Bold Endeavors: Lessons from Polar and Space Exploration

Bold Endeavors will be a classic reference in the field. — Dr. Harry Wolbers

Stuster certainly has done a remarkable job of research, which I hope may be very useful to future expeditions on and off the Earth. — Arthur C. Clarke

Stuster engagingly analyzes the polar expeditions and their relevance for space travel… As a how-to analysis, Stuster’s book may help planners design future missions. But his anthropological perspective reminds us that such planners will be charged with a weighty of space — Martin Collins, Air & Space

Stuster has written an exceptional book that covers the exploits of explorers, military personnel, scientists and astronauts in long-duration confinement and isolation. — Leonard David, Space News

Stuster is superbly experienced to undertake this first-of-its-kind analysis. His writing style is lucid and, beyond the serious results, the myriad mininarratives of human response to extreme conditions present an intriguing body of literature for the general readership.

The experiences of explorers, adventures, military personnel, scientists, and astronauts in long-duration confinement and isolation have been recorded for decades. But now a behavioral scientist working for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Defense Department has distilled this far-flung literature into a highly readable guide useful for everyone from NASA planners to submarine crews, mountain climbers, prison administrators, and even individual families. Jack Stuster presents startling and often eloquent accounts of people at their best and worst – alone or in small groups, isolated and confined in small places, imprisoned and challenged by extreme conditions. From these bold endeavors, Stuster has assembled the lessons learned and conclusions drawn by the world’s leading behavioral scientists to make specific recommendations for facilitating human adjustment and performance in long-term isolation.

Successes and failures culled from the diaries, logs, journals, interviews, and memoirs of famous explorers like Amundsen, Byrd, Scott, Heyerdahl, Cook, and Shackleton are compared and contrasted with those of shipwreck and disaster survivors, astronauts and aquanauts, POWs, adventurers, and experiment subjects. Stuster’s goal is to help others avoid or mitigate chronic behavioral problems that have affected human and mission performance, often with tragic consequences. Not only will this study aid the designers of future space expeditions, its recommendations and habitability principles are also relevant to a variety of earthbound conditions, including polar and underwater exploration and habitation. In fact, nearly all human relationships that involve small groups of people living and working in confined spaces or traveling in isolated areas can benefit from this useful and entertaining study. — J.D. Ives, Choice Magazine

Stuster’s book is unquestionably the best single source of information on how to design life-support capsules for human habitation. — Dr. Peter Suedfeld, Professor of Psychology

This fine book has something for everyone–the physician, the psychologist, the manager, and people who are just interested in reading exciting stories of survival. I recommend it to all of those. — Dr. William K. Douglas

This is the most comprehensive review and exposition of Antarctic research findings that I have seen. It is interesting as well as informative. — Dr. Eric Gunderson

You’ll find yourself living in a 9-by-13-foot hut in Antarctica with Admiral Richard E. Byrd, enjoying a theme dinner on a U.S. Navy submarine, and exercising on a Skylab treadmill. You’ll witness what drives men crazy and what makes them strong. You’ll see qualities of leaders and survivors… Bold Endeavors is a must-have for anyone seriously contemplating sending humans on long-duration space missions. It’s also a great historical read. — Kerri Dowd,Final Frontier