Captain Robert Falcon Scott CVO (6 June 1868 29 March 1912) was a Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions. During the second venture, Scott led a party of five which reached the South Pole on 17 January 1912, only to find that they had been preceded by Roald Amundsen's Norwegian expedition. On their return journey, Scott and his four comrades all perished from a combination of exhaustion, starvation and extreme cold. Before his appointment to lead the Discovery Expedition, Scott had followed the conventional career of a naval officer in peacetime Victorian Britain, where opportunities for career advancement were both limited and keenly sought after by ambitious officers. It was the chance for personal distinction that led Scott to apply for the Discovery command, rather than any predilection for polar exploration. However, having taken this step, his name became inseparably associated with the Antarctic, the field of work to which he remained committed during the final twelve years of his life. Following the news of his death, Scott became an iconic British hero, a status maintained and reflected today by the many permanent memorials erected across the nation. Sue Blackhall reassesses his life and the causes of the disaster that ended his and his comrades' lives, and the extent of Scott's personal culpability. From a previously unassailable position, Scott has became a figure of controversy, with questions raised about his competence and character. However, more recent research has on the whole regarded Scott more positively, emphasising his personal bravery and stoicism while acknowledging his errors, but ascribing his expedition's fate primarily to misfortune.

As we humans have explored the world's oceans and exploited them for tourism and recreation, we have found ourselves coming into contact with more and more sharks. And the outcome can be fatal. From the Seychelles to South Africa, and Australia to North America, tourists, divers and surfers have seemingly found themselves under increased threat from unprovoked shark attacks. Fatal attacks have occurred in locations that were previously thought to be safe, and in late 2010 the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh was rocked by an incredible five shark attacks in a matter of weeks. But are sharks really ruthless, vicious killers, or are they simply reacting to humans invading their habitat? Has the number of shark attacks increased in recent years? What can be done to prevent shark attacks? All these questions and more are answered in this fascinating book.