Synopses & Reviews
Like the adventurer who circled an iceberg to see it on all sides, Mariana Gosnell, former Newsweek reporter and author of
Zero Three Bravo, a book about flying a small plane around the United States, explores ice in all its complexity, grandeur, and significance.
More brittle than glass, at times stronger than steel, at other times flowing like molasses, ice covers 10 percent of the earth's land and 7 percent of its oceans. In nature it is found in myriad forms, from the delicate needle ice that crunches underfoot in a winter meadow to the massive, centuries-old ice that forms the world's glaciers. Scientists theorize that icy comets delivered to Earth the molecules needed to get life started, and ice ages have shaped much of the land as we know it.
Here is the whole world of ice, from the freezing of Pleasant Lake in New Hampshire to the breakup of a Vermont river at the onset of spring, from the frozen Antarctic landscape that emperor penguins inhabit to the cold, watery route bowhead whales take between Arctic ice floes. Mariana Gosnell writes about frostbite and about the recently discovered 5,000-year-old body of a man preserved in an Alpine glacier. She discusses the work of scientists who extract cylinders of Greenland ice to study the history of the earth's climate and try to predict its future. She examines ice in plants, icebergs, icicles, and hail; sea ice and permafrost; ice on Mars and in the rings of Saturn; and several new forms of ice developed in labs. She writes of the many uses humans make of ice, including ice-skating, ice fishing, iceboating, and ice climbing; building ice roads and seeding clouds; making ice castles, ice cubes, and iced desserts.
Ice is a sparkling illumination of the natural phenomenon whose ebbs and flows over time have helped form the world we live in. It is a pleasure to read, and important to read; for its natural science and revelations about ice's influence on our everyday lives, and for what it has to tell us about our environment today and in the future.
Review
"By the time you finish this remarkable book . . . you'll never think about freezing and melting in quite the same way. . . . Frozen frogs can be thawed overnight in a refrigerator, but it will be 24 hours before you can expect them to jump. Cool."
Review
"By the time you finish this remarkable book . youll never think about freezing and melting in quite the same way. . Frozen frogs can be thawed overnight in a refrigerator, but it will be 24 hours before you can expect them to jump. Cool."-Elizabeth Royte, New York Times(Elizabeth Royte, New York Times)
Synopsis
More brittle than glass, at times stronger than steel, at other times flowing like molasses, ice covers 10 percent of the earthand#8217;s land and 7 percent of its oceans.
Mariana Gosnell here explores the history and uses of ice in all its complexity, grandeur, and significance. From the freezing of Pleasant Lake in New Hampshire to the breakup of a Vermont river at the onset of spring, from the frozen Antarctic landscape that emperor penguins inhabit to the cold, watery route bowhead whales take between Arctic ice floes, Gosnell examines icebergs, icicles, and frostbite; sea ice and permafrost; ice on Mars and in the rings of Saturn; and several new forms of ice developed in labs. Arecord of the scientific surprises, cultural magnitude, and everyday uses of frozen water, Ice is a sparkling illumination of a substance whose ebbs and flows over time have helped form the world we live in.
and#8220;Gosnell travels to the ends of the earth, into the clouds and under the frozen sea to conduct her investigations . . . By the time you finish this remarkable book, youand#8217;ll never think about freezing and melting in quite the same way.and#8221;and#8212;New York Times Book Review
and#8220;To read Ice is to discover just how astonishing it is and how necessary.and#8221;and#8212;San Francisco Chronicle
and#8220;A bright, curious, omnidirectional tour that will entrance nature readers.and#8221;and#8212;Booklist
and#8220;An encyclopedic work with surprises on every page . . . . Illustrated with images of ice castles, skaters, and bubble-filled frozen sculpture, Gosnelland#8217;s book breathes life into the crystals dubbed and#8216;glorious spanglesand#8217; by Henry David Thoreau.and#8221;and#8212;Discover
About the Author
Mariana Gosnell is a former medicine reporter for Newsweek.and#160; Her articles have appeared in many magazines, including Smithsonian and National Wildlife.and#160; She is the author of Zero Three Bravo: Solo Across America in a Small Plane.
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Table of Contents
Introductionand#160;
Chapter One: Lakes
Chapter Two: Rivers
Chapter Three: Great Lakes
Chapter Four: Loading
Chapter Five: Breakupand#160;
Chapter Six: Alpsand#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;
Chapter Seven: Surging Glaciers
Chapter Eight: West Antarctic Ice Sheet
Chapter Nine: Coringand#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;
Chapter Ten: On Glaciersand#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;
Chapter Eleven: Icebergs Iand#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;
Chapter Twelve: Icebergs IIand#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;
Chapter Thirteen: Sea Ice Iand#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;
Chapter Fourteen: Sea Ice IIand#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;
Chapter Fifteen: Ground Ice Iand#160;and#160;
Chapter Sixteen: Ground Ice II
Chapter Seventeen: Plantsand#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;
Chapter Eighteen: Animals Iand#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;
Chapter Nineteen: Animals IIand#160;and#160;and#160;
Chapter Twenty: Animals IIIand#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;
Chapter Twenty-One: Animals IV
Chapter Twenty-Two: Human I
Chapter Twenty-Three: Human II
Chapter Twenty-Four: Games I
Chapter Twenty-Five: Games II
Chapter Twenty-Six: Uses I
Chapter Twenty-Seven: Uses II
Chapter Twenty-Eight: Uses III
Chapter Twenty-Nine: Other Forms of Ice
Chapter Thirty: Atmosphere Iand#160;and#160;and#160;
Chapter Thirty-One: Atmosphere II
Chapter Thirty-Two: Atmosphere III
Chapter Thirty-Three: Space I
Chapter Thirty-Four: Space IIand#160;and#160;
Chapter Thirty-Five: Ice Ages
Chapter Thirty-Six: Lake of the Woods
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Acknowledgment
Notes
Select Bibliography
Index