Race Coverage

Race Coverage

RACE Coverage

The Last Desert Home

Antarctica Reading List

If you only have time for one book, you must read "Endurance." In addition, we have listed what we consider to be five of the best books on polar exploration in Antarctica.

#1. ENDURANCE BY ALFRED LANSING

Experience “one of the best adventure books ever written” (Wall Street Journal) in this New York Times bestseller: the harrowing tale of British explorer Ernest Shackleton's 1914 attempt to reach the South Pole. In August 1914, polar explorer Ernest Shackleton boarded the Endurance and set sail for Antarctica, where he planned to cross the last uncharted continent on foot. In January 1915, after battling its way through a thousand miles of pack ice and only a day's sail short of its destination, the Endurance became locked in an island of ice. Thus began the legendary ordeal of Shackleton and his crew of twenty-seven men. When their ship was finally crushed between two ice floes, they attempted a near-impossible journey over 850 miles of the South Atlantic's heaviest seas to the closest outpost of civilization. In Endurance, the definitive account of Ernest Shackleton's fateful trip, Alfred Lansing brilliantly narrates the harrowing and miraculous voyage that has defined heroism for the modern age.

#2. SHADOWS OF THE WASTELAND: CROSSING ANTARCTICA WITH RANULPH FIENNES BY MIKE STROUD

Recounts the experiences of Fiennes and Stroud as they journeyed on foot across Antarctica in 1993, combating psychological and physical stress and unpredictable weather.

#3. MIND OVER MATTER: EPIC CROSSING OF THE ANTARCTIC CONTINENT BY RANULPH FIENNES

In November 1992, Sir Ranulph Fiennes and Dr Michael Stroud set out to achieve what no one had ever done: to walk and ski - unsupported - the 2700km across the Antarctic, a continent almost devoid of life, in temperatures of -45 degrees centigrade. They walked an average of 35km a day, surviving on what they could carry or haul. Fiennes developed a severe infection in his foot - so severe that antibiotics failed to work. Their food supplies ran dangerously low, and they battled against heavy winds which whipped their sledges out of control. At one point Stroud fell into a crevasse and Fiennes dragged him out before he froze to death. They pushed on, and after 95 days - the longest-ever unsupported polar journey - the pair radioed to be picked up, their journey having raised thousands of pounds for multiple sclerosis research. Containing many of Fiennes's photographs, this book is his account of the expedition.

#4. THE WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD: WITH SCOTT IN ANTARCTICA 1910-1913

"The Worst Journey in the World is to travel writing what War and Peace is to the novel . . . a masterpiece."—The New York Review of Books "When people ask me, 'What is your favorite travel book?' I nearly always name this book. It is about courage, misery, starvation, heroism, exploration, discovery, and friendship." —Paul Theroux National Geographic Adventure magazine hailed this volume as the #1 greatest adventure book of all time. Published in 1922 by an expedition survivor, it recounts the riveting tale of Robert Falcon Scott's ill-fated race to the South Pole. Apsley Cherry-Garrard, the youngest member of the party, offers sensitive characterizations of each of his companions. Their journal entries complement his narrative, providing vivid perspectives on the expedition's dangers and hardships as well as its inspiring examples of optimism, strength, and selflessness.

#5. THE HOME OF THE BLIZZARD BY SIR DOUGLAS MAWSON

The Home of the Blizzard is a tale of discovery and adventure in the Antarctic - of pioneering deeds, great courage, heart-stopping rescues and heroic perseverance. This classic book is also a detailed account of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition's daily subsistence on the icy continent, its scientific endeavours, and Douglas Mawson's epic sledge journey in 1912-13 during which his companions, Ninnis and Mertz, both perished. It is illustrated with over ninety original photographs depicting the wildlife, the harsh living conditions, and the spirit of the explorers. Mawson's writings were first published in two volumes in 1915. An abridged popular edition was published in 1930. Douglas Mawson was born in Yorkshire in 1882, and moved to Australia with his family in 1884. Throughout his life he made important contributions to many fields of science, including geology, forestry, and conservation.Mawson is best remembered, though, as a pioneering explorer of the Antarctic region. His polar feats so excited the public imagination that thousands of admirers once carried him down the main street of Adelaide. He was knighted for his achievements in 1914 and his death, in 1958, was marked by a state funeral.