Customer Reviews
A true survival story - By: Mr. A. Whiteside, 17 Nov 2008 
If any book captures the spirit of human survival it is this one by Douglas Mawson.It is the story of an Antarctic expedition that went horribly wrong & tells how Mawson had to deal with the death of his colleagues.How he survived is a minor miracle & it is hard to believe that he came out of his horrible situation alive.
Mawson tells his storyin a professional & unemotional way & this is always a compelling read.It shows just how deep a person can dig down within his soulin order to survive.It isn't the best book I have read about polar exploration,that is probably 'Endurance' by Alfred Lansing but it is very good effort indeed.Recommended.
And then there was one - By: M. S. Ridgeway, 31 Dec 2007 
What is just as unbelievable as this truly remarkable story itself is that Mawson has never had the same recognition as his contemporaries, Scott & Shackleton.
The story is even more remarkable, not just because of the terrible deaths of his comrades or the near starvation or physical pain & mental exhaustion, but that Mawson is further tormented by his total isolationin a vastness unimaginable.
A grim tale with emotion, the reader will find Bickel's account vivid & moving.
Mawson's Will - By: Spider Monkey, 08 Dec 2007 Without being fully aware of the history of the polar expeditions or polar travelin general, I began this book expecting a great adventure story & nothing more. This book more than deliveredin that respect. Not only is it immensely easy to read, but I found it difficult to put down & became completely engrossedin the story that unfolded. I got choked up a great deal towards the end & felt anxious & exhausted along with the peoplein the book. For the two days that it took to read, I lived the fears & exhaustion along with the author & finished the book feeling wrung out, yet strangely exhilarated. I can not imagine what it must be like to travelin such a hostile environment, but this book goes some way to helping you picture what it may of been like. It also has some great old photography. If you like survival stories or are interestedin the polar expeditions you must add this book to your library, it is a superb read that will keep you gripped throughout. Highly recommended.
Bickel's Gift - By: calmly, 22 Oct 2007 Rarely has fiction served the truth so well. Rarely has the truth served fiction so well.
Mawson's own account of his ordeal,in "The Home of The Blizzard", seems relatively matter of fact. We may not have marvelled at Mawson's accomplishmentin surviving if we relied only on his way of telling it. Although a good writer, his specialities were geography & exploration.
Bickel's presentation herein "Mawson's Will" makes Mawson's accomplishment more touching than Mawson's own presentation. But it took an extraordinary writing accomplishment by Bickel to convey Mawson's accomplishment. Poetic license? To fail to understand how much faithful art it took to go from Mawson's diaries & book to Bickel's account would be to not appreciate how much effort & skill it took for Bickel to bring Mawson's tale so fully alive. If Bickel hadn't taken poetic license, this tale may have been of more interest to the most purist historian but it would have been of far less human interest. Sensitive to our lack of understanding of the Antartic experience, Bickel put us therein a way we never could have gotten from Mawson's own account. The last one hundred pages of "Mawson's Will" are as riveting as anything I've readin years.
Bickel's faithfulness to Mawson has made this a special work of art. Because of Bickel, we can be amazed at how Mawson survived & understand something profound about the human will.
P.S. I wake up the next day to find the story is still strong on my mind. Mawson returned to Australia to find his beloved waiting, married her,in time actually returned to the Antartic for exploration, & lived til 73. While we may never face as extreme a challenge as he did, there seems lessons herein the value of perserverence,in the benefits of careful self-management, &in the role of loved onesin making life worth living. This is an unusual book & Mawson & Bickel have made a special contribution far beyond whether land was claimed through exploration.
Mawson's Will review - By: Anne, 19 Dec 2006 As a fan of real life tales of adventure, I loved this book. I found it gripping, the detail, the anguish, the physical & mental hardship, the historical detail - awesome read.
This is probably less of a good read for someone who isn't into the outdoors & so has no empathy with the situation.
