Alone: the Classic Polar Adventure, by Admiral Richard E. Byrd (Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 2003; first published 1938)
Alone is explorer and adventurer Admiral Richard E. Byrd’s “unforgettable” account of the winter he spent alone at Antarctica’s Bolling Advance Weather Base in 1934.
“Bolling Advance Weather Base, which I manned alone during the Antarctic winter night of 1934, was planted in the dark immensity of the Ross Ice Barrier, on a line between Little America and the South Pole. It was the first inland station ever occupied in the world’s southernmost continent. My decision to winter there was harder, perhaps, than even some of the men at Little America appreciated. For the original plan had been to staff the base with several men; but, as we shall presently see, this had proved impossible. In consequence, I had to choose whether to give up the Base entirely – and the scientific mission with it – or to man it by myself. I could not bring myself to give it up.” – from Alone: the Classic Polar Adventure, by Admiral Richard E. Byrd