Lecturas sugeridas

Rorke Bryan / Ordeal by Ice

Encircled by some of the world’s most dangerous waters, Antarctica remains an aspiration for every explorer with their success and failure often determined by the greatness of their ship. The explorer’s vessel must sail unknown territory and overcome waters filled with pack ice and violent storms. Ordeal by Ice describes how these vessels were often chosen from anonymity or in some cases specifically designed and how they would go on to discover the continent. Published to coincide with the centennial of Scott and Amundsen’s attainment of the South Pole, it catapults the reader into the history of this great continent and will grip them until the very last page.


Foto   de Pingüino Adelia

David Campbell / The Crystal Desert

A splendid, prize-winning portrait of Antarctica, the land and its history and especially its marine life. Written with authority and love, Campbell’s vivid essays on fossils, glaciers, history and wildlife of the Antarctic Peninsula are an excellent introduction to the area.


Foto de Petrel Gigante

Jean-Baptiste Charcot / Le Pourquoi-Pas ? dans l’Antarctique

La fin de Jean-Baptiste Charcot en 1936 scelle sa vie d’une auréole de légende. Ce maître de la glace, du vent, des mers, a eu une mort à la mesure de sa vie son bateau, le Pourquoi-Pas ? s’est englouti dans le seul tombeau digne de lui, l’immensité de l’Océan. Pendant près de trente ans, le trois-mâts a fendu de son étrave les flots polaires. Mais la plus saisissante des expéditions que dirigea à son bord le commandant Charcot fut celle de 1908-1910, dans les glaces de l’Antarctique. Cet ouvrage en est le passionnant récit.

Foto de Petrel Gigante

Jonathan Chester / The Nature of Penguins

Expedition leader, author and photographer Jonathan Chester presents a beautiful collection of full-color penguin photographs along with accompanying essays.

Foto de Albatros Errante

Frederick A. Cook / Through the First Antarctic Night

Cook’s account of the voyage of the Belgica, under the command of Adrian Gerlache, who explored and named many of the features along the western coast of the Peninsula.

Sebastian Copeland / Antarctica, The Global Warning

Copeland’s atmospheric, full-page photographs of ice, mountains and sea are glorious – and his argument that Antarctica is a barometer of climatic change is timely.

Foto   de Ballena Jorobada

Alan Gurney / The Race to the White Continent, Voyages to the Antarctic

Gurney captures the fanfare, ego and discovery of 19th-century polar exploration in this compelling narrative of the 1837-1842 Antarctic voyages of Dumont d’Urville, James Clark Ross and Charles Wilkes.

Foto de Foca Leopardo

Meredith Hooper / The Ferocious Summer, Palmer’s Penguins and the Warming of Antarctica

Meredith Hooper brings to life the thrill, perils, and complexity of Antarctic fieldwork, documenting in vivid detail Bill Fraser’s decades-long work on the Adelie penguins in the vicinity of Palmer Station on the Antarctic Peninsula.

Foto de Foca Leopardo

Roland Huntford / The Last Place on Earth

Huntford’s absorbing dual biography is a rousing tale of hardship, technical challenge, political ambition, and fortitude. This is the still controversial book published 20 years ago that effectively de-constructs the much mythologized Robert Falcon Scott. Clearly an admirer of Amundsen, Huntford interweaves the story of the two expeditions, contrasting Amundsen’s well planned campaign with the many follies of Scott’s ill-fated quest.

Foto   de Orca

Alfred Lansing / Endurance, Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage

An extraordinary tale of survival that reads like a good novel. It’s the gripping day-by-day story of Shackleton’s legendary perseverance: losing his ship in the ice, drifting helplessly across the Weddell Sea, and finally reaching Elephant Island, from where he sailed 800 miles to South Georgia to get help for his stranded men.

