Book Review 8: The Coldest Place on Earth

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1. Outlines
In the summer of 1910, a race began. A race to be the first man at the South Pole, in Antarctica. Robert Falcon Scott, an English man, left London in his ship, the Terra Nova, and began the long journey south. Five days later, another ship also began to travel south. And on this ship was Roald Amundsen, a Norwegian.
But Antarctica is the coldest place on Earth, and it is a long, hard journey over the ice to the South Pole. Some of the travelers never returned to their homes again.
This is the story of Scott and Amundsen, and of one of the most famous and dangerous races in history.

2. Details
There were two groups of travelers to the South Pole in Antarctica. They wanted to be the first men to get there. They tried to prepare perfectly for their journey. The Amundsen’s group got 99 dogs from a small island in the south of Norway. Also, they didn’t forget to have the foods. They got plenty of them. While in the Scott’ team, they got Some ponies from China. The captain thought that the ponies were strong and they could work hard even on ice. However, ponies are originally live in the warm place. They need much food, and can’t work hard in the cold place.
Both two groups fought with the team mates in the cold place. The clearest differences between them were that the Amundsen team never forgot to take care of their tools and to make some tents on the way to the South Pole. They helped their lives.
At last, Amundsen’s team won the race. They could win the race because of their cautious preparations and right decision. The members fought, but they never to part from the members. They could come back their homes. However, the Scott’s team was in danger many times and they were all dead. The reason was the wrong judgments and the wrong group consciousness. The members followed the wrong order of the captain and never insist their ideas.

I thought that this book told me the most important thing. It is the right decision, the calm actions, and needless to say, the courage to have their own insistence. We have them every time we are in troubles. We should be more careful about our risk. Old people said, “The preparation is all!!” I think so, too.