Transcend The Heat

Dick Meyer On Conquering The Heat Index With Books

(CBS)  From that literary base camp, you can follow trails of icy whims and curiosities in many directions.

There is a huge literature about Scott. Scott's own diaries are available but are, well, tough sledding. A member of the expedition, Apsley Cherry-Garrard, wrote a classic account called "The Worst Journey in the World." It is very long and detailed, perhaps best for connoisseurs.

For those who prefer fiction, Beryl Bainbridge's "The Birthday Boys" is a tender, plausible imaging of Scott's final expedition. I'm looking forward to taking to the beach this year a concise account of the Scott expedition by Diana Preston called "A First Rate Tragedy."

Shackleton has acquired a cultish following in recent years and there a many great books on his exploits. One of his crew on the Endurance, Frank Worsley, wrote a wonderful account called "Shackleton's Boat Journey." It's almost as good as Lansing's "Endurance." Huntford has written a good biography of Shackleton.

Shackleton's plan called for a whole other expedition to go to the other side of Antarctica from where he was to lay in depots of food and supplies for Shackleton's team. The first harrowing, detailed account of that futile, ill-fated but quietly heroic mission came out just this year. It's called "The Lost Men" by Kelly Tyler-Lewis and it's terrific.

Next on my Shackleton list is "Shackleton's Forgotten Expedition" the story of his earlier attempt to reach the South Pole by Beau Riffenburgh.

In 1990, an expedition tried to do what Shackleton couldn't, cross Antarctica by foot. That story is well told by Will Steger and Jon Bowermaster in "Crossing Antarctica."

Another classic of polar adventure, but of a different sort, is "Alone" by Richard Byrd. In 1933, with few "firsts" remaining in polar exploration, Byrd decided he would be the first to weather a winter in Antarctica solo. It is the stuff of escapist, Thoreau-esque fantasy until a broken stove oozing hidden carbon monoxide turns adventure into nightmare.

To my mind, there's nothing like a little frostbite, some rancid seal meat and a tin of pemmican to take the sweltering edge out of August and to make hours at the beach fly by. Mush to the nearest bookstore.

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Dick Meyer is the editorial director of CBSNews.com.

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Against the Grain. We will publish some of the interesting (and civil) ones, sometimes in edited form.

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By Dick Meyer
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