Foto de Skua Polar

Brigitte Lozerec’h / Sir Ernest Shackleton

En 1902, un jeune homme assoiffé de gloire, Ernest Shackleton, part à la découverte de l’Antarctique en compagnie de Robert Falcon Scott. De retour en Angleterre, il n’aura de cesse de monter ses propres expéditions pour se lancer à nouveau à la conquête du pôle Sud, manquant chaque fois le but qu’il s’était fixé. Mais quel homme se cachait vraiment derrière ce perdant magnifique, héros jalousé et vénéré ? Quelles secrètes inquiétudes ne le rendaient vraiment libre et en accord avec lui-même que dans les espaces gelés et hostiles du Grand Sud ? Quelles forces intérieures le poussaient donc à se mesurer sans cesse avec l’inconnu ? Cette biographie tente de comprendre les ressorts intimes d’un homme ambitieux consumé par une soif d’absolu : un homme que les honneurs ne satisfaisaient plus et qui désirait plus que tout contribuer à la découverte du dernier continent vierge

Foto de Skua Polar

Wayne Lynch / Penguins of the World

In this handsomely produced book photographer, naturalist and expedition leader Wayne Lynch interweaves stories of penguins, their biology and ecology, along with hundreds of color photographs. Much of the book focuses on the penguins of the Antarctic Peninsula, Falklands and South Georgia.

Foto   de Foca Cangrejera

Remy Marion / Les Pôles en questions

Par ces temps de réchauffement de la planète, les pôles envahissent les médias et les discussions. Les questions récurrentes sont : ” Les pôles, se réchauffent-ils vraiment ? Et les ours polaires, vont-ils disparaître ? ” Des personnes qui jusqu’alors ne s’étaient jamais vraiment penchées sur la question, s’interrogent. Le simple fait que les glaces qui semblaient immuables puissent disparaître, que le plus grand prédateur terrestre puisse se dissoudre dans les immensités arctiques, inquiète. Ce livre, résultat des rencontres et des voyages réalisés pendant vingt ans, tente de répondre à toutes ces interrogations.

Foto   de Foca Cangrejera

Peter Matthiessen / End of the Earth, Voyaging to Antarctica

In this fine book, the result of two voyages, Matthiessen captures the magic of polar landscapes and wildlife, along with the camaraderie of a ship-based polar expedition.

Foto   de Pingüino Barbijo

David McGonigal / Antarctica, Secrets of the Southern Continent

Both a gorgeous photographic portrait and a comprehensive, up-to-date primer, this oversize, illustrated survey of Antarctic history, exploration, wildlife, science and conservation features 600 spectacular color photographs and terrific maps, many by the well-traveled colleague and Antarctic expedition leader David McGonigal, who also rounded up dozens of experts to contribute. It’s got it all: geology, geography and climate, wildlife, exploration, science and Antarctica today.


Foto   de Pingüino Macarroni

David McGonigal, Lynn Woodworth / Antarctica, The Blue Continentinent

A masterful, generously illustrated primer on everything Antarctic with hundreds of photographs, an especially good regional overview, glorious full-color maps and a nice section on wildlife.


Foto   de Pingüino Papúa

Colin Monteath / Antarctica: Beyond the Southern Ocean

This marvelous collection of photographs, organized thematically, shows the wildlife and landscapes of Antarctica and the subantarctic islands in full color.


Foto de Skua Polar

Ron Naveen / Waiting to Fly – My Escapades With the Penguins of Antarctica

The life and times of penguins — and those who study and appreciate them — by Ron Naveen, who is head-over-heels in love with the Antarctic and its most famous inhabitants. These essays weave anecdote, history and observation, combining tales of his research along the Antarctic Peninsula with accounts of exploration and — of course — penguins.

Ron Naveen / The Oceanites Site Guide to the Antarctic Peninsula

With its descriptions, maps and wonderful aerial photographs of visitor sites in the Antarctic Peninsula, this is the one book to carry on your voyage south. The guide, which supports the Antarctic Site Inventory Project, covers 40 prime visitor sites in detail.

Foto de Skua Polar

Jeff Rubin / Lonely Planet Antarctica

A compact overview of the Antarctic, its history, wildlife and attractions.

Ernest Shackleton / Escape from the Antarctic

Shacketon’s own account of his extraordinary 800-mile voyage to South Georgia, published in 1919.


