October 26, 2009
British explorer and conservationist Swan accounts for the inspiration, execution and purpose of his expeditions to visit the South and North Poles. In 1967, at the age of 11, Swan saw the 1948 film Scott of the Antarctic, and became obsessed with the doomed expedition of its iconic hero, Captain Robert F. Scott. Naming his 1985 expedition "In the Footsteps of Scott," Swan successfully retraced the captain's 900 mile trek to the South Pole. In a subsequent hike to the North Pole (another 500 mile trip), Swan became the first person to have walked to both poles. He recounts big adventures, and setbacks almost as big (his first ship was crushed by polar ice, leaving him with a $1.2 million debt), on his journey to becoming a committed conservationist, dedicated to curbing climate change and preventing the exploitation of the Arctic and Antarctic (2041 is the year that the international treaty protecting Antarctica comes up for review). Though he describes his Antarctic expedition as a "ridiculous undertaking-a twenty-something nobody raising five million dollars to embark on a useless quest," Swan's valuable lessons and thrilling narrative make it clear his efforts were far from fruitless.
September 1, 2009
An earnest, cheerful memoir by an intrepid adventurer, the first to walk to both the North and South Poles.
A restless youth in 1970s Britain, Swan began adventuring by bicycling alone across Africa. Once back home, he decided to fulfill his childhood obsession with Antarctic explorers by repeating Captain Robert Scott's legendary 1912 walk across Antarctica to the South Pole. Scott and his men died on the way back, but Swan planned on only a one-way trip to the American South Pole base. He was not a mountaineer, scientist or celebrity; he had no money or polar experience; and in the'80s no commercial presence existed in Antarctica, only national research stations. Official organizations refused to cooperate, but readers will enjoy Swan's account of five years of relentless pestering, writing and public speaking necessary to acquire millions of dollars, supplies, a ship and a team that fulfilled his dream in 1985. The horrendous 900-mile walk was no anticlimax, as each of the three men set off dragging a 350-pound sled containing all their provisions but no radio. Having attained his goal, Swan recruited another team and walked to the North Pole in 1989, a task difficult then and impossible now because of melting icepack. By this time he had grown concerned with the deteriorating polar environment, and the book's final 100 pages are focused on the author's efforts to spread the word as he sails the world in his vessel 2041 (the year the international treaty protecting Antarctica expires), teaching, recruiting volunteers and performing tasks such as removing mountains of Antarctic garbage.
An admirable mixture of death-defying polar treks and environmental awareness.
(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)
September 15, 2009
Swan, the first person to walk to both the North and South Poles, combines adventure and environmentalism in this thoughtful consideration of Antarctica. His lifelong admiration for Robert Scott inspired him to follow in the explorers footsteps, a journey he has written about before and now reconsiders from a fresh perspective. Discussions of Scott, Shackleton, and Amundsen are particularly affecting; but beyond a traditional exploration tale, Swan explains how he was compelled to seek ways to protect and preserve Antarctica. He is at his most graphically detailed when he writes of organizing and physically assisting in the removal of 15,000 tons of abandoned scrap from the Russian station of Bellingshausen. Antarcticas garbage problem is just the beginning, though, and continued efforts to raise money and spread awareness of the fragile environment on the southern continent have occupied Swans life ever since the first walk. This is a man with a mission, and his story is the sort to make you get up and do somethingmaybe even try to save the world.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)