The race to reach the South Pole is one of the most compelling and dramatic stories in humanity's long quest to explore the unknown regions of the world. It is an unmatched tale of courage, hardship, triumph and tragedy, which began with the ancient Greeks and reached a climax over 2,000 years later in the gripping duel between Amundsen and Scott.

This epic narrative spanning the centuries, expertly woven by polar historian Michael Smith, reveals that the Amundsen-Scott saga overshadows a far larger history of heroic endeavours by generations of ambitious explorers. Smith presents a cast of pioneers who paved the way to the Pole and left their mark on Antarctic history, including Magellan and Drake; Cook and Banks; Bransfield and Bellingshausen; Ross and Crozier; Dumont d'Urville and Wilkes.

He also showcases an array of eccentric characters, like the opportunistic Norwegian who claimed to be first to set foot on the continent and the kilted Scotsman who played the bagpipes for a solitary penguin. And no history of the race to the South Pole would be complete without saluting the unsung heroes, like Crean and Wild, who spent longer on the ice than either the more celebrated Scott or Shackleton.

In chronicling this absorbing saga, Towards the Coldest Place shows why Antarctic exploration remains an enduringly popular topic worldwide.

'Why were people drawn towards the coldest place on earth? This rich and wonderfully well-researched book brings all the answers. It's a tale both heroic and tragic as Michael Smith charts man's inspiring and relentless determination to return time and again to the most hostile conditions on the planet.' - Michael Palin, writer, actor, presenter