Antarctic
Hobart is only a boat-trip away from Antarctica (and on winter mornings you can tell!), and we have a good collection of pictorial, educational, and narrative books about our polar neighbour.
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South Pole
Elizabeth Leane
ISBN 9781780235967
Paperback 2016
Price $AU 37.99
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The geographic South Pole is a place of paradox. It is a point around which the Earth, quite literally, pivots; yet it has a habit of falling off the edge of our maps. An invisible spot on a high, featureless ice plateau, the Pole has no obvious material value, but is nonetheless a much sought-after location. The endpoint of exploration's most famous 'race' between teams led by Robert F. Scott and Roald Amundsen, the Pole has more recently become a favoured destination of 'extreme' tourists. The Pole is a deeply political place. In South Pole Elizabeth Leane explores the important challenges that this strange place poses to humanity. Along the way, she considers the absurdities and banalities of human engagement with the Pole. Ranging from the ancient Greeks to the present, and featuring spectacular images of the South Pole, this book offers a fascinating history of the symbolic 'heart' of the Antarctic.
Shortlisted for the Premier's Literary Awards 2017.
Fixing Antarctica: Mapping the Frozen South
Lynette Finch
ISBN 9781493577309
Paperback 2014
Price $AU 29.95
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1956, Sydney Lorrimar Kirkby will go on to clock up extraordinary achievements but already he has achieved the impossible. He had polio as a child so how could he hope to pass the Commonwealth medical test to be stationed in Antarctica? It took a bit of cunning but he got through. The age requirement for any member of an Australian Antarctic team is twenty-six years old. Syd is twenty-one. He's not a fully qualified surveyor but he will be when the ship leaves for Mawson with him on board. Over the next twenty years Syd Kirkby will explore and map more unknown regions in he world than any other person in history. Fixing Antarctica is the first full biography of this important twentieth century explorer. Told through the interviews with his contemporaries, personal diaries and the diaries of other Antarctic explorers, this account establishes Kirkby in his rightful place as one of the great polar explorers.
Crossing of Antarctica: Original Photographs from the Epic Journey That Fuelled Shackleton's Dream
George Lowe
Thames and Hudson
ISBN 9780500252024
Hardback 2014
Price $AU 49.99
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The first crossing of Antarctica in 1957/58 by the Trans-Antarctic Expedition, led by Sir Vivian 'Bunny' Fuchs, was one of the twentieth century's great triumphs of exploration. Sir Ernest Shackleton famously attempted to cross the great white continent during his ill-fated Endurance voyage, and now, one hundred years after he set out, this beautifully illustrated volume celebrates the men who succeeded where he had failed and rewrote the history books. With exclusive access to the spectacular images and private archives of key member George Lowe, photographer and Everest veteran, and items from the Fuchs family collection, there has never been a book on Antarctica quite like this. An outstanding team of explorers and polar experts also provide their reflections and tributes, contributing to a remarkable visual and personal testimony of this historic event.
No Return: Captain Scott's Race to the Pole
Peter Gouldthorpe
Lothian
ISBN: 9780734412799
Paperback 2012
Price $AU 17.99
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Illustrated children's book.
Peter Gouldthorpe lives in Tasmania, and is recognised as one of Australia's most versatile and skillful illustrators.
In the age of discovery, Antarctica remained an unknown quantity amongst the world's scientists and explorers. Robert Falcon Scott was amongst the pioneers who penetrated the ice and cruel weather. This is the story of his journey from England culminating in the ill-fated final march to his goal, only to be beaten by the Norwegians and to suffer terrible loss - and death.
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