Library

The Antarctica bookshelf

Essential reading from Shackleton's survival to Hancock's lost civilizations — organized by theme.

Science & Research

3 books
Science2013

Antarctica: A Biography

by David Day

A sweeping history of the continent — from first sightings to modern science and territorial claims.

Science2012

Empire Antarctica: Ice, Silence & Emperor Penguins

by Gavin Francis

A doctor's year at Halley Research Station, weaving science, solitude, and the lives of emperor penguins.

Science1992

The Crystal Desert: Summers in Antarctica

by David Campbell

A field biologist's vivid portrait of the Antarctic Peninsula's ecology across three summers.

Mysteries & Anomalies

3 books
Mysteries2019

Antarctica: The Waking Giant

by Fredrik Granath

Photographic and journalistic exploration of the continent's hidden mysteries and climate secrets.

Mysteries1969

The Hollow Earth

by Raymond Bernard

The classic (and controversial) work compiling theories about polar openings and a hidden interior world.

Mysteries1936

At the Mountains of Madness

by H.P. Lovecraft

The classic novella of an Antarctic expedition that uncovers the ruins of a pre-human civilization beneath the ice.

Ancient History

3 books
Ancient1995

Fingerprints of the Gods

by Graham Hancock

Hancock's bestselling investigation of a lost civilization, including his crustal-displacement theory placing an advanced culture in Antarctica.

Ancient1970

The Path of the Pole

by Charles Hapgood

Hapgood's expanded case for Earth crust displacement and a formerly temperate Antarctica.

Ancient1966

Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings

by Charles H. Hapgood

Hapgood's influential (and heavily debated) analysis of the Piri Reis map and the theory of an ice-free Antarctica charted by an ancient civilization.

Exploration

3 books
Exploration1959

Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage

by Alfred Lansing

The definitive retelling of Ernest Shackleton's 1914 Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition and the crew's survival after the Endurance was crushed by pack ice.

Exploration1922

The Worst Journey in the World

by Apsley Cherry-Garrard

Firsthand account of Scott's doomed 1910–1913 Terra Nova Expedition — often cited as the greatest travel book ever written.

Exploration1919

South: The Endurance Expedition

by Ernest Shackleton

Shackleton's own account of the Endurance expedition, written shortly after the crew's rescue.