With narrator Vikas Adam at the helm, listeners gain extra appreciation for the wonders, bravery, and horrors of the first Western expedition to winter in Antarctica. Written by a journalist and based on diaries, logs, photographs, and other firsthand accounts, the story of the RV BELGICA and its men laid bare includes an unruly, inexperienced crew; poor provisions; language barriers; deaths; malnutrition; and depression, physical weakness, and even insanity. Yet, despite unimaginable hardship and the dangers of the ever-changing ice, some men, like First Mate Roald Amundsen, continued to see the beauty of the polar landscape. Adam uses a straightforward delivery for the narrative, a more dramatic tone for quotations, and a lowered volume for footnotes as he guides listeners through this harrowing true story.
Pub Date: May 4, 2021
Duration: 13 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9780593340141
Publisher: Random House Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Narrator Mark Deakins provides appropriately measured enthusiasm for Mark Synnott's account of sailing his 47-foot boat, POLAR SUN, through the Northwest Passage. Synnott funds his plans by selling the idea of searching for nineteenth-century explorer Sir John Franklin's tomb to National Geographic, among others. The author alternates between his own nautical adventure and the Franklin story. Previously ignored Inuit oral history was critical in locating Franklin's two ships a few years ago, but now Synnott experiences disinterest or suspicion from current Inuit residents who question whether his search is as pointless as Franklin's expedition. When the action flags, Deakins maintains his energy to keep the listener involved, and he sounds distinctly careful in his pronunciations of the multiple Inuit names and places.
Pub Date: April 15, 2025
Duration: 12 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9798217019915
Publisher: Penguin Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
This brief but delightful and highly informed audiobook begins and ends with blue spheres. First, listeners learn that the blue marble that astronauts photographed from space actually had the South Pole on top until NASA flipped the image. It ends with the ever-present iPhone blue dot that locates Apple map users. Narrator Liam Garrigan has a natural storytelling style, and his British accent and professional delivery work well in this exploration of geographic direction. He narrates at a good pace and a sensible cadence that make this science-oriented text move almost too quickly. The central idea is how the cardinal directions gave life meaning throughout history but are now being displaced in the digital age, when the ideas of east against west and south versus north have geopolitical, rather than geographical, meanings.
Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2024
Duration: 5 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9781668132364
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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