Sound a little like last winter on the east coast? Not hardly. Go back farther in time and head south, WAY south...the South Pole to be exact, early in 1912 to Robert Falcon Scott's "doomed quest for the South Pole".
Many great books have been written about this failed expedition, and Rocky's Mountain Books has three of them: (to find out more about these books, click on the title; to purchase click on the 'Add to Cart' button on the top left of the book detail page)
- Scott's Last Expedition - The Journals, by Robert Falcon Scott: Scott's personal, detailed, journal entries of his observations and experiences up to his last entry on March 29, 1912.
- The Coldest March, by Susan Solomon: Since the time of Scott's expedition, his competence and ability to carry off the mission has been debated by scientists and historians. Susan Solomon, a Senior Scientist at NOAA uses meteorological data and her scientific knowledge and understanding of the Antarctic to shed light on the staggering struggle endured by the expedition.
- Cherry, A Life of Apsley Cherry-Garrard, by Sara Wheeler: Apsley Cherry-Garrard was the youngest member of Scott's last expedition. He wrote his own riveting account of the expedition, The Worst Journey in the World. As part of the team that was to meet Scott upon his "victorious" return from the South Pole, Cherry-Garrard was hampered by the impending winter and brutal temperatures. The following spring he was part of the search party that discovered the bodies of Scott and the remaining members of the expedition only 12 miles to the south of the original search. This is authorized biography of Cherrry-Garrard "brings to life this great hero and gives us a glimpse of the terrible human cost of his adventures".
Scott didn't make it, so it is even more impressive that Shackleton survived his Antarctic ordeal just 3 years later. Shackleton's story "Endurance" would make an interesting follow up read.
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