Scott of the Antarctic

"What qualities does a man need in order to become a national hero? He must be a man of action; he must be brave; he must be bold; and it is a great advantage, if not a necessity, that he should die in the attempt to reach his goal."

Robert Falcon Scott was such a man. He led the British Antarctic Expedition in 1911, failed by one month to be the first to plant his country's flag at the South Pole, and died on the return trip from the Pole, just 11 miles from food and shelter.

In this biography, Huxley takes the view that far from being a glamorous explorer, Scott was a reluctant hero, a complex, obstinate and reticent man. "His was the conquest of self," says Huxley, "a feat perhaps more admirable than the conquest of the Pole."