What would you find if you went back and re-read all of your favourite books from childhood? Francis Spufford discovers both delight and sadness, in this memoir of a boy who retreats into books, faced with a tragedy in his family.

A cultural history of a national obsession with polar exploration and mountaineering, and a study of how the poles have been perceived, dreamed of, even desired. The text sets out to show how Captain Scott's death was the culmination of a long-running national enchantment with perilous journeys.

Britain is the only country in the world to have cancelled its space programme just as it put its first rocket into orbit. Starting with this forgotten episode, The Backroom Boys tells the bittersweet story of modern British engineers and inventors. Sad, inspiring, funny and ultimately triumphant, it follows the technologists whose work kept Concorde flying, created the computer game, conquered ..

Features an international mix of classic first-person accounts of exploration, literary travelogues and works of cultural history, natural science and fiction about the South Pole. Published alongside, The Arctic: An Anthology , this title also includes contributors from explorers such as Ernest Shackleton, Roald Amundsen, and Richard Byrd.

Britain is the only country in the world to have cancelled its space programme just as it put its first rocket into orbit. Starting with this forgotten episode, this text tells the bitter-sweet story of how one country lost its industrial tradition and got something back.

A boxed set of two hardcover books featuring a selection of the greatest writing about the Arctic and the Antarctic.