Mawson's Will: The Greatest Polar Survival Story Ever Written

What is just as unbelievable as this truly remarkable story itself is that Mawson has never had the same recognition as his contemporaries, Scott and Shackleton.

The story is even more remarkable, not just because of the terrible deaths of his comrades or the near starvation or physical pain and mental exhaustion, but that Mawson is further tormented by his total isolation in a vastness unimaginable.

A grim tale with emotion, the reader will find Bickel's account vivid and moving.

Mawson's Will (11/11 people found this helpful)

Without being fully aware of the history of the polar expeditions or polar travel in general, I began this book expecting a great adventure story and nothing more. This book more than delivered in that respect. Not only is it immensely easy to read, but I found it difficult to put down and became completely engrossed in the story that unfolded. I got choked up a great deal towards the end and felt anxious and exhausted along with the people in the book. For the two days that it took to read, I lived the fears and exhaustion along with the author and finished the book feeling wrung out, yet strangely exhilarated. I can not imagine what it must be like to travel in such a hostile environment, but this book goes some way to helping you picture what it may of been like. It also has some great old photography. If you like survival stories or are interested in the polar expeditions you must add this book to your library, it is a superb read that will keep you gripped throughout. Highly recommended.

Bickel's Gift (5/5 people found this helpful)

Rarely has fiction served the truth so well. Rarely has the truth served fiction so well.

Mawson's own account of his ordeal, in "The Home of The Blizzard", seems relatively matter of fact. We may not have marvelled at Mawson's accomplishment in surviving if we relied only on his way of telling it. Although a good writer, his specialities were geography and exploration.

Bickel's presentation here in "Mawson's Will" makes Mawson's accomplishment more touching than Mawson's own presentation. But it took an extraordinary writing accomplishment by Bickel to convey Mawson's accomplishment. Poetic license? To fail to understand how much faithful art it took to go from Mawson's diaries and book to Bickel's account would be to not appreciate how much effort and skill it took for Bickel to bring Mawson's tale so fully alive. If Bickel hadn't taken poetic license, this tale may have been of more interest to the most purist historian but it would have been of far less human interest. Sensitive to our lack of understanding of the Antartic experience, Bickel put us there in a way we never could have gotten from Mawson's own account. The last one hundred pages of "Mawson's Will" are as riveting as anything I've read in years.

Bickel's faithfulness to Mawson has made this a special work of art. Because of Bickel, we can be amazed at how Mawson survived and understand something profound about the human will.

P.S. I wake up the next day to find the story is still strong on my mind. Mawson returned to Australia to find his beloved waiting, married her, in time actually returned to the Antartic for exploration, and lived til 73. While we may never face as extreme a challenge as he did, there seems lessons here in the value of perserverence, in the benefits of careful self-management, and in the role of loved ones in making life worth living. This is an unusual book and Mawson and Bickel have made a special contribution far beyond whether land was claimed through exploration.

Mawson's Will review (4/5 people found this helpful)

As a fan of real life tales of adventure, I loved this book. I found it gripping, the detail, the anguish, the physical and mental hardship, the historical detail - awesome read.
This is probably less of a good read for someone who isn't into the outdoors and so has no empathy with the situation.

Not a bibiliography or expedition description (10/12 people found this helpful)

If you were expecting or looking for a description of the 1913 Australian Antarctic Expedition, you won't find find it in this book. Nor is it a biography of Mawson. There's little personal background, not a single map, very little in the way of references or information. I'm still not even sure if the degrees of temperature that are described are Fahrenheit or Centigrade; call me pedantic, but it makes a difference! It's nowhere near the quality of Roland Huntford's 'Shackleton', for example, which was the inspiration for wanting to know more about Mawson.

Once I'd realised that it wasn't the book I was hoping for, I found it an interesting attempt to look into Mawson's head, and at what goes on psychologically during a long expedition, and the effects of physical collapse on an exhausted person. But it's still a little too much conjecture and assumption for my liking. Mawson's own 'Home of the Blizzard' might give a more detailed picture of what happened.

Mawson's Will: The Greatest Polar Survival Story Ever Written

Lennard Bickel

Reader Reviews:

And then there was one (2/2 people found this helpful)

Mawson's Will (11/11 people found this helpful)

Bickel's Gift (5/5 people found this helpful)

Mawson's Will review (4/5 people found this helpful)

Not a bibiliography or expedition description (10/12 people found this helpful)

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