I've read a lot about the early polar explorers, Scott, Amundsen, Shackleton etc. One that passed me by until recently was Douglas Mawson. "This Accursed Land" tells how Mawson declined to join Scott's ill-fated British expedition & instead lead a team to explore the far eastern coastline of the Antarctic continent. A gripping and well told story of his lone struggle for survival, starving, poisoned, exhausted and indescribably cold. Recommended reading.