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Those of us who couldn’t get enough of old seafaring tales of the likes of Cook and Scott will enjoy The Antarctic Voyage of HMAS Wyatt by Phillip Law (Allen & Unwin in Australia, distributed in Britain by Cassell, £14.99, ISBN I 86373 803 7). Law, Senior Scientific Officer aboard the ship, charts the misery, joy and discovery of the ANARE’s (Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions) first voyage in 1947 to Antarctica. It is not just anecdotal either, Law takes pains to acquaint the reader with both Antarctic geography and the scientific achievements of the expedition, such as the observation of cosmic rays.