Antarctica reading list: These 8 books are must-reads before a trip to the White Continent
Planning a trip to Antarctica? As someone who has been there several times, I have some advice: Grab some books about Antarctica and read up on it before you go.
The world's most remote and hard-to-reach continent will be like nothing you've ever seen, and takes some context to fully understand.
Home to improbably large ice shelves, enormous glaciers, soaring mountains and some of the world's most unusual wildlife, it's a wintry wonderland that defies the senses.
It's the setting for some of the most epic adventure tales of all time. Plus, it's a hub for important scientific research, including serious study of the Earth's changing climate.
To get the most out of a trip to the White Continent, it will pay to learn more about all of the above in advance. Call it your pre-Antarctica-travel homework assignment.
To that end, here are eight books about Antarctica that will help put what you'll be seeing there in context. I urge you to add a few of them to your reading list before you go.
Related: TPG's Gene Sloan takes an express flight to the penguins
'Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage'
Author: Alfred Lansing
Written in 1959, "Endurance" remains the definitive book about one of the greatest Antarctica adventures -- the 1914 expedition to the continent led by Ernest Shackleton. An epic tale of survival (and my all-time favorite Antarctica book), it recounts the destruction of Shackleton's vessel, Endurance, after it was frozen into pack ice and the subsequent months-long, against-all-odds journey that Shackleton and his crew of 27 men made on foot and in small rowboats to get home.
'South!'
Author: Ernest Shackleton
If you're going to add just one book about the Shackleton expedition to your Antarctica reading list, I recommend Lansing's "Endurance," mentioned above. Trained as a journalist, Lansing knows how to tell a dramatic story, and it's hard to put down. But the protagonist of Lansing's book, Ernest Shackleton, wrote his own version of the story, long before Lansing, and it has the advantage of being a first-hand account. If you want to hear the Shackleton saga straight from someone who lived it, this is the Antarctica adventure book for you.
'Race to the Pole'
Author: Ranulph Fiennes
"Race to the Pole" is the gripping story of the 1911 race to the South Pole by Robert Scott and Roald Amundsen, as told by one of the world's best-known polar adventurers (Fiennes was the first person to cross both the North and South Pole ice caps by surface means). Like Lansing's "Endurance," it's a story of epic adventure and survival in Antarctica told by someone who knows just how harsh and difficult the continent's endless miles of mountains and glaciers and freezing cold can be. It's considered one of the definitive accounts of the Scott and Amundsen expeditions, which claimed the life of Scott.
Related: An untamed world: Discovering the wild dreamscape of Antarctica
'The Last Place on Earth'
Author: Roland Huntford
As an alternative to "Race to the Pole" (or in addition to it, if you have the time), you can read about the Scott and Amundsen rivalry in "The Last Place on Earth," a dual biography of the two men that explores their efforts to reach the South Pole. Dating to 1979, the book famously contrasts the fame that Scott achieved even in failure (he and four of his men died during the expedition) with the relative obscurity that greeted Amundsen despite being the first to stand on the world's southernmost point and return alive to tell the tale.
'Antarctica: An Intimate Portrait of a Mysterious Continent'
Author: Gabrielle Walker
Published in 2013, "Antarctica" offers a look at the continent today, with a particular focus on the scientists and support personnel based at some of the research stations operated by the U.S., France and other countries. Walker, a science writer and climate-change expert, traveled extensively across the continent to recount the research into penguins, geology, glaciology and other scientific topics that is underway there, while mixing in history of its early exploration.
'Antarctica: A Guide to the Wildlife'
Author: Tony Soper
This 160-page handbook to Antarctica wildlife is the one book that I always carry with me on a trip to the continent, as it's packed with everything I could ever want to know about all the incredible living things that I am seeing, including penguins, whales, seals and smaller birds of all types. Soper has been traveling to Antarctica as a guide since the early 1990s and really knows his stuff.
'End of the Earth: Voyages to Antarctica'
Author: Peter Matthiessen
The late American novelist, naturalist and wilderness writer Peter Matthiessen offers up a portrait of Antarctica as seen during two voyages to the continent — one a traditional sailing to the Antarctic Peninsula of the sort that most travelers to the continent do; the other a trip on a polar icebreaker that explored more remote areas. I read this book before my first voyage to Antarctica in 2004 (it had just been published in 2003). It gave me a good sense of the magical polar landscapes and unusual wildlife that I was about to see, along with a passing history of the grand age of Antarctic exploration and Matthiessen's sometimes pointed musings about humanity's environmental failures.
