Product Description

It is the coldest, windiest, driest place on earth, an icy desert of unearthly beauty and stubborn impenetrability. For centuries, Antarctica has captured the imagination of our greatest scientists and explorers, lingering in the spirit long after their return. Shackleton called it "the last great journey"; for Apsley Cherry-Garrard it was the worst journey in the world.

This is a book about the call of the wild and the response of the spirit to a country that exists perhaps most vividly in the mind. Sara Wheeler spent seven months in Antarctica, living with its scientists and dreamers. No book is more true to the spirit of that continent--beguiling, enchanted and vast beyond the furthest reaches of our imagination. Chosen by Beryl Bainbridge and John Major as one of the best books of the year, recommended by the editors of Entertainment Weekly and the Chicago Tribune, one of the Seattle Times's top ten travel books of the year, Terra Incognita is a classic of polar literature.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #422866 in Books
• Published on: 1999-03-16
• Released on: 1999-03-16
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Amazon.com Review
When explorers such as Ernest Shackleton, Roald Amundsen, and Robert Falcon Scott all set off to Antarctica in the early years of the 20th century, the polar regions were among the last truly unexplored areas of the world--and arguably the least hospitable. Scott lost his life, pinned down in a howling blizzard only 11 miles from his supply depot; Shackleton lost his ship, crushed in the ice. Even those who survived the icy wastes did so only with enormous effort. And yet, there is something about Antarctica that beckons people; eighty years after Shackleton's voyage, Sara Wheeler answered the call, leaving her comfortable home for "the Great White." Terra Incognita is the result of her sojourn in that legendary land.

In addition to chronicling her own encounters with the people and the place, Wheeler brings the past alive as well, through vivid stories about the heroes of polar exploration: Shackleton, Scott, Amundsen, and others who practically become secondary characters in Wheeler's account. But it is her interactions with the living people who make up the community--scientists, drifters, and dreamers who have settled this forbidding landscape--that make Terra Incognita a rare and worthy book.

From Publishers Weekly
Journalist Wheeler (Travels in a Thin Country, on Chile) spent more than two years researching and organizing a seven-month journey to Antarctica, becoming the first foreigner to join the American National Science Foundation's Antarctic Artists' and Writers' Program. Her wry, lucid account of that journey juxtaposes the epic exploits of heroic early Antarctic explorers (Robert Scott, Ernest Shackleton, Roald Amunden, Douglas Mawson, Apsley Cherry-Garrard, et al.) with her own adventures. She offers a critical survey of the literature of Antarctic exploration and provides as well insights into the historical and cultural impact of Antarctic exploration on the British and Norwegian national consciousnesses. While the hardships the intrepid Wheeler suffered are a faint echo of those endured by polar pioneers, there's still a wealth of absorbing detail to make the point: use and operation of toilets in subzero; foodstuffs and their creative preparation; transportation, be it dogsled, skis or snowmobile; proper layering of protective clothing; the leisure activities and quirks of the varied scientists and support crews ("Frozen Beards") she encountered. Along the way, she offers a rare woman's view of a thoroughly male place, tolerant of women in most cases but downright hostile in some (as in the U.K. zone). Wheeler writes elegantly and movingly about the unearthly landscape and its effects: "The twin peaks... were backlit against a pearly blue sky.... Ribboned crystals imprisoned in the ice glimmered like glowworms. It was swathed in light, pale as an unripe lemon. The scene said to me, 'Do not be afraid.' It was like the moment when I pass back the chalice after holy communion." Her book, fascinating reading for any explorer, armchair or otherwise, concludes with the recipe for her renowned "Bread-and-Butter Pudding (Antarctic Version)."
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Wheeler was the first woman sponsored by the U.S. National Science Foundation to travel to Antarctica. Her 1995 journey forms the basis for this unique account in which she juxtaposes her observations and experiences against the exploits of those explorers from the early years of polar discovery who are immortalized in the annals of arctic history. Her love and awe of this stark environment are evident in nearly every word she writes. During her seven-month stay in this frozen land, she visited some of the national bases, traveled to several regions of Antarctica, and lived through four seasons. Wheeler immediately connects with this starkly beautiful land, despite the dangers of frigid temperatures and virtually nonexistent creature comforts. Most of the people she meets are warm, friendly, funny, and unique all qualities useful for getting along, sharing, and surviving in such bleak circumstances. Patricia Gallimore's British pronunciations are well suited to the book. Armchair travelers will be mesmerized by Wheeler's imagery; others will learn some interesting facts and obscure bits of history about this region; no one will be untouched by the stark beauty and eerie magnetism conveyed by her words. Highly recommended for all public library collections. Gloria Maxwell, Penn Valley Community Coll., Kansas City, MO
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

This Book Changed My Life
I once had a discussion with a colleague who said, "I've never read a book that actually changed my life. I don't think books can do that." At the time, I disagreed, but couldn't articulate why.

Well, this book has been the one that changed my life. It was the first book I read about Antarctica, and it immediately peaked my interest in traveling there. I didn't want to go as a tourist (which is possible, by the way, if you can afford a $6000 cruise....) I wanted to see a science station for myself.

Well, it wasn't easy, but three years and SEVERAL job applications later, I've got a job at McMurdo Station (the US's main research station, and the largest one on the continent), and I leave for "the Ice" in two weeks. So "Thanks" Sara Wheeler! I owe you one!

This book was a pleasure to read because the author so effortlessly blends her experience with the stories of the early explorers. As a fellow, modern, female traveler I could empathize with her desire to get away to an empty, vast place. And her social descriptions are just as interesting. Funny that she is well received everywhere except by her own countrymen at the British base.

I definitely recommend it for anyone interested in Antarctica's past or present.

Words worth a thousand pictures
Sara Wheeler relates her months in Antarctica with vivid discription that as an artist I can "see" her experience. Any one who loves to travel will take this trip with her.

helplessly hoping in the white south
After reading the thoroughly enjoyable Travels in a Thin Country, I figured on some entertaining travelogue action in Terra Incognita.

Didn't happen.

What ever happened to the adventurous Sara Wheeler of the Travels book? After slogging my way up to the middle of the book, my level of interest experienced a whiteout worthy of winter in Antarctica. I realized, as I laid the book momentarily aside, that the reading was getting pretty tedious. A bad sign, usually meaning a book is targeted for the pile heading for the used book store.

Most of this book comes across as journalizing that never got the attention of a re-write before heading off to the publisher. The lack of cohesion that should be glueing this narrative together is palpable; this is a narrative devoid of any sustaining "pull". Terra Incognita is a muddle through a pastiche of the historical events of Antarctica although it is interspersed with some pretty decent reportage of current life at the bottom of the world.

Still, there ain't much to redeem the tediousness of this book except Wheeler's wry British humour. But even that's not enough to keep one's attention from freezing to death. Wheeler is encamped with predomitably groups of scientists; as such, this isn't much of a travelogue but rather a logbook of how to hang out with the transients.

I think Sara Wheeler is worthy of producing some real decent travel writing; Travels in a Thin Country bears testimony to this. Terra Incognita, however, is a big hiccup; hopefully she will produce a better read the next book that comes our way.


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