Foto de Cormoran Antártico

Lucia Simion / Antartide, il cuore bianco della Terra

Un volume di grande formato, corredato da un apparato fotografico ricco, con moltissime informazioni storiche e spiegazioni scientifiche, nato dall’esperienza dell’autrice maturata nell’ambito della stazione italo-francese Concordia in Antartide. Il testo fa scoprire e conoscere il quinto continente, un “pianeta” intimamente legato all’Europa per il suo ruolo essenziale negli equilibri climatici globali. Giunti pubblica quest’opera proprio nell’anno in cui è stato inaugurato il quarto Anno Polare Internazionale, un programma scientifico che studia la mutevole situazione delle regioni polari e che coinvolge 60 paesi, tra cui l’Italia che aderisce come partner organizzando molteplici eventi di divulgazione.

Foto de Cormoran Antártico

Tony Soper / Antarctica, A Guide to the Wildlife

Designed for the field, this compact handbook features all the species of birds, seals and whales the traveler is likely to encounter on a voyage to Antarctica. It includes concise essays on each species, range maps and masterful color drawings by Dafila Scott, the granddaughter of Captain Scott. Someone was bound to write this handy field guide and we couldn’t be happier that it’s friend and colleague Tony Soper — a veteran expedition leader who is as congenial as he is mad about birds.

Foto de Paloma Antártica

Frank Todd / Birds & Mammals of the Antarctic

Polar pioneer, penguinologist and popular lecturer Frank Todd covers all the marine mammals and birds of the Southern Ocean in this gorgeously illustrated compact field guide. Each species gets several color photographs, dramatically presented, alongside key features and distribution notes. Frank Todd’s experience — and collection of photographs — is legendary (though even he admits sorting out all those prions, diving-petrels and other tubenoses is nearly impossible). This terrific book will give you a fighting chance.


Foto de Paloma Antártica

Paul-Émile Victor & Jean-Christophe Victor / Adieu l’Antarctique

Pourquoi l’Antarctique, vide, froid, hors de proportion, fascine-t-il tant? Peut-être parce que aucun des explorateurs partis à l’assaut de cette terre n’est venu à bout de son infinité, de sa beauté, de son mystère. Tardivement exploré, très tôt démilitarisé (1959) et protégé dès 1991, l’Antarctique, premier parc naturel mondial, est aujourd’hui dédié à la recherche scientifique. En matière de protection de l’environnement, il constitue un poste d’observation unique. A l’occasion du centenaire de Paul-Émile Victor et de l’Année polaire internationale, Jean-Christophe Victor nous donne une version intégralement revue, mise à jour, de Planète Antarctique, livre écrit à quatre mains en 1992. Un portrait amoureux de l’Antarctique. Le regard de l’aventurier et du scientifique croise celui du géopolitologue. L’utopiste et le réaliste se trouvent réconciliés autour d’une même passion : celle de la découverte. Ce texte est augmenté du premier mini-atlas du continent austral jamais publié.

Foto de Paloma Antártica

Christian Walther / Antarktis: Ein Reise-, Lese- und Informationsbuch über den Kontinent am Südpol

Mit diesem Buch entdecken Sie den Kontinent am Südpol unserer Erde. Es bietet sich als Vorbereitungslektüre, als Führer vor Ort und als Informationsquelle für Details und Zusammenhänge an, ist aber auch eine unterhaltsame Reisebeschreibung, mit der Sie die Antarktis zu Hause vom Lehnstuhl aus kennenlernen können. Es enthält einen landeskundlichen Teil, der Ihnen all das Wissenswerte nahebringt, was sich über, unter und neben dem Eis der Antarktis verbirgt. Es informiert über Flora, Fauna, Geschichte, Forschung, Geologie, Wetter, Ozon, die Abfahrtshäfen und Inseln am Weg sowie Naturphänomene und natürlich über das Eis selbst. Der Autor beschreibt mehr als 50 Anlandungsstellen, die von den Kreuzfahrtschiffen wegen ihrer Besonderheiten bevorzugt angelaufen werden. Im praktischen Teil finden Sie Informationen über Reisearten, Routen und Anbieter.