Polar Exploration

Polar exploration refers to the process of exploration of the polar regions of Earth – the Arctic region and Antarctica – particularly with the goal of reaching the North Pole and South Pole, respectively. Historically, this was accomplished by explorers making often arduous travels on foot or by sled in these regions. Polar exploration historically also included the search for a northwest Passage between the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans in the Arctic, as well as the Northeast Passage.

A good amount of books representing accounts and personal narratives of such explorations have been accumul
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Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage
The Worst Journey in the World
Madhouse at the End of the Earth: The Belgica's Journey into the Dark Antarctic Night
In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette
Frozen in Time: The Fate of the Franklin Expedition
Labyrinth of Ice: The Triumphant and Tragic Greely Polar Expedition
The Last Place on Earth: Scott and Amundsen's Race to the South Pole
The Terror
Alone on the Ice: The Greatest Survival Story in the History of Exploration
The Lost Men: The Harrowing Saga of Shackleton's Ross Sea Party
South: The Story of Shackleton's Last Expedition 1914-1917
Scott's Last Expedition: The Journals
Ice Ghosts: The Epic Hunt for the Lost Franklin Expedition
Empire of Ice and Stone: The Disastrous and Heroic Voyage of the Karluk
The Last Viking: The Life of Roald Amundsen (A Merloyd Lawrence Book)
Frozen in Time by Owen BeattieIce Blink by Scott CookmanThe Endurance by Caroline AlexanderErebus by Michael PalinFatal Passage by Ken McGoogan
Polar Exploration (Non-Fiction)
38 books — 5 voters
Endurance by Alfred LansingThe Worst Journey in the World by Apsley Cherry-GarrardThe Ice Master by Jennifer NivenIn the Kingdom of Ice by Hampton SidesThe Last Place on Earth by Roland Huntford
To the Poles
118 books — 81 voters

The Last Place on Earth by Roland HuntfordThe Endurance by Caroline AlexanderThe Worst Journey in the World by Apsley Cherry-GarrardIn the Land of White Death by Valerian AlbanovThe Telescope in the Ice by Mark Bowen
Antarctic Non-Fiction
18 books — 11 voters


The winds have a force so terrific as to eclipse anything previously known in the world. We have found the kingdom of blizzards. We have come to an accursed land.
Lennard Bickel, Mawson's Will: The Greatest Polar Survival Story Ever Written

Apsley Cherry-Garrard
Polar exploration is at once the cleanest and most isolated way of having a bad time which has been devised.
Apsley Cherry-Garrard, The Worst Journey in the World

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