Non-fiction

• "Mountains of Fire: The Menace, Meaning, and Magic of Volcanoes" by Clive Oppenheimer

Meeting with volcanoes around the world, a volcanologist interprets their messages for humankind.

• "The White Darkness" by David Grann

In 2008, Worsley set out across Antarctica with two other descendants of Shackleton's crew, battling the freezing, desolate landscape, life-threatening physical exhaustion, and hidden crevasses. Yet when he returned home he felt compelled to go back. On November 13, 2015, at age 55, Worsley bid farewell to his family and embarked on his most perilous quest: to walk across Antarctica alone.

• "Madhouse at the End of the Earth" by Julian Scanton

Drawing on the diaries and journals of the Belgica’s crew and with exclusive access to the ship’s logbook, Sancton brings novelistic flair to a story of human extremes, one so remarkable that even today NASA studies it for research on isolation for future missions to Mars.

Memoir

• "The Last Cold Place: A Field Season Studying Penguins in Antarctica" by Naira de Garcia

Lab Girl meets Why Fish Don’t Exist in this “compelling blend of memoir, environmental writing, and scientific exploration” ( Kirkus Reviews ) from a young scientist studying penguins in Antarctica—a firsthand account of the beauty and brutality of this remote climate, the direct effects of climate change on animals, and the challenges of fieldwork.

• "South" by Ernest Shackleton

The Story of Shackleton's Last Expedition 1914-1917.

• "Antarctica" by Gabrielle Walker

Drawing on her broad travels across the continent, Walker weaves all the significant threads of life on the vast ice sheet into a multifaceted narrative, illuminating what it really feels like to be there and why it draws so many different kinds of people.

Fiction

• "Chasing the Light" by Jesse Blackadder

A fictional recounting of the little-known true story of the first woman to ever set foot on Antarctica, and her extraordinary fight to get there.

• "The Dark" by Emma Haughton

A&E doctor Kate North has been knocked out of her orbit by a personal tragedy. So when she's offered the opportunity to be an emergency replacement at the UN research station in Antarctica, she jumps at the chance. The previous doctor, Jean-Luc, died in a tragic accident while out on the ice. The move seems an ideal solution for Kate: no one knows about her past; no one is checking up on her. But as total darkness descends for the winter, she begins to suspect that Jean-Luc's death wasn't accidental at all.

• "My Last Continent" by Midge Raymond

Each year, Deb and Keller play tour guide to the passengers on the small expedition ship that ferries them to their research station. But this year, when Keller fails to appear on board, Deb begins to reconsider their complicated past and the uncertainty of any future they might share.

🗺️If you want to see more book recommendations from all the countries in the world, check out my Reading the World Spreadsheet.

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