Mike Powers's Polar Book Store

The following is a wide range of books on the Arctic and Antarctic that I've come across during my journeys to these remote regions of the earth. Unfortunately, most of the classic books on polar exploration, many authored by the actual adventurers, are out of print and are therefore not listed here. These can be found in rare book stores. Please check back often, as I'm always on the look-out for books on the polar regions and will update this listing as I find new ones!

Books on the Arctic:

• Riddle of the Ice: A Scientific Adventure into the Arctic by Myron Arms. Following up on a 1991 trip where the author's sailboat was blocked by unseasonable ice at the Eastern exit of the Strait of Belle Isle, this narrative describes his 1994 return to the Eastern Arctic. He also discusses the research performed in the years in between into why heavy ice had occured in 1991. This book was of particular interest to me because the summer of 1994 was when I was aboard USCGC POLAR SEA on the Arctic Ocean Section Expedition 1994 across the Arctic Ocan via the North Pole!

• The Soviet Maritime Arctic edited by Lawson W. Brigham. This book is a compilation of articles on various aspects of the Soviet Maritime Arctic. The editor was Captain of the USCGC POLAR SEA on the Arctic Ocean Section Expedition 1994.

• Arctic Dreams: Imagination and Desire in a Northern Landscape by Barry H. Lopez. Based on the author's trips to the Canadian far north over five-years, the book describes the wonderful natural history of the region.

• Icebound: The Jeannette Expedition's Quest for the North Pole by Leonard F. Guttridge. The Jeannette Expedition of 1879 was a United States attempt to be the first to reach the North Pole. Unfortunately, like so many polar expeditions, the expedition ended in disaster, with only 2 survivors out of the 31 men who departed San Francisco Bay on the Jeannette.

• The Arctic: A History by Richard Vaughan. A well researched book that describes the natural history of the Arctic region from its earliest occupation roughly 12,000 years ago to the present.

• Northwest Passage: The Quest for an Arctic Route to the East by Edward Struzik. Discusses the many expeditions, many ill-fated, that attempted to find the Northwest Passage. These expeditions, and the rescue efforts for several, resulted in the exploration of the North American Arctic.

• Into the Ice : The Story of Arctic Exploration by Lynn Curlee. This is a children's book (ages 9-12) describing the many expeditions that explored the Arctic shores and ice wil attemping to reach the North Pole.

• Welcome to the Ice House by Jane Yolen, Laura Regan (Illustrator). This is a young children's book (ages 4-8) illustrating the creatures and plants of the far north.

Books on Antarctica

• Wild Ice: Antarctic Journeys by Ron Naveen, Colin Monteath, Tui De Roy, & Mark James. A beautiful book about the Antarctic with superb photographs.

• The Ice : A Journey to Antarctica by Stephen J. Pyne.

• Antarctic Antics : A Book of Penguin Poems by Judy Sierra, Jose Aruego, & Ariane Dewey. A young child's book of poems (ages 4-8) about penguins with illustrations of these amazing creatures!

• Black Whiteness : Admiral Byrd Alone in the Antarctic by Robert Burleigh, Walter Krudop (Illustrator). A retelling of RADM Byrd's six-month 1934 solitary encampment in Antarctica.

Books on both Polar Regions

• North Pole, South Pole; Journeys to the Ends of the Earth by Bertrand Imbert. An excellent compendium of information about mankind's efforts to reach the poles. The book also discusses the impact mankind is having on these remote, beautiful regions.

• Return to "How Icebreakers Break Ice"

Created on 18 April 1998.

Updated on 15 June 1998.