No comments about Ice: The Antarctic Diary of Charles F. Passel.

5 comments about Waiting to Fly: My Escapades With The Penguins Of Antarctica.

1. I loved this book. It is beautifully written with an underlining message of environmental stewardship. The antics and bustle of penguin behavior are combined with historical snippets from the southern continent. This engaging account is told from the first hand perspective of a wonderful naturalist, Ron Naveen.



2. THERE IS SOOOOOO MUCH HERE - THE HISTORY OF PENGUIN RESEARCH IN THE ANTARCTIC PENINSULA, TALES OF THE LIVES OF THESE FUZZY ANIMALS, AND A MEATPHYSICAL GLIMPSE AS TO WHY PENGUINS AFFECT US SO HAPPILY, SO POSITIVELY. NAVEEN'S STORIES ARE TOTALLY ENGAGING, WEAVING IN MYRIAD FACTS AND DETAILS ABOUT CHINSTRAP, ADELIE, AND GENTOO PENGUINS, BUT NOT TO THE POINT THAT THE READER IS OVERWHELMED. ONE IS TAKEN SOUTH, FAR SOUTH, TO WHERE PENGUINS GRAB YOU AND NEVER LET GO. LOTS OF FUN READING - AND A MUST FOR ANY ANIMAL LOVER.



3. From the first page, Naveen's love of the three brush tailed species of penguins comes through. Follow his account of years of working with chinstrap, adalaide and gentoo penguins in the Antarctic peninsula. Learn details about their habits and habitats as you read his entertaining account of his work. For the person who wants to know more than superficial penguin books tell you.



4. _Waiting to Fly_ by Ron Naveen is an enthusiastic, knowledgeable, and well-written account of the author's years of field experience with the penguins of Antarctica, mostly as a researcher but also before that as an expert guide leading tourists on expeditions to view the seventh continent's wildlife.
   
   Naveen's research and interests as described in the book focused on finding all breeding sites and determining population numbers of three species of penguin found on the Antarctic Peninsula and its many adjacent islands (which he called a "banana belt" compared to the much sparser wildlife and brutal climate of the rest of the continent). All three species were related and referred to as brushtailed penguins, which include the species known as gentoos (third largest of all penguin species, ranging up to 35 inches and between 10-19 pounds, noted for bearing white patches on their heads and a bright, red-orange bill), chinstraps (so named because of the characteristic thin black line that bisects their white faces), and Adelies (which he said look the most like little tuxedoed animals, with a prominent white eye ring set against an all-black head and a sharp contrast between the white of the belly and breast and the black of the head and back).
   
   The author vividly described his adventures studying the penguins, of switching from ship to ship to reach the various breeding sites, making transfers at sea, "ship-hopping" as he put it, trying to avoid long layovers at research stations, back-tracking, or worse, being stranded. The risk of a "busted schedule" very real, his tight timetables could be derailed by the unpredictable weather and ice of the region.
   
   Of course getting to the sites was only half the battle, as Naveen and his colleagues had to deal with difficult conditions when performing their censuses. Some islands for instance were difficult to land on due to weather conditions and/or shore topography. At other times Naveen only had hours, even in some cases barely and hour and a half to complete his work, as he had to leave early because the ship (or in some cases the aircraft) had to press on or weather and sea ice conditions cut his time short.
   
   The penguins themselves did not come up short in producing challenges either. The sounds of many thousands, tens of thousands, or in some rare sites, nearly a million penguins erupting in ecstatic display could be deafening. The smell of tens of thousands of breeding penguins could be overpowering, the smell sometimes detectable for miles. In late summer, when the snow had melted, water, guano, and mud could mix together and produce a pungent and "indescribable cauldron of muck."
   
   Naveen also described the difficulties of counting such large numbers, counting sometimes by "fistfuls" (figuring out about how many nests fell within a closed fist, stretched at length in front of his eyes) and "fingerfuls" (approximating penguin numbers that fit in a finger-length, stretched and extended).
   
   Naveen also participated in studies at sites that did detailed analyses of particular penguin populations, measuring them, weighing them, analyzing the stomach contents of select birds (a messy and delicate procedure), and banding birds so that they could be tracked year after year.
   
