FROM THE ENDS OF THE EARTH

An Anthology of Polar Writings is made up of passages about polar regions from the eras when only rumor of their wonders was the basis of reports to the age of scientific exploration. The divisions are by ages -- of conjecture, of the Vikings, of the merchant adventurers, and of attainment. The range of 30 centuries begins with Homer, Pytheas, St. Brandon and Dicuil and ends with Watkins, Rymill and Haig-Thomas. Each inclusion is prefaced by a biographical note about the writer; there is an index of the writers and a bibliography. A book for the ardent follower of polar discoveries, this collection gives a vivid montage of men against the unknown and of their observations about the strange worlds they encountered.