This 2-volume, 1700+ page work is a comprehensive gazetteer of the world's southernmost continent. With thousands of articles on geographic landmarks, historic expeditions, and polar wildlife, Antarctica had entries on (almost) every topic I cared to look up -- from leopard seals and penguins to Amundsen and Shackleton to McMurdo Sound and Mount Vinson and meteorites. Most articles are brief but thorough. Location entries include latitude and longitude. Articles about ships, stations, and people give history, dates, and significance. The most comprehensive stories tend to be reserved for the expeditions. The British Imperial Transarctic Expedition entry, for instance, gives an almost day by day shorthand account of the most amazing survival story in the annals of exploration. I've read much about the South Pole and environs and this is truly a worthy reference.

(Post-script: I searched for and read at least 100 articles in the encyclopedia. The only entry I looked for but didn't find therein was for Lynne Cox, an American cold water swimmer who defied all odds to swim a mile in Antarctica's freezing ocean water. The event was the climax of a remarkable book in itself Swimming to Antarctica. Her story might be trivial with regards to the continent, but wish it was included in this comprehensive work.)

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Extremely comprehensive work covering an incredible variety of topics. Not a great cover to cover read but an excellent reference work. ( )

Antarctica is an impressive work, building on the 1990 edition with another four and a half years’ study of national gazetteers that brings the number of entries to over 30,000—covering every person, geographic feature, voyage, animal, and idea south of sixty degrees South.

The books are solid, of a good, readable off-white paper and seem well bound. They stay open to a page without difficulty and use suitably-sized, clean type and good white space for easy reading, and the entries can be both excruciatingly- thorough and surprisingly engaging. The story told by a whaling ship’s seasonal catches, or behind a place name, makes it easy to keep reading after checking an entry, and opening to any page will provide some pleasing tidbit.

Antarctica is, nonetheless, a very specific, and expensive, reference work which will be welcome in large research collections and out of scope for most others.

As a homeschooling mom who is currently studying Antarctica right along with her children, I love this 2-volume set of encyclopedias!

First, these hard-cover books are huge - over 1750 pages together!

There are no pictures or maps, unfortunately, but the books are chock-full of information on Antarctica. Who knew there was so much to know?? There are so many places on this continent to learn about and so many people who have traveled to and explored Antarctica, risking or losing their lives in the process.

We recently studied Ernest Shackleton, Roald Amundsen, and Robert Scott and these books came in very handy while learning about them. For instance, we did not know that Shackleton was never called "Ernie" but rather "Shackles" and that Amundsen's full name was Roald Engebreth Gravning Amundsen (other books we read failed to mention this which seems unfortunate to me as I love to learn about people's names).

All entries in the books are in alphabetical order (like most encyclopedias) which makes it quick and easy to find what you are looking for and some of the entries are written in such a witty way that adds just a fun spark to learning about some of the explorers. These are books that can be casually read in a spare moment to learn a few more facts about Antarctica - these books are best left on a table near a comfy couch so one can just pick one up and begin perusing!

I am glad to have these books in my collection and I can see my children (and myself!) using them over and over throughout the years! ( )

There is an amazing amount of information gathered in this 2 volume 2nd edition of John Stewart's Antarctica: An Encyclopedia.

This is an A thru Z of Antarctica including extensive geological features, scientific expeditions, people and a plethora of general interest entries. Even to a lay scholar looking to browse this 1700+ page encyclopedia there is simply hours of casual reading to keep anyone occupied. Though certainly aimed at the academics with the extensive cross references and bibliography I have found the information to be presented in a very readable manner that even a casual look through was very satisfying.

This encyclopedia is presented in a straight forward fashion of alphabetizing. The sheer amount of information is amazing when you take into account the non-history of Antarctica. I am pleased to add this to my library. ( )