The Last Viking

The Life of Roald Amundsen

By: Stephen R. Bown

Narrated by: Stephen Hoye

The Last Viking unravels the life of the man who stands head and shoulders above all those who raced to map the last corners of the world. In 1900, the four great geographical mysteries - the Northwest Passage, the Northeast Passage, the South Pole, and the North Pole - remained blank spots on the globe. Within twenty years Roald Amundsen would claim all four prizes. Renowned for his determination and technical skills, both feared and beloved by his men, Amundsen is a legend of the heroic age of exploration, which shortly thereafter would be tamed by technology, commerce, and publicity. Fted in his lifetime as an international celebrity, pursued by women and creditors, he died in the Arctic on a rescue mission for an inept rival explorer.Stephen R. Bown has unearthed archival material to give Amundsen’s life the grim immediacy of Apsley Cherry-Garrard’s The Worst Journey in the World, the exciting detail of The Endurance, and the suspense of a Jon Krakauer tale. The Last Viking is both a thrilling literary biography and a cracking good story.

©2012 Stephen R. Bown (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

Enjoyable and worth the listen

Multiple adventure stories in one book! I enjoyed how it covers not just the race for the south pole but all his accomplishments as well as failures. I also find it interesting how he is viewed in much different light today (at least in the English speaking world) than he was at the time of his major achievements. He is not the villain or protagonist that many reporters of his time made him out to be especially when compared to Robert Falcon Scott.

Amazing explorer

I found this to be a very interesting book on the life of this amazing and sometimes understood polar explorer. This goes in the great depth and also places the political history around some of these explorations I felt the narrator did a very good job in this book is well

A fascinating man

Would you consider the audio edition of The Last Viking to be better than the print version?

Audio is the only version of this book I've experienced.

What other book might you compare The Last Viking to and why?

Searching my mind for a comparison, the only things I come up with are fiction.

What does Stephen Hoye bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

His lovely, strong voice.

Any additional comments?

After the first evening I spent listening to this book, I went to YouTube and watched everything I could find about Roald Amundsen. That led to searches on Scott and Perrie, and of course, Shackelton - whose story I already knew. IMHO, Amundsen and Shackelton are a breed apart.

A man to be admired

What an amazing story of an incredible life. I have read extensively about Mawson, Shackleton and Scott but I was compelled to read this because of a recent trip to Norway. It is an excellent read and performance of an extraordinary life.

What a story!

What an inspiring life this man led. Can't get enough of it! Definitely recommended to anyone who loves adventure.

Excellent Book

Overall a fantastic book about a fascinating figure. Given how much Amundsen did in his life, the author does a good job of giving adequate details without getting bogged down in the minutia. The reader's performance is good, though he mispronounces several words repeatedly (but at least consistently)--but that's me nitpicking. I absolutely don't regret spending my audible credit on this title and would definitely recommend it!

Outstanding.

Any additional comments?

Roald Amundsen was the greatest explorer of his time and, his biographer convincingly argues, possibly of any time. Best remembered as the discoverer of the South Pole, he was also the first person to study the magnetic North Pole, the first to sail the Northwest Passage, the first person to reach the North Pole, the first to use airplanes and airships in arctic exploration, and more. At times the most famous person in the world, the book uses Amundsen's fame as a venue for studying celebrity culture and the way celebrity itself becomes a career: book tours, paid speeches, taking tactical mutual advantage of the press, fundraising. "The Last Viking" also delves into the relationship between exploration and nationalism, and in discussing Amundsen's famous "race to the pole" with Scott (which wasn't a race at all), points out that Amundsen succeeded partly because of his admiration for and willingness to learn from native arctic cultures like the Inuit, while Scott, as an English gentleman, thought he could learn nothing from native peoples. Scott died in Antarctica because of his poor planning, but also, the author argues, because he carried the weight of the British Empire on his shoulders. Named by many organizations as one of the best books of 2012, “The Last Viking” is deeply researched, thoughtful, informative, entertaining, and often exciting. It is an outstanding biography.

More emotion, but still a good listen

The narrator could use a little more emotion while reading, but still a very enjoyable and interesting listen. I would and have recommended this book.

Title

This was good motivation for becoming a more organized person. I also enjoyed the explanations of how he used polar natives technology to succeed in his exploration.

Informative

I had wanted to know more about Roald Amudsen, who appears in so many narratives, such as the exploration of Greenland, the quest for the south pole, and the history of Alaska. This book satisfied my curiosity. It was illuminating to see how his life played out, at the very close of the age of geographical discovery.