Book: Ice Station Zebra

One of the best books I've read to date is "Ice Station Zebra" by Alistair MacLean. The book is of a war drama genre and is based in the Cold War era. It details the operation to rescue the survivors of a meteorological station named Ice Station Zebra located in the Arctic Circle.

The Plot:
The USS Dolphin, a nuclear submarine of the American fleet is pressed into the rescue of people at Zebra. With the winter coming in fast, the survivors of the station have only days before they too follow their dead teammates.

With the narrow time frame, an American nuclear submarine, the "USS Dolphin" is given the task of going under the ice in an effort to reach station Zebra. The commander of the ship Captain, Swanson is surprised when he is informed that a British civilian will be joining the rescue mission. The civilian, Dr. Carpenter introduces himself an expert in dealing with frostbite and other medical conditions caused by extreme cold. Suspicious of Carpenter Swanson calls in his superior and refuses to allow carpenter on board unless he knows what his mission is. Under duress, Carpenter reveals that Ice Station Zebra is a top secret listening post with capabilities to detect potential nuclear missile launches from the Soviet Union.

What follows is a gripping tale of suspense and drama! Secrets after secrets are revealed as we follow Dr. Carpenter as he tries to get to the bottom of the mystery behind the disaster at Zebra.

What I liked about it:
Alistair MacLean is a master storyteller. Once you start reading this book, you will not be able to put it down! Each character in the book, from the ship's doctor to the its Captain are superbly portrayed.
One particular scene stands out. This scene is when the USS Dolphin is about to dive to go under the polar ice cap.
...most Hollywood directors would have been supremely disappointed by Swanson's diving procedure, no blaring klaxons, no tannoy calls of "Dive, dive dive!" Swanson spoke into the microphone, "This is the Captain. Diving now."
This scene, I believe, conveys to the reader the sheer amount of calm the captain of a submarine should demonstrate at all times.

I would recommend this book to everyone who might be interested in books of this genre.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Discover Pune 11 - The Treasure Hunt with a Twist!

Image
Discover Pune is a treasure hunt which has been organised by the Rotaract Club of Shaniwarwada every year for the last decade. This event is organised in collaboration with INTACH (Indian National Trust for Art & Cultural Heritage). One of my cousins , who is a member of the Rotaract Club, had been on my case to get me to participate in this event. This was the first time I actually managed to get a team together. Discover Pune is a treasure hunt with a twist. The organisers of this event always have some new rules or new factors which make this event much more than any regular treasure hunt. This year they had divided Pune into 13 regions (A-M) and had created a Revenue System. Each region had a set number of revenue points which were counted on an hourly basis, while each location had some Heritage points. These Heritage Points could be used to create/destroy capitals. A team could create/destroy capitals only when they had discovered a minimum of 5 locations. The advantage of
Read more

Trekking...

Image
Is trekking* a sport? Many people get confused whether to classify trekking as such, since it does not exactly fit into the usual descriptions of a sport. In my opinion, trekking is a an activity which requires the trekker to make use of various skills and equipment. The trekker is required to have a good level of physical and mental fitness to participate in this activity. A trekker not only has to carry himself up to the destination, but also has to carry his equipment and luggage with him. This fact alone is enough to consider trekking a sport! Trekking may often make use of special equipment such as ropes, harnesses, carabiners and other specialised climbing equipment. As such, a trekker should have some knowledge about using such equipment. Trekkers may often come across situations in which they have to make decisions based on the limited information available. The best example I can think of in my context is choosing the correct path to your destination. Many a time, a path
Read more

A hole in my pocket...

EXPENSES! I doubt there's a more terrifying word in the English language. To many, spending equals happiness (shopaholics), to me spending is something which is necessary evil. There are very few things which I don't mind spending money on: Treks Trips Good food Essentials A good cellphone (very infrequently), and so on. Statistically speaking, around 90% of my monthly expenses are on food. Like I said, essentials! Occasionally, I may spend my money on a few electronics. Though, even this is dependent on the need of that appliance, than actually wanting to buy it. I won't say that I have never bought something for the heck of it, but I prefer to keep those instances to a minimum. For instance, once I had bought a leather jacket just because I thought it looked good. Well, if I had thought about it, I would have realised that Pune's weather provides little to no opportunities to actually wear a leather jacket! They say that expenses actually increase once you st
Read more