Fifteen Million Years in Antarctica

Fifteen Million Years in Antarctica
Author: Rebecca Priestley
Publisher: Victoria University Press
Total Pages: 388
Release: 2019-10-24
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1776562631

Rebecca Priestley longs to be in Antarctica. But it is also the last place on Earth she wants to go.In 2011 Priestley visits the wide white continent for the first time, on a trip that coincides with the centenary of Robert Falcon Scott's fateful trek to the South Pole. For Priestley, 2011 is the fulfilment of a dream that took root in a childhood full of books, art and science and grew stronger during her time as a geology student in the 1980s. She is to travel south twice more, spending time with Antarctic scientists &– including paleo-climatologists, biologists, geologists, glaciologists &– exploring the landscape, marvelling at wildlife from orca to tardigrades, and occasionally getting very cold.A constant companion for Priestley is her anxiety &– both the kind that is brought on by flying to the bottom of the world in a military aeroplane; and the kind that clouds our thoughts of how our world will be for our children. Writing against the backdrop of Trump's America, extreme weather events, and scientists' projections for Earth's climate, she grapples with the truths we need to tell ourselves as we stand on a tightrope between hope for the planet, and catastrophic change.Fifteen Million Years in Antarctica offers a deeply personal tour of a place in which a person can feel like an outsider in more ways than one. With generosity and candour, Priestley reflects on what Antarctica can tell us about Earth's future and asks: do people even belong in this fragile, otherworldly place?

Antarctica

Antarctica
Author: Kim Stanley Robinson
Publisher: HarperCollins UK
Total Pages: 582
Release: 2008-10
Genre: Antarctica
ISBN: 0007304889

In this novel of the near future, the icy continent will become a battleground between those who seek its natural treasures, and those who would keep this wild land untouched--no matter what the cost. "Robinson's most perfect big novel yet."--"The Washington Post."

Southern Light

Southern Light
Author:
Publisher: Abbeville Press
Total Pages: 306
Release: 2012
Genre: Photography
ISBN: 9780789211552

A special slipcased edition of Southern Light. This collection of striking images from Antarctica and the sub-Antarctic is the result of six journeys made by Australian photographer David Neilson in his quest to capture the exquisite light of these southernmost lands. Between 2002 and 2008 he made three voyages from Ushuaia in southern Argentina to the Antarctic and the sub-Antarctic. In 2002 he sailed on the yacht Tooluka to the remote sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia in the middle of the South Atlantic. This heavily glaciated island with numerous high alpine peaks has a remarkable profusion of wildlife along its coasts. In 2006, and again in 2008, he sailed on the yacht Australis to the Antarctic Peninsula. This best-known part of Antarctica contains some of the most spectacular scenery anywhere on the planet and provides many opportunities for photographing scenes of exceptional drama and beauty.

Inventing the American Astronaut

Inventing the American Astronaut
Author: Matthew H. Hersch
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 404
Release: 2012-10-08
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1137025298

Who were the men who led America's first expeditions into space? Soldiers? Daredevils? The public sometimes imagined them that way: heroic military men and hot-shot pilots without the capacity for doubt, fear, or worry. However, early astronauts were hard-working and determined professionals - 'organization men' - who were calm, calculating, and highly attuned to the politics and celebrity of the Space Race. Many would have been at home in corporate America - and until the first rockets carried humans into space, some seemed to be headed there. Instead, they strapped themselves to missiles and blasted skyward, returning with a smile and an inspiring word for the press. From the early days of Project Mercury to the last moon landing, this lively history demystifies the American astronaut while revealing the warring personalities, raw ambition, and complex motives of the men who were the public face of the space program.

Hoosh

Hoosh
Author: Jason C. Anthony
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
Total Pages: 346
Release: 2012-11-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0803244746

Antarctica, the last place on Earth, is not famous for its cuisine. Yet it is famous for stories of heroic expeditions in which hunger was the one spice everyone carried. At the dawn of Antarctic cuisine, cooks improvised under inconceivable hardships, castaways ate seal blubber and penguin breasts while fantasizing about illustrious feasts, and men seeking the South Pole stretched their rations to the breaking point. Today, Antarctica’s kitchens still wait for provisions at the far end of the planet’s longest supply chain. Scientific research stations serve up cafeteria fare that often offers more sustenance than style. Jason C. Anthony, a veteran of eight seasons in the U.S. Antarctic Program, offers a rare workaday look at the importance of food in Antarctic history and culture. Anthony’s tour of Antarctic cuisine takes us from hoosh (a porridge of meat, fat, and melted snow, often thickened with crushed biscuit) and the scurvy-ridden expeditions of Shackleton and Scott through the twentieth century to his own preplanned three hundred meals (plus snacks) for a two-person camp in the Transantarctic Mountains. The stories in Hoosh are linked by the ingenuity, good humor, and indifference to gruel that make Anthony’s tale as entertaining as it is enlightening.

