Antarctica
An Intimate Portrait of a Mysterious Continent
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5.0 • 5 Ratings
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- $17.99
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- $17.99
Publisher Description
The acclaimed science writer presents a wide-ranging exploration of Antarctica’s history, nature, and global significance in this “rollicking good read” (Kirkus).
From the early expeditions of Ernest Shackleton to David Attenborough’s documentary series Frozen Planet, the continent of Antarctica has captured the world’s imagination. After the Antarctic Treaty of 1961, decades of scientific research revealed the true extent of its many mysteries. Now former Nature magazine staff writer Gabrielle Walker tells the full story of Antarctica—from its fascinating history to its uncertain future and the international teams of researchers who brave its forbidding climate.
Drawing on her broad travels across the continent, Walker weaves all the significant threads of life on the vast ice sheet into a multifaceted narrative, illuminating what it really feels like to be there and why it draws so many different kinds of people. She chronicles cutting-edge science experiments, visits to the South Pole, and unsettling portents about our future in an age of global warming.
“We are all anxious Antarctic watchers now, and Walker's book is the essential primer.”—The Guardian, UK
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Science writer Walker (Snowball Earth) offers a cross-disciplinary tour of Antarctica its geology, biology, climate, and history along with an illuminating picture of the lives of the scientists who temporarily live on the forbidding continent. Writing in a fluid style, Walker surveys the fascinating sea life in the frigid waters, such as spiders one thousand times bigger than their land-bound cousins, and fish that literally have antifreeze in their veins. In addition to the biologists, Antarctica's scientific community includes meteor-hunting geologists, climatologists studying the ancient ice to trace the oscillations in Earth's climate, and astronomers who brave the winter to benefit from the clarity of the Antarctic skies. A highlight is Walker's chronicle of the rhythms of an Antarctic winter and the coping strategies the winter crews employ to survive the harsh otherworldly environment. For example, the tone for the new winter is set when the crew sits down to watch the science-fiction classic The Thing, set at the South Pole, and in the dead of winter the brave attempt to join the 300 Club, which requires that they sit in a sauna until the temperature is 200F and then run, naked no less, into the -100F air, however briefly. This all-in-one survey successfully captures the frozen continent. 2 maps.
Customer Reviews
Best intro
I read this book in preparation for an actual trip to Antarctica in Jan 2022. It was written in 2013 but still very current. This is one of the best books I’ve read in a while. The author weaves together history, exploration, geographhy, sciemce, politics, and people into a complelling tour-de-force narrative tour of an entire continent. Everything you want to know factually anout Antartcica is in there, but it’s told as stories and expierences from the author’s point of view, and so is a much more readable and enjoyable telling than just a “facts and figures” travel guide. This book kept me riveted for many hours on the trip down. I only wish there were more illustrations.