Slicing the Silence Voyaging to Antarctica

Listen to a short interview with Tom Griffiths
Host: Chris Gondek | Producer: Heron & Crane

From Scott and Shackleton to sled dogs and penguins, stories of Antarctica seize our imagination. In December 2002, environmental historian Tom Griffiths set sail with the Australian Antarctic Division to deliver the new team of winterers. In this beautifully written book, Griffiths reflects on the history of human experiences in Antarctica, taking the reader on a journey of discovery, exploration, and adventure in an unforgettable land.

He weaves together meditations on shipboard life during his three-week voyage with fascinating forays into the history and nature of Antarctica. He brings alive the great age of sail in the initiation of travelers to the great winds of the "roaring forties." No continent is more ruled by wind, and Griffiths explains why Antarctica is a barometer of global climatic health. He charts the race to the South Pole, from its inception as part of the drive to map Earth's magnetism, to the reasons for Robert Scott's tragic death. He also offers vivid descriptions of life in Antarctica, such as the experience of a polar night, the importance of food for morale, and coping with solitude.

A charming narrative and an informative history, Slicing the Silence is an intimate portrait of the last true wilderness.

In 2002 Griffiths, an environmental historian, accompanied a team of researchers to Antarctica. He writes about the romance of ocean exploration, the expeditions of Scott and Shackleton, but also about how high winds make that continent an indicator of global climate health. Susan Salter Reynolds

As the climate changes and polar ice caps shrink dramatically, author and environmental historian Griffiths provides essential background for understanding how we reached the current state of meltdown...Engrossing and highly satisfying...A fine and informative ecological adventure, Griffiths' history is worth reading and re-reading. Los Angeles Times Book Review

This is an extraordinary book, as notable as that of Griffiths's antipodal fellow traveler Barry Lopez (whose 1986 best seller, Arctic Dreams, won a National Book Award). Griffiths turns otherwise humdrum shipboard jottings into starting points for inspired ruminations on the meaning of the Antarctic experience. Although he has never ventured into the interior, he seems to have read virtually everything published on the discovery, exploration, and exploitation of the southern continent, along with a host of unpublished diaries and station logs. Best of all, he relates what he has learned in prose that is both thoughtful and luminous...Few of us will ever visit Antarctica, even though cruise ships now bring several tens of thousands of high-rolling tourists to its coasts each year. Readers, I am sure, will come away from this book agreed that fewer is better, because Griffiths makes it clear just how special this land is, and, for all its ruggedness, how fragile. Better to leave Antarctic travels to a select few scientists, adventurers, and support staff. And, from time to time--for those of us who stay at home--eloquent writers like Tom Griffiths. Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Griffiths is an Australian environmental historian who weaves the story of his visit [to Antarctica] supplying a scientific research station with a good deal of history and science. He writes with insight about the past and probable future as seen from the front lines of the global-warming crisis. Laurence A. Marschall - Natural History

Slicing the Silence: Voyaging to Antarctica is a many-layered, sophisticated narrative, not only of the Antarctic, but our relationship with it. George Fetherling - Seven Oaks

Tom Griffithsteaches history and the environment at the <>Australian National Universityin Canberra and is a Fellow of the <>Australian Academy of the Humanities.

• Prologue
• 18 December: The Fire on the Snow
  Legends of the heroic era
• 19 December: The Breath of Antarctica
  The Brave West Winds
• 21 December: The University of the Southern Ocean
  Life at Sea
• 23 December: Great South Lands
  Reading the Rocks
• 24 December: Heavenly Bodies
  Space Weather
• 25 December: Planting Flags
  Claiming the Ice
• 26 December: Cold Peace
  Reds Down Under
• 27 December: Wintering
  Surviving the Polar Night
• 28 December: Solitude
  An Experiment in Loneliness
• 29 December: Honeymoon on Ice
  Love in a cold climate
• 30 December: Of Huddles and Pebbles
  Life Among the Penguins
• 31 December: The Changeover
  Time, History and Generations
• 1 January: Green Crusaders
  Greenpeace and Greenhouse
• 3 January: Feeding Body and Soul
  Hunger and Wonder
• 6 January: Captain Scott's Biscuit
  The Archaeology of Return
• 7 and 8 January


• Acknowledgments
• Notes
• Index