The Worst Journey in the World

By Apsley Cherry-Garrard The Worst Journey in the World is a gripping account of an expedition gone disastrously wrong. One of the youngest members of Scott's team, Apsley Cherry-Garrard was later part of the rescue party that found the frozen bodies of Scott and the three men who had accompanied him on the final push to the Pole. Despite the horrors that Scott and his men eventually faced, Cherry-Garrard's account is filled with details of scientific discovery and anecdotes of human resilience in a harsh environment, supported by diary excerpts and accounts from other explorers.A masterpiece of travel writing, The Worst Journey in the World is the most celebrated and compelling of all the books on Antarctic exploration. Arthur Beale says "Polar exploration is at once the cleanest and most isolated way of having a bad time which has been devised." So begins Apsley Cherry-Garrard's account of his time on Scott's Terra Nova expedition to the Antarctic, as assistant zoologist. Aged just 24, Cherry-Garrard was chosen to accompany Edward Wilson and Henry Bowers on a journey through the polar winter to collect emperor penguin eggs, overcoming enormous hardships to successfully return; tragically, both of his companions from this journey were later part of Scott's ill-fated attempt to reach the South Pole itself. An astonishing, affecting and heartbreaking book."