering, George would provide discussion, humor, good cooking and gentle ribbing. His contributions played an important role in the success of our exploration. As described in "The Fridgid Mistress", George expanded his own Antarctic exploration goals by organizing and skillfully leading his own expeditions. George consistently displays unusual verbal and writing skills (demonstrated by his profession as scientific interpreter for all levels of American and foreign dignitaries). He uses those skills to describes his years of exploration in an informative and interesting manner.
Rating:
Summary: A personal, fascinating description of Antarctic exploration
Review: Dr. Doumani's account of Polar exploration provides another fascinating insight to the little-described human side of the geographic/scientific explorer. A modern explorer must deal with a maze of technology and knowlege;yet, as an individual human, face unknown difficulties and dangerous conditions, and individually react to achieve his exploration goals. Dr. Doumani (George) shared the challenges and fascinating/ominous unknown at my side for several Antarctic expeditions. Antarctic exploration dominated my personal goals and ambitions for a decade. When selecting a team for each new expedition, George Doumani proved a natural choice because of his skill, intelligence, humor and understanding personality. George's voice rings clear in my memory of days huddled in our "Jamesway" canvas shelter with wind howling at 50-70 mph. With our shelter jumping and shuddering, George would provide discussion, humor, good cooking and gentle ribbing. His contributions played an important role in the success of our exploration. As described in "The Fridgid Mistress", George expanded his own Antarctic exploration goals by organizing and skillfully leading his own expeditions. George consistently displays unusual verbal and writing skills (demonstrated by his profession as scientific interpreter for all levels of American and foreign dignitaries). He uses those skills to describes his years of exploration in an informative and interesting manner.
Rating:
Summary: A fascinating tale of courage and endurance
Review: Dr. Doumani's book is well-written and a joy to read. As a young man I was excited by reading about Paul Siple, the Boy Scout on Admiral Byrd's expedition to Antarctica several decades ago. Since then I have been fascinated by adventure and scientific pursuit in Antarctica. Dr. Doumani's tales of living and of human interaction under extreme isolation and climatic conditions are as interesting as they are realistic. Imagine crawling into cold sleeping bags on snow and ice in below freezing temperature and welcoming the respite! The author shares his excitement and joy at discovering evidence of plant and animal life hundreds of millions of years old under an ice cap two miles thick. The fossilized plants and animals prove that Africa, South America, Australia, and Antarctica were once joined in a single continent -- Gondwana. I highly recommend this well-written book to young and old men and women. It is simply fascinating and literally out of this world.
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Summary: A Forbidden, Wondrous Continent
Review: Every so often an author creates a book that propels one through time into a place where we can measure how far we have come and how arduous was the journey. Dr. Doumani has created such a work. Antarctica is a place as foreign to me as the moon or outer space, yet through skillful narrative with wholly human contacts and foibles, this geologist has given us all a vivid texture of a forbidden, wondrous continent. A place that I doubt I shall ever experience first hand but one which I feel has come to life through this book's fascinating story of early exploration. It is scientific without being burdensome, compelling without being pretentious, delightful and funny yet captivating in mystery and danger. Why do we want to have such a book by our side? As Dr. Doumani states: "One conquest was not enough. It never is. It is...a response to a challenge, a decisive test of man's endurance" which will always bind and attract us as long as our curiousity and love of life continue.
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