Ice Lens

Ice Lens
Author: Rebecca Priestley
Publisher:
Total Pages: 340
Release: 2017
Genre:
ISBN:

Mad on Radium

Mad on Radium
Author: Rebecca Priestley
Publisher: Auckland University Press
Total Pages: 323
Release: 2013-11-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 1775581152

Although New Zealander Lord Rutherford was the first to split the atom, the country has since been known around the world for its nuclear-free stance. In this engaging and accessible book, an alternative history is revealed of "nuclear New Zealand"—when there was much enthusiasm for nuclear science and technology. From the first users of X-rays and radium in medicine to the plans for a nuclear power station on the Kaipara Harbour, this account uncovers the long and rich history of New Zealanders' engagement with the nuclear world and the roots of its nuclear-free identity.

Race to the South Pole

Race to the South Pole
Author: Roald Amundsen
Publisher: White Star Publishers
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2007
Genre: Antarctica
ISBN: 9788854402171

Part historical essay, part scientific article, and part enthralling diary-Roald Amundsen's (1872-1928) book presents intriguing documentation about how his expedition reached the South Pole on December 14, 1911, just one month ahead of his rival, Robert Scott. Amundsen organized his gripping account using what is referred to in the film industry as the zooming technique. It starts in the past, examining the history of Antarctic exploration in different eras, and then moves ahead to describe how his own expedition was created, its organization, the slow stages involved in preparing for departure and, finally, the heart-stopping excitement of the race to the South Pole. Supplementing the vivid first-person text are black-and-white archival photographs illustrating the actual expedition, and color photographs depicting the landscape of Antarctica.

Antarctica: Journey to the Pole

Antarctica: Journey to the Pole
Author: Peter Lerangis
Publisher: Open Road Media
Total Pages: 218
Release: 2012-03-20
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1453248293

DIVA father and his sons embark on a perilous trek to the ends of the earth /divDIV/divDIVIt is May 1909, and the race to the South Pole is on. For years, Jack Winslow has dreamed of conquering the frozen wasteland, but just before he sets sail, his wife dies suddenly. Rather than cancel the voyage, he brings his two grief-stricken sons, Colin and Andrew, on the adventure of a lifetime./divDIV /divDIVAlthough the teenagers have read widely of the Antarctic and the icy, unforgiving sea that surrounds it, no book could prepare them for the journey ahead. Killer whales, temperatures as low as –100°F, and deadly crushing ice floes are only the beginning of their troubles. To survive this trip, the Winslows will have to set aside their grief and come together as a family./divDIV /divDIVThis ebook features an illustrated biography of Peter Lerangis including rare photos and never-before-seen documents from the author’s personal collection./divDIV /divDIV/div

A World Without Ice

A World Without Ice
Author: Henry Pollack Ph.D.
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 306
Release: 2010-11-02
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1101524855

A co-winner of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize offers a clear-eyed explanation of the planet’s imperiled ice. Much has been written about global warming, but the crucial relationship between people and ice has received little focus—until now. As one of the world’s leading experts on climate change, Henry Pollack provides an accessible, comprehensive survey of ice as a force of nature, and the potential consequences as we face the possibility of a world without ice. A World Without Ice traces the effect of mountain glaciers on supplies of drinking water and agricultural irrigation, as well as the current results of melting permafrost and shrinking Arctic sea ice—a situation that has degraded the habitat of numerous animals and sparked an international race for seabed oil and minerals. Catastrophic possibilities loom, including rising sea levels and subsequent flooding of lowlying regions worldwide, and the ultimate displacement of millions of coastal residents. A World Without Ice answers our most urgent questions about this pending crisis, laying out the necessary steps for managing the unavoidable and avoiding the unmanageable.