Book description
There have been many books about Antarctica in the past, but all have
focused on only one aspect of the continent - its science, its wildlife,
the heroic age of exploration, personal experiences or the sheer awesome
beauty of the landscape, for example - but none has managed to capture
whole story, till now.
Gabrielle Walker, author, consultant to New Scientist
and regular broadcaster with the BBC has written a book unlike any that
has ever been written about the continent. Antarctica
weaves all the significant threads into an intricate tapestry, made up
of science, natural history, poetry, epic history, what it feels like to
be there and why it draws so many different kinds of people back there
again and again. It is only when all the parts come together that the
underlying truths of the continent emerge. Antarctica is the most alien
place on Earth, the only part of our planet where humans could never
survive unaided. It is truly like walking on another planet. And yet, in
its silence, its agelessness and its mysteries lie the secrets of our
past, and of our future. The early Antarctic expeditions are
thoroughly covered in this enthralling book. But, then again, so is
every other aspect of a place that continues to haunt the human
imagination ... Perhaps best of all, Walker gives us a fantastically
vivid sense of what it's like to be in Antarctica. Gabrielle Walker
has a PhD in natural sciences from Cambridge University and has taught
at both Cambridge and Princeton universities. She is Chief Scientist of
strategic advisory firm Xyntà ©o, a consultant to New Scientist
, contributes frequently to BBC radio and writes for many newspapers and
magazines. In 2009 and 2011 respectively she presented the Planet
Earth Under Threat
series and Thin Air
for BBC Radio 4, and in 2011 she presented The Secret Life of Ice
for BBC4. She lives in London.
