Rating: 
Summary: Brave Woman, So-So Book
Review: It's interesting that so many reviewers accuse those writing a negative review of not reading the book, but criticicizing the person. I think many of those raving about the book are doing the same thing--they admire Jerri's bravery and pluck so much that they don't notice the book's flaws. The first few chapters are truly fascinating, and although I too wonder about the other side (if there is one) of the divorce saga, Jerri comes off as likable and perceptive. However, the book is overlong, and after a while, everything becomes monotonous. The first time "Big" John and "Tool Time Tim" (everyone has a nickname on the pole) fix the generator, it's interesting. The third or fourth, it's like, been there, done that. Also, the numerous e-mails printed verbatim gets a bit tiresome. There's hardly any prose at all in the last few chapters. I guess that's understandable--Jerri probably didn't remember too much of those months. and the e-mails might be all she has to go on. I recommend this book to those with an interest in arctic adventures or breast cancer, but as a general interest story, it lags a bit towards the end.
Rating: 
Summary: One of the great antarctic adventure stories!
Review: Like all great adventure stories, this one leads the reader through one discovery after another. She describes the antarctic so vividly, with such wonder and lyricism, that I wanted to go to this forbidding cold place! It's a real page turner. Also like all great adventure stories, it resonates on multiple levels for the reader. It is a story for anyone who's life has ever been in ruins and has fantasized about starting over big time. It's a story of a woman adventurer who has huge strengths and some flaws. It's a story of love and redemption in a freezing wild place, and terrible dangers faced down with courage and friendship. It is so exciting and vivid, I hope it is made into a movie so I can see it.
Rating:
Summary: Ice Bound: A Doctor's Incredible Battle for Survival .....
Review: My first thought on this book was, "Yeah, all biographical books are the same...." But I was wrong. Her book took me places, mentally. Just the thought of the South Pole....... nothing but white bare tundra. How aweful. How could someone go there? Truly, it's a great place to think about one's life and being. Dr. Nielsen truly speaks about her survival from Breast Cancer with 40 other Polies and how they work together as a team to make life interesting with occasional parties, live together with limited resources, freshies were rare as gold, and those 2x a week showers? I was very touched with Big John, how he cared for Dr. Nielsen, and its this character that made me think how vulnerable human life can be. He lives for his own inventions, and often takes Dr. Nielsen on snowmobile rides to get away the monotony of the Polie lifestyle. I highly recommend her book to you all who is finding life at its pits. Her book makes you think, and life is indeed fragile like glass. I DO HOPE HIS BOOK IS MADE INTO A MOVIE.
Rating:
Summary: Inspirational and Life Changing
Review: After seeing Dr. Nielsen on Primetime Live I knew I HAD to read this book which appeals to readers on so many different levels. The fascinating story and drama of individuals who winter at the south pole is an example of a lifestyle few of us would ever consider or could even image. Dr. Nielsen's fight against the cancer raging in her body as she struggles to continue her duties as the pole's only physician is awe inspriring. However the most beautiful and potentially life changing aspect of the book for me was her description of this "perfect society" where people are valued and appreciated for the true gifts they bring from their souls and not judged superficially by irrelevent things like physical appearance as our society is so apt to do. The truest message comes through Dr. Nielsen's assertions that the mechanic is just (if not MORE) important than the doctor at the pole. We could all learn from this metaphor to make society a better place in which to live. Finally as far as the controvery regarding Dr. Nielsen "leaving" her children to pursue this adventure I personally believed her story, but since only the family involved could know the whole truth it is not any readers place to judge her motives.
Rating: 
Summary: This is as close to being a "Polie" as I ever will be...
Review: I heard Dr. Nielsen speak last week [Feb.6, 2001] and was quite impressed with spirted details of her tour and life as a "Polie". She told how happy she was to have had the opportunity, not just to have gone to the South Pole but to have had cancer and experienced what she went through. It was quite a presentation that had all of us fascinated with this woman. If she were just telling us about what went on at the bottom of the earth for 11 months and not have her own personal battle with cancer, it still was a good story. In fact, almost half the book is prior to her discovering a lump on her breast. However, most of us wouldn't have paid for the book,* if Dr. Jerri Nielsen had just written about her adventure to the South Pole, unless it included this huge personal battle and we had remembered hearing and reading about it. It is a book that reads easy, piquing my interest in what these "crazies" were doing down under. That just might be me but why people go to life and death environments just to see how they will respond, continues to make me a receptive listener/reader to these adventures. Maybe this is what I really want to do but don't have the courage or cojones, and don't want to find out! I read Ice Bound to find out more about what it was like, how she coped with finding out she had cancer and who she was and why she choose at 46 yrs. to take the "plunge." Her will to survive it tested under such amazing circumstances. The fear, separation and loneliness she endured are difficult to comprehend. Also I wanted to find out about her marriage, divorce and why her children still do not want to see her. I found answers to what kind of life there is with no sun for months and -90F temperatures, the people that made up her team and who they were and why they were there and how they supported her. But she never seems to be able to explain about her kids except that their "father put them up to it" and since she returned he is still playing "games." I'm not sticking up for him and do understand that abuse has no boundaries but I would have liked to have more balance and insight, either by her family, friends or attorney. Quotes attributed to them might have collaborated and expanded on why this quarantine with her children still continues. I can well imagine what a manipulative ex can do, to discourage children from associating with their mother but is that all there is? Are we missing something else? Maybe not, but I was curious to find out more. I wish there were more pictures, diagrams and layouts of the South Pole Camp. Her descriptions of what occurred might have been easier to follow if I could have been referred to illustrations.
Rating:
Summary: Two Books in One
Review: As a woman who was diagnosed with breast cancer several years ago, I was immediately drawn to Jerri Neilsen's story. However, I sensed a hidden agenda in this book in her telling of her marriage breakup and estrangement from her children. This could have been, and I believe, should have been, a separate story. While the book was a pretty good read, I felt a bit manipulated.
Rating:
Summary: Exciting!
Review: An excellent book. Not only do you feel like you live through a very scary time with the author, you also learn so much about what it is like to live in the environment of the South Pole. I found it to be well written and very informative and would recommend it to anyone!
Rating:
Summary: Cancer Survivor
Review: I recently saw Dr. Nielsen on Rosie O'donnell, and I was so impressed with her and her story that I had to buy the book for my mother who is a cancer survivor. I think that it gives a woman strength to read what other cancer survivors have gone through and what a story of a strong woman this is.
Rating:
Summary: A New Family
Review: My take is brief. Jerri lost one family, but God gave her another....her Polies.....her friends for life.
Rating:
Summary: CRZ
Review: I was very inspired by Dr. Nielsen's story. The brief section about her unhappy marriage and painful divorce played an important role in the book for me. It showed a contrast of how her life completely changed when she got to the South Pole. For the first time in many years, she had the ability to experience what relationships "can be" when you have caring and loyal people in your life. This book is much more than just a woman Dr. treating her cancer at the South Pole. This book is about human relationships at its best and how the Dr. triumphed in them.
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