'Terra Incognita: Travels in Antarctica'
Author: Sara Wheeler
Like Matthiessen, travel writer and journalist Sara Wheeler offers a portrait of Antarctica as it is today, but one based on a longer, seven-month stay on the continent. Wheeler lived with the scientists and workers who inhabit the many research stations of Antarctica, chronicling her encounters with them and the surrounding landscape. Like Matthiessen, she also weaves in the stories of early Antarctica explorers such as Shackleton and Amundsen.
Planning an Antarctica expedition? Start with these stories:
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There’s a lot to love about the Amex Gold. It’s a fan favorite thanks to its fantastic bonus-earning rates at restaurants worldwide and at U.S. supermarkets. If you’re hitting the skies soon, you’ll also earn bonus Membership Rewards points on travel. Paired with up to $120 in Uber Cash annually (for U.S. Uber rides or Uber Eats orders, card must be added to Uber app and you can redeem with any Amex card), up to $120 in annual dining statement credits to be used with eligible partners, an up to $84 Dunkin’ credit each year at U.S. Dunkin Donuts and an up to $100 Resy credit annually, there’s no reason that foodies shouldn’t add the Amex Gold to their wallet. These benefits alone are worth more than $400, which offsets the $325 annual fee on the Amex Gold card. Enrollment is required for select benefits.Pros
- 4 points per dollar spent on dining at restaurants worldwide and U.S. supermarkets (on the first $50,000 in purchases per calendar year; then 1 point per dollar spent thereafter and $25,000 in purchases per calendar year; then 1 point per dollar spent thereafter, respectively)
- 3 points per dollar spent on flights booked directly with the airline or with amextravel.com
- Packed with credits foodies will enjoy
- Solid welcome bonus
Cons
- Not as useful for those living outside the U.S.
- Some may have trouble using Uber and other dining credits
- You may be eligible for as high as 100,000 Membership Rewards® Points after you spend $6,000 in eligible purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership. Welcome offers vary and you may not be eligible for an offer. Apply to know if you’re approved and find out your exact welcome offer amount – all with no credit score impact. If you’re approved and choose to accept the Card, your score may be impacted.
- Earn 4X Membership Rewards® points per dollar spent on purchases at restaurants worldwide, on up to $50,000 in purchases per calendar year, then 1X points for the rest of the year.
- Earn 4X Membership Rewards® points per dollar spent at US supermarkets, on up to $25,000 in purchases per calendar year, then 1X points for the rest of the year.
- Earn 3X Membership Rewards® points per dollar spent on flights booked directly with airlines or on AmexTravel.com.
- Earn 2X Membership Rewards® points per dollar spent on prepaid hotels and other eligible purchases booked on AmexTravel.com.
- Earn 1X Membership Rewards® point per dollar spent on all other eligible purchases.
- $120 Uber Cash on Gold: Add your Gold Card to your Uber account and get $10 in Uber Cash each month to use on orders and rides in the U.S. when you select an American Express Card for your transaction. That’s up to $120 Uber Cash annually. Plus, after using your Uber Cash, use your Card to earn 4X Membership Rewards® points for Uber Eats purchases made with restaurants or U.S. supermarkets. Point caps and terms apply.
- $84 Dunkin' Credit: With the $84 Dunkin' Credit, you can earn up to $7 in monthly statement credits after you enroll and pay with the American Express® Gold Card at U.S. Dunkin' locations. Enrollment is required to receive this benefit.
- $100 Resy Credit: Get up to $100 in statement credits each calendar year after you pay with the American Express® Gold Card to dine at U.S. Resy restaurants or make other eligible Resy purchases. That's up to $50 in statement credits semi-annually. Enrollment required.
- $120 Dining Credit: Satisfy your cravings, sweet or savory, with the $120 Dining Credit. Earn up to $10 in statement credits monthly when you pay with the American Express® Gold Card at Grubhub, The Cheesecake Factory, Goldbelly, Wine.com, and Five Guys. Enrollment required.
- Explore over 1,000 upscale hotels worldwide with The Hotel Collection and receive a $100 credit towards eligible charges* with every booking of two nights or more through AmexTravel.com. *Eligible charges vary by property.
- No Foreign Transaction Fees.
- Annual Fee is $325.
- Terms Apply.