The Silent Landscape: The Scientific Voyage of HMS Challenger.

Corfield, Richard. Washington, DC: Joseph Henry Press, 2003.
  • 1872-76 Challenger Expedition of Natural History (George Nares and Frank Thompson).
  • Global Circumnavigations and Cape Horn Transits.
  • Maritime Reading
 Preview 

Corfield concentrates on the science of the expedition without neglecting the human relations of the scientifics. One notable chapter is called “The Library of Time,” in which the biological remains dredged from the ocean body, tiny creations which would eventually yield the details of earth’s climatic and oceanographic history: For the geologist and oceanographer there is simply nothing to match the detailed information trapped in the sediment of the deep sea; it is the library of time. [p. 135].

The Greatest Show in the Arctic: The American Exploration of Franz Josef Land, 1898-1905.

Capelotti, P. J. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 2016.
  • 1898-1905 US Expeditions to Franz Josef Land (Wellman, Baldwin and Ziegler).
  • Arctic Reading: United States
 Preview 

A lengthy study of three incompetent American attempts on the North Pole from Franz Josef Land. The first left two Norwegians, hired by the American Wellman, isolated at Fort McKinley advised by second-in command Evelyn Briggs Baldwin, for the winter of 1898-99 on poor rations and little fuel for cooking or heat.

Survival in Antarctica.

National Science Foundation. 1974 Edition. Washington, DC: NSF Office of Polar Programs, 1974.
  • Antarctic Reading: General
 Preview 

On the purpose of this manual: Today people go from the United States to Antarctica in hours. Warm buildings and home comforts shield them from months-long darkness, high winds, and temperatures sometimes below -75°C. (-100°F.). At stations like McMurdo, life seems so normal that it is easy to forget Antarctica's dangers. Tragedy and disaster can strike unexpectedly. It has happened, and it will happen again. This manual will help you prepare for the possibility, when all seems to be going well, of suddenly being in a survival situation.

Sir John Franklin.

Beesly, Augustus H. New York: G. P. Putnam’s, 1881.
  • 1848-59 The Franklin Search.
  • Arctic Reading: Great Britain
 Preview 

p. 75: And now we come to one of the most tragic histories ever told. One might call it pathetic, but that, as Thackeray says of the circumstances of George the Third's madness, it is too terrible for tears. Nevertheless, no one could read Franklin's diary and not be touched. It was, it must be remembered, written from night to night, after the day had been spent in one of the most frightful of all torments, starvation, and when death seemed to draw visibly nearer hour by hour. It is as if he had written it with his heart's blood, which to the last drop he was determined should be shed for those at home in England. There is no unmanly wailing in it. It is the most matter-of-fact record of appalling suffering. Perhaps the most tragic feature of it is that at one point the dates cease. Whether he had lost count of time or not, it is impossible to say. The diary does not cease, though the dates do. Perhaps the record of those days was added afterwards, because, however willing the spirit was, he found it frequently impossible to pen his notes upon the spot.

To the Ends of the Earth: The Truth Behind the Glory of Polar Exploration.

Dippel. John V. H. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2018.
  • Arctic Reading: General
 Preview 

p. 17, re Belgica winter in 1897: They read and reread books on navigation and lighthouses, played whist, listened to records, told stale jokes—anything to break the monotony. They ached like teenagers for a glimpse of a woman. [Cook, First Antarctic Night, p. 250, 252]

The Southern Ice-continent: The German South Polar Expedition aboard the Gauss 1901-1903.

Drygalski, Erich von. Bluntisham, UK: Bluntisham Books, 1989.
  • 1901-03 German South Polar Expedition (Drygalski on Gauss).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

Drygalski led the first German Antarctic Expedition in 1901-03, as part of Germany’s growing status in the international community with its own colonial aspirations. Its emphasis was scientific research and its chosen region the southern Indian Ocean as centered on the Kerguélen Islands.

The Daily Journal of an Antarctic Explorer 1956-1958.

Warren, Guyon. Edited by Karen Warren. Nelson, NZ: Copy Press Books, 2014.
  • 1955-58 TAE: Trans-Antarctic Expedition (Fuchs and Hillary).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

Warren was a geologist on the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition (TAE) led by Vivian Fuchs (UK) and Sir Edmund Hillary (NZ). When not on surveying journeys to the Polar Plateau and the Dry Valleys, he was mainly at the Scott Base near McMurdo and he mentions the library at McMurdo a couple of times. His notes about reading occur mainly during the winter period, as outlined here:

Dr John Rae.

Richards, Robert L. Whitby, Yorkshire: Caedmon of Whitby Publishers, 1985.
  • Arctic Reading: General
 Preview 

p. 35: Rae happily spent the winter [1845] at York Factory. He built a ‘laboratory’ and occupied himself with meteorological observations and he taught some of his men to assist him. The company [HBC] maintained a small library at York and Rae used it to continue his study of natural history, botany, geology and other subjects.

Logbook for Grace: Whaling Brig Daisy, 1912-1913.

Murphy, Robert Cushman. New York: Macmillan, 1947.
  • 1912-13 American Whaling Expedition (Daisy).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

An engaging account by a 25-year-old naturalist of a whaling voyage to South Georgia in 1912, taking the form of a log written to and for his new wife, Grace. Witty and reflective, including lots of material on his own reading and library, mostly during the ship’s passage through the tropics.