A master storyteller, Gurney captures the fanfare, ego and discovery of 19th-century polar exploration in this compelling narrative of the 1837-1842 Antarctic voyages of Dumont d'Urville, James Clark Ross and Charles Wilkes. As much a sailor as historian, Gurney is also the author of Below the Convergence (ANT43) on early voyages south. Any book that opens with a fondly recalled childhood reading list has got to be good, and Gurney has the taste, knowledge and verve to tell rip-roaring yarns like those collected in this wonderful book.  (ANT136, $15.95)