p. 140, Karl Weiken on the relief journey: During the excessive exertions and nerve-racking hustle of the summer we had often looked forward to the long restful winter night. First we would rest awhile and collect ourselves, and then we would be able to enjoy a good book again.
p. 151-55, Winter at Western Station: “the rest of the evening we were usually free to do what we liked. One might be reading a book from our library while the man on one side of him industriously made calculations from the day’s observations, and the man on the other side pored over old newspapers, the contents of which we soon knew by heart. For a change there were some books of puzzles, or the hut might be enlivened by a game of skat or bridge, which, however, often caused night to be turned into day.
p. 194, winter at Eismitte during 1930-31: On Sunday afternoon we drank chocolate by way of a treat and usually spent the time reading. We had a small but good library of books on scientific and literary subjects and on the history of art. We shall never forget the Sunday evenings, when Loewe took our pocket editions of the poems of Goethe and Schiller and read their immortal poems aloud with genuine art and deep feeling. We often thought wistfully of all the fine music which we could neither play nor hear owing to our complete lack of musical instruments…. One’s sensitiveness to art, poetry and music seems to increase enormously when one is far removed from the surfeit of culture in Europe.
p. 200-01, on finding Wegener’s body, his diary was missing.