Big Dead Place: Inside the Strange and Menacing World of Antarctica
by Nicholas Johnson, Eirik S?nneland
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Book Summary Information
Author: Eirik S?nneland, Nicholas JohnsonEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2005-04
ISBN: 0922915997
Number of pages: 276
Publisher: Feral House
Book Reviews of Big Dead Place: Inside the Strange and Menacing World of Antarctica
Book Review: Legends of Ice and Bureaucracy
Summary: 5 Stars
Anyone approaching this book as a sociological critique of human mores in an extreme environment is looking for a different book. Oh, there's plenty of sociology, plenty of critique, and plenty examples of human mores in an extreme environment; but these are the simple byproduct of an intelligent man's opening his eyes and recording what he sees as an Antarctic contract/wage worker.
On the bounds of journalism, not quite Gonzo, not quite straight reportage, the author manages to weave enough Antarctic lore, daily observation, and well-researched history into the narrative, so that the reader is ever mindful of the locale. This alone is a feat of work, for at times one would swear from the corporate shenanigans at the Bottom of the World that this was written as a script for the movie version of "The Office," and rejected for being too real.
The end result--as is the case with most accounts of human bureaucracy in a sublimely inappropriate venue--is hilarity. Think of it as a Monty Python sketch on a continental scale, funded by the American government, subcontracted to an arms manufacturer, and played by a diverse cast of world citizens who can never escape the moral of the story: that things just aren't fair.
Summary of Big Dead Place: Inside the Strange and Menacing World of Antarctica
Johnson's savagely funny [book] is a grunt's-eye view of fear and loathing, arrogance and insanity in a dysfunctional, dystopian closed community. It's like M*A*S*H on ice, a bleak, black comedy."-The Times of London
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