Download The South Pole: An Account of the Norwegian Antarctic Expedition in the Fram, 1910-1912 epub

The story itself is fascinating and would easily get 5 stars. Amundsen's own account of his South Pole journey is very well written and very entertaining.
What's bad is the layout and quality of the book and I am referring to the sepia/brown book with ISBN 9781494381172.
This is not a professionally published book, more like someone printing a poorly formatted Word document and gluing together. The book has no page numbers, it probably has never seen a proof reader because it is full of typos, picture captions are sometimes on different pages than the pictures, and the pictures themselves are tiny and of very bad quality, just like if they were poorly xerox'd from another book.
The book doesn't even have a publisher listed.
I would recommend that you read Amundsen, but not in this poorly produced edition.

What a shame. The actual contents of this book by explorer Roald Amundsen was 5 stars. Incredible action, great descriptions of their ship the fram, provisions, their food....everything was great. I really got into the book and was enjoying it very much when I get to an OCR software mistake, misprints, misspelling and words together. Many mistakes throughout the book. Also one large paragraph so bad I could not make it out.

General books says in the book they are using OCR software to help print the book and avoid proof reading to keep costs low. Do yourself a favor and buy Amundsen's account part 1 or 2 NOT in an OCR software edition book. Pay the extra 2 dollars or more for an error free book. Its so frustrating reading something so enjoyable and having to stop for mistakes and sort things out. A major distraction for me.

Now the good parts. Amundsen had a sense of humor and loved his sled dogs. However his people party were most important and if a dog was not able to keep up and pull the sled he would have the animal killed and if needed the other dogs would feed on it. Animal lovers will say this is horrible but Amundsen was a realest who survived -70F temperatures and got all his men back. Poor explorer Scott lost his life and 4 others after reaching the pole after Amundsen.

Amundsen's 95% effort was to reach the South Pole first and 5% scientific exploration. He did all he planned in a most efficient method using dogs to pull sleds and clothing more in tune what the native people of the far north would wear. The man had his act together and did not try to do all things like Scott's expedition did. Scott used ponies, snow tractors and dogs. Most all failed him and his 5 man polar group manhandled/pulled their sleds to the pole and partially back by themselves. Poor planning, bad weather that cost 5 lives.

Amundsen and his men returned to Norway as heroes being the first to conquer the South Pole. Scott and his polar party were heroes too but perished.

Amundsen's tale is 5 stars and fantastic but this OCR software book for me dragged it down with many mistakes to 2 stars. I do recommend you getting Amundsen's story about going to the South Pole and the ship the "fram" but get a regular printed book NOT an OCR software printed edition.

P.S.After so much disappointment reading the crummy 2 star General OCR edition, I bought the Cooper Square Press edition. What a difference. This book is the one to get 5 star. No OCR mistakes. Great pictures. Part 1 and 2 are done so well. Also great Appendix. All about the Fram, about Meteorology, Oceanography, and Astronomical observations at the pole. This book was a masterpiece. So detailed and exciting. Make sure you get the thick Cooper Square Press edition. Do not waist your time and money on the poorly done OCR General book.

P.P.S. My family and father actually were on the "fram" in a museum in Norway and I took a picture of my Dad holding the steering wheel. Great vacation and happy memories. The General books OCR edition stunk with too many printing errors, misspelling, and words together. An entire large paragraph destroyed. What a way to ruin a great true polar exploration story.The 800 page plus Cooper edition was fantastic. Highly recommended 5 star plus.

What a shame. These print to order book businesses are a scam. They printed this book in 8pt font and terrible spacing. It is so small and packed it is impossible to read. Returning it. A book has to be readable.

An excellent account, written with insight, warmth, and even poetic whimsy; not what one might expect from a man who has been called "the last viking". I had expected an almost dry account and found myself drawn into a narrative of which any novelist could be proud. I definitely recommend this book, not only to aficionados of polar exploration (a MUST read for them), but for anyone interested in the human spirit, human nature, and the wonders of nature.

The expedition which took Amundsen and his crew to the south pole was a remarkable accomplishment. Others tried. Some died. Others barely survived. Considering the time and the technology it is amazing to read about it. Unfortunately this book is less interesting than it could have been. The story is fascinating despite the description. Most distressing to me is the way the expedition treated the hard working, faithful dogs who were butchered along the way. I know that is how things had to happen and that the reluctance of Scott to use dogs and then slaughter them led to his death. This is a hard book to read.

I'm going on a trip to Antarctica and so thought it fitting to read about the first man to make it to the South Pole ... and back. This was a fascinating book in terms of the enormity of the task at hand to be the first to reach the South Pole and in terms of showing a slice of life in the history of scientific exploration. The author is not a superb writer or storyteller, but he does provide wonderful descriptive details about life in Antarctica, preparation for the trip and a glimpse of what doing this trip was like. And by the end of the book, the reader likes this person, feels a sense of celebration at the triumph of their achievement and is happy that his team made it. One warning, the print in this book is very small, so invest in magnifiers or a bright reading light. Also, if you love animals, take care. The way they treated the animals in this book likely reflects the age in which they lived, but it was a little difficult to take at times. There's also a brilliant trivia question to be found in this book: What did Roald Amundsen forget to bring with him to Antarctica? I'll let the readers discover the answer, but the point that he introduced the answer and the way he did it was delightful. I'm still chuckling about it.