In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette, Hampton Sides chronicles the adventure of Captain George De Long and thirty-two men, who set out to explore the North Pole in 1879. De Long had his heart set on reaching the pole via ship, going on the flawed information from previous explorers.
Sides manages to grip the readers' feelings when the group realizes they will never reach their goal and head back toward civilization. That's when the real hardships begin. Maybe we have a morbid fascination with someone else's catastrophes and can't stop reading. Or perhaps the story opens a world to which we will (thankfully) never see.
I was disappointed when Captain De Long's body was discovered, since he had been the central figure throughout the book. So when he died trying to return home, it was heartbreaking. The fact that any of them survived is a miracle.
I enjoyed reading this book. I like how Hampton Sides presented his research on the subject, which seems to be quite extensive, given the time-frame of the story and lack of communication and records keeping.
However, a lot of the book seemed to be rather non sequitur, but Sides managed to show why certain passages were necessary and how they related to the story.
Although there are a lot of scientific details, the book did not get bogged down in data dumps, which is why this book is an entertaining read.
No comments:
Post a Comment