This book is almost like a souvenir publication of Polar exploration . It appeals to the senses as a handsome interesting publication, that fits somewhere between memorabilia and book. It is unusual because it contains ten envelopes and like a puzzle you need to open the envelopes to extract the surprises – these are facsimile documents and memorabilia of polar exploration. The book is produced by Carlton Books of the UK, in association with The Royal Geographical society ( 2010). It is a generous sized hard cover book and measures 10 x 12 inches and about 1 inch thick. It is written in English and where necessary translation from Norwegian to English is given (an extract from the An extract from Amundsen’s diary). The author is Beau Riffenburgh, described as an historian and author specializing in polar exploration. It is clearly the author’s intention to give armchair readers an “exploration experience” and a taste of the heroism of north and south pole expeditions. The book is filled with photographs of key characters and adventurers in exploration, there are useful maps in every section and reproductions of contemporary photographs, many framed. It covers 27 expeditions in its 60 odd pages with large type chapter headings. The main focus is on the period 1869 to 1935 and the coverage is of every form of transport from ships to balloons, and sledges to aircraft. The information is given to you in snippets and the style and thrust of writing is descriptive and narrative; there is no space for critical analysis. Why did men risk their lives and almost certain death on hazardous expeditions? Why was polar exploration of political and economic importance? It is all a bit of a boys’ own grand adventure. I like the choice of enclosures and attachments – such as the extract from William Hooper’s diary of the voyage of the Fury in 1821 to 1823, pages of the sketch book of Charles Gerrans Phillips on an Antarctic expedition of 1839 to 1843, an autographed menu of a dinner for Captain George Strong Nares and the men of the British Arctic expedition of 1874 plus a generous number of pages from the diary of H W Feilden, a naturalist on that expedition, a letter from Nansen (1892) seeking help obtaining a balloon for his arctic expedition together with a plan of Nansen’s ship, The Fram (1898). Perhaps most poignant is the Robert Scott diary entry for 12 March 1912 telling of much quoted last hours of Captain Oates and giving an insight into the tragedy of the band of men who became posthumous heroes of their failure. The Roald Amundsen success is commemorated in the extracts from his diary. The Mawson Antarctic expedition of1912 is less well known but the inclusion of an extract of Mawson’s diary whet my appetite to read more. Shackleton’s Endurance (1914 – 1917) is represented in significant letters. Finally the age of flight takes us into the 1930s with the Byrd expeditions. There is a brief (not comprehensive) bibliography of other books on polar exploration. The text may be at the level of introductory reader but the coverage is wide, the photographs are unusual and the angle of facsimile memorabilia make this a desirable book and it fits with collections on polar exploration and cartography. Rating five stars for the book as collectable object, but as history perhaps only three stars. Let’s settle on four stars. ( )