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

Antarctic happenings, but particularly the history of exploration there, have intensely interested me since my travels took me there in January of 2004. I read any newspaper or magazine article I can find on the place and I try to pick up as many books as possible on the continent, most of which are abo...