Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
26 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Reputation Restored, 30 Oct 2003
I cannot praise this book enough. Like many people, I had accepted the modern day version of Scott's explorations - misguided, amateurish and marred by Scott's wayward and boorishness personality, leading on to predictable tragedy. Rannulph Fiennes proves not only that this is total nonsense, but reveals Scott as a thoughtful, caring and inspired leader, fully deserving of the heroic reputation he held until it was damaged and disparaged in recent years by a hack journalist, Roland Huntford, so desperate to add some colour and scandal to his books, he fundamentally distorted the true story of Scott and his breathtaking achievements. Anyone interested in polar adventure, in tales of courage or in simple justice should snatch this book up. It is a tremendous read and fully deserving of its five stars.
|
|
|
16 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Scott!, 15 Oct 2003
I picked up this book and completed it over a few days. I honestly could not put this book down. Fiennes narrative really draws you in, and I felt I could not get a lot closer to Scott during his expiditions to the South Pole. Fiennes adds to the adventure with comparisons with his own efforts in Antartica.However Fienns makes it clear that this book aims to set the record straight where other biographers have questioned Scott's character and judgement. This results in perhaps a little to much 'hero worship' of Captain Scott for me, but this did not distract from a cracking read, that will stay with me for a very long time!
|
|
|
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An excellently crafted and definitive work., 21 Jul 2009
On the cover of this book is a head and shoulders photograph of Scott which, almost eerily, reminds me of a similar study of author Ranulph Fiennes from another work. These two men have more in common than just the South Pole.
Over the years, Scott has come in for considerable criticism particularly by those who have no understanding of the subject. This can be likened to a non-driver who believes he is able to describe exactly what it is like to survive a racing car crash at over 180 mph. Personally, I want to hear the driver's account. Scott, however, did not survive his final expedition and that is why so many "non-drivers" believe themselves qualified to comment on his life, his achievements and, of course, his death - and do so from the warmth and safety of whatever centrally-heated base camp they occupy.
Such armchair experts deliberately set out to uncover whatever flaws exists in the makeup of any person who achieves greatness and often invent defects which never existed. They do so in order to reduce that person to whatever common level is occupied by ordinary mortals. Consequently, Scott has been subjected to the wrath of writers whose own understanding of hardship is limited to the inconvenience of running out of petrol on a motorway. It takes, therefore, an explorer and writer of the magnitude of Ranulph Fiennes to produce an accurate biography of Captain Scott if only because he possesses an unparalleled understanding of the subject, of the man, of the hardships and of the drive and ambition - because he too has been there and done that. Add to that, the simple fact that Ranulph Fiennes is also always able to provide an outstanding "read" and this book does supreme justice to the topic.
Ranulph Fiennes has led many expeditions, has conquered both Poles and in 2009 climbed Everest at the age of 65! Whilst this book is about Scott and not the author, they are relevant factors when considering the content. In an outstanding and excellently crafted work, Captain Scott is revealed in a way not seen before - if only because no previous author had the expertise to understand what happened and why. As Scott and his life open up to be revealed page by page, so Fiennes tackles each success, each obstacle, each failure and each point of later criticism as it was reached in the life of the man himself. Expertly drawing on his own relevant experiences just at the right juncture, Fiennes provides the reader with a thorough awareness of precisely what confronted Scott at that particular time. In explaining each occurrence, he offers the reader a thorough comprehension of the situation and the problems faced so that we are finally able to understand. That understanding comes about only because both subject and author are, in many ways, kindred spirits.
That said, this is not a work of hero worship. Certainly not. This is an honest appraisal of a great man who had equally great flaws in is character and even caused other men to die. It is, therefore, an exposé of the truth behind that man and of the legend he has become. Each myth is not just discounted, it is considered almost as though a formal commission had been tasked with establishing the truth. In adopting this approach, Ranulph Fiennes has provided a long-overdue definitive account of the life of Captain Robert Falcon Scott. Perhaps, he may now be finally allowed to Rest in Peace.
NM
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
by Sir Ranulph Fiennes
by Apsley Cherry-Garrard
by Sir Ranulph Fiennes
by Sir Ranulph Fiennes
