Cold: Adventures in the World's Frozen Places
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From avalanches to glaciers, from seals to snowflakes, and from Shackleton's expedition to "The Year Without Summer," Bill Streever journeys through history, myth, geography, and ecology in a year-long search for cold—real, icy, 40-below cold. In July he finds it while taking a dip in a 35-degree Arctic swimming hole; in September while excavating our planet's ancient and not so ancient ice ages; and in October while exploring hibernation habits in animals, from humans to wood frogs to bears.A scientist whose passion for cold runs red hot, Streever is a wondrous guide: he conjures woolly mammoth carcasses and the ice-age Clovis tribe from melting glaciers, and he evokes blizzards so wild readers may freeze—limb by vicarious limb. The New York Times - Dwight Garner This crisp and bracing little book …is an unusual and welcome addition to the literature of cold weather and the great north…one that moves easily from geography and biology to history, myth and folklore. Mr. Streever's writing style feels original and organic: it is flinty and tough-minded, with just enough humor glowing around the edges to keep you toasty and dry.
Author's Note xivPreface xvJuly: Explorers, victims of cold, and immersion in thirty-five-degree water north of the Arctic Circle 3August: A tunnel in ground frozen for forty thousand years, landscapes changing as temperatures rise, and animals harmed warmth 28September: The Little Ice Age, the Pleistocene Ice Age, and the ancient ice age of Snowball Earth, when the entire planet was veiled in ice 50October: Animals coping with cold, migrating by the millions, and hibernating with body temperatures below freezing 75November: Skis and skiing, a trail closed by a late-season bear, and freezing trees releasing a burst of heat and flushing the fluid from their cells 94December: Overheating in the depths of winter, shadows of Weddell seals in the sea ice, and Japanese ama divers in water cold enough to kill most humans 114January: Weather patterns that cause frigid conditions, medieval weather forecasters burning at the stake, and a frozen ocean 136February: Plummeting temperatures, the cooling of Westminster Abbey, and approaching absolute zero and the death of matter 156March: A search for polar bear dens near forty below zero, winter apparel, igloos, quinzhees, and a house instrumented to measure cold 175April: Frost-heaved roads, broken pipes, crops destroyed by frost, and 143 caribou killed by an avalanche 191May: The end of the Pleistocene Ice Age, rising sea levels, howling winds, receding glaciers, and mammoth carcasses in thawing ground 208June: Fourier's greenhouse effect, Revelle's geophysical experiment, debating science, and the melting Beaufort Sea 227Maps 244Acknowledgments 247Notes, with a Few References, Definitions, Clarifications, and Suggested Readings 249Index 285Readindg Group Guide 293
