Books

Books : reviews

Deborah Shapiro, Rolf Bjelke.
Time on Ice: a winter voyage to Antarctica.
McGraw-Hill. 1998

ANTARCTICA: To the early mapmakers it was Terra Incognita, and it remains a remote, brooding presence, more mythic than real, its mystery only deepened by the legendary journeys of Shackleton, Amundsen, and Scott. Answering the siren’s call, Deborah Shapiro and Rolf Bjelke pushed their small sailboat into the depths of an Antarctic winter, accepting complete isolation to experience the sublime majesty of earth’s last great wilderness.

TIME ON ICE recounts their three-year, 28,000-mile odyssey, meticulously planned and boldly executed by two experienced and resourceful sailors. Surviving whiteouts, hurricane-force winds, battering seas, and capsizing icebergs, they found what they were seeking: a wild, untamed, yet fragile beauty reserved for the few who can endure it. What they have brought back to share with us is magical.