Antarctica

A search in the San Bernardino County Library database for Antarctica Fiction brings 147 results but I chose to read Tomorrow by Scott Patrick Campbell. Full disclosure, I went to college with Scott Campbell. I put off reading his book after he published in 2010 because he was a physics major and I assumed he couldn't write. I was wrong. I read his book in the fall of 2019 after I realized it would meet my criteria for Antarctic fiction. I discovered I like his humor, his plot line, and his interesting ideas. Spoiler alert, you might especially want to read his book in the light of our current pandemic. I've been thinking about it a lot recently! It's available both in paperback and on Kindle.

To cover history in Antarctica, I watched the fascinating four hour movie Shackleton starring Kenneth Branagh. There are more books and movies on Ernest Shackleton and his ship Endurance as well as many books and movies about Robert Falcon Scott and Roald Amundsen's race to the South Pole. If you want the short version, check YouTube. If you want the long version, The Last Place on Earth is available on Amazon video.

Another historic trip to Antarctica is documented in The Worst Journey in the World by Apsley Cherry-Garrard. It is free online through Project Gutenberg. http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14363

For science and nature, go to https://www.pbs.org/search/ and put in Antarctica. You will find 52 results. This is besides the more well known documentaries on Antarctica including March of the Penguins, Antarctica: A Year on Ice, National Geographic Antarctic Wildlife Adventure, and National Geographic Emperors of the Ice. I picked all of these up at my local library, but I'm sure they are available online as well.

To take a virtual walk in Antarctica, try Google Streetview: https://artsandculture.google.com/streetview/scott%E2%80%99s-hut-and-the-explorers%E2%80%99-heritage-of-antarctica/4wE0hFnKrfZkWw?hl=en&sv_lng=166.4173336217086&sv_lat=-77.63618049488153&sv_h=10.4278318714&sv_p=-3.666929888840002&sv_pid=AfGF5tFC13NdN-qI2yHC8Q&sv_z=1

To see some great pictures, look through https://www.coolantarctica.com (Photo credit to https://www.coolantarctica.com for the photo attached to this blog.)

For a fun movie night, watch the Disney movie Eight Below.

And finally, when this pandemic is over, your local travel advisor could put together an amazing trip to Antarctica. Shout out to my favorite travel advisor, Kaitlin Darnell at Laura's Travel in Redlands. May the travel industry survive and thrive - may we all survive, thrive, recognize our mutual humanity, learn to deal with our conflicts, and allow peace and health to flourish in Antarctica and throughout the world.