The North Pole
I've read a number of books and articles, over the years, about Polar exploration. One of the enduring mysteries for me, is the psychological difference between the South Pole efforts, and the North Pole efforts, even when carried on by the same people. In short, the explorers of Antarctica seem to have been accurate in their descriptions of what they did, and (despite competitiveness) considerate of each other. On the other hand, North Polar explorers almost always seemed to lie about what they did, and the lies grew bigger with each decade. And along with the lies went back-stabbing. Archeology and science have been able to verify the facts in the South, and the lies in the North.
There are any number of story or book ideas in this situation, and it is fitting that a traditional symbolic reference to madness or self-deception or "off-ness" has been that north-by-northwest deviation between the true pole and the magnetic pole.
Knowing my interest, a few years ago my wife gave me a copy of Ninety Degrees North, Fergus Fleming's broad history of modern attempts to get to the North Pole. She included the strict injunction that I not read it during the winter. (The numerous disasters, and the cannibalism that went with them, can be really, really depressing.)
Well, we had an early spring this year, so a couple of months ago I took it up. The length of time it took to finish is no reflection on the book. It's a page-turner. The sole problem was my not having any spare time during the second half of the semester; and the hardback copy being to bulky to travel with, so it only got read at home ... until I took it to the Nebula Weekend and sped through the final pages.
The book starts with a chronology of the major expeditions, and some maps, both of which are useful. There are too many players to keep track of in your head, and the terrain can also be a bit confusing. If anything, it could have used a more detailed map of the Canadian Arctic and Greenland, for there are several places mentioned in the text but not named on the maps.
This book does a good job on the history, and does not flinch from the scandals and disasters. It does seem that he edited the book down a bit, because in a couple of cases I could see where he was setting up a discussion of a later event, then didn't pay it off. (For instance, he puts in some examples of Umberto Nobile's unreliability as a commander and as a person, but then leaves out the scandal that arose when he deserted his expedition in 1928. There is priceless irony in Amundsen's dying to rescue Nobile, which the earlier narration prepares for, but then half skips.)
If you're going to read just one book about North Polar exploration, this is a good candidate. This one doesn't go into detail on the Franklin Expedition, however, because Franklin was after the North-West Passage, not the Pole. So you'll need another book for that.
CBsIP: The Year's Best Science Fiction, Twenty-Seventh Annual Collection,Gardner Dozois
Edda, Snorri Sturluson
World War II: A Short History, Michael J. Lyons