   I really enjoyed the author's detailed depictions of the three different species. Though often two and sometimes all three species will nest in the same area, each species differs enough that they seem to successfully cohabitate. While gentoos were often nonmigratory, Adelies and chinstraps were migratory and additionally arrived at nesting sites weeks apart from one another. Each species differed also in their degree of nest site and mate fidelity, as well as the type of terrain they favored, not only for nesting but hunting as well, as each species hunted at different depths (with gentoos diving the deepest, up to 500 feet beneath the surface), staying underwater for different periods of time, favoring different ice conditions (chinstraps did well with minimal sea ice, while Adelies did better with much more sea ice), eating different percentages of fish and krill, and staggering peak demands for food with their chicks fledging at different times.
   
   The three species also differed a lot in personality and temperament, Naveen's descriptions making for enchanting reading. Chinstraps for instance are very boisterous, assertive, quarrelsome, and above all loud (early explorers called them "stonecrackers" due to their ear-splitting voices, the loudest of all penguins). Naveen described being surrounded by a "howling potpourri, all seemingly unglued," each penguin trying to out-shout its neighbor. Gentoos in contrast were much calmer, easy-going, more playful, and a great deal less irritable than chinstraps.
   
   Naveen also covered a fair amount of penguin history, covering in great detail the experiences of two notable early researchers, Thomas Wyatt Bagshawe and Maxime Charles Lester, who spent over a year in the early 1920s on a tiny island studying penguins, as well as the history of the knowledge of and study of these penguins. The Adelie penguin was named for the wife of the French Antarctic explorer Jules Sebastien Cesar Dumont d'Urville, while gentoo might derive from an anglicized version of the Portuguese "gentio" ("gentile"), a name used by Muslims in India to describe Hindus (also the Hindi word "jantu" means "creature" or "insect").
   
   So what did Naveen learn? Though the three species are hardly endangered, populations of all three are declining. Though the Adelie are in part declining from a reduction in their favored pack-ice feeding grounds, all three species are declining due to declining krill populations because of a reduction in sea ice. Krill use winter sea ice as nurseries, safe havens where the larvae can feed on algal blooms, safe from penguins, seals, and whales. Additionally, excess UV-B radiation through a diminished ozone layer may be depressing phytoplankton stocks - krill food - by as much as 20%.
   
   A wonderful book that is both great nature writing and travel writing and has great color photographs, my only complaint was the lack of maps.



5. Ron Naveen has an amazing amount of experience working with brushtail penguins (adélie, gentoo, and chinstrap) in Antarctica, and this book is his account of his years of work there. Like Naveen, I am a biologist by education (though I am a mammalogist, not an ornithologist), and have a deep appreciation for fieldwork with these magnificent animals. Naveen is definitely an expert in his field, and I recommend this book to anyone serious about understand penguin habitation, reproduction, and lifestyle, but not as much to the casual reader, who may find it a bit detail-oriented.
   
   The book largely follows one season's worth of research with highlights from other experiences intermingled within the various chapters. The book is quite detailed, to the degree, for instance, that he analyzes what penguins are eating by the color of their guano. In fact penguin guano is a key element of this book, and something of a recurring theme. This brings me to my major issue with the book. While the information is generally excellent and is certainly authoritative, I wavered on a three versus four star review because of the repetition and sometimes muddled organization in the book. Much of the subject matter is repeatedly reinforced to the point of monotony (the guano discussions are excellent examples). In a book on algebra, for instance, repetition is important for learning and retention of complex new ideas, while it is probably unnecessary to repeatedly cover how penguin guano smells. (We get it.)
   
   Having said that, the book does reveal a lot about the lives of these fascinating birds, and I am glad that I read it. I decided on a four star review because of the occasionally sublime passages in the book, my favorite of which involves a gentoo chick in the Aitcho Islands hopping in Naveen's lap for a prolonged rest. While the book does have some drawbacks, on balance I think it's a worthwhile read, especially for people interested in penguins or Antarctica.

No comments about MGA 2: The Worst Journey in the World, Volume 2 (MyEclectica.com Great Adventures).

5 comments about Antarctica: A Year at the Bottom of theWorld.

1. If you are in the least bit interested in Antarctica, as I have been for about 20 years, READ THIS BOOK. Mastro is a brilliant travel writer whose simple, witty, easily enjoyable style keeps you feeling as though you were there experiencing the whole thing yourself. An amazing narrative insight into several different areas of the frozen continent, in weather conditions beyond belief, as well a trip below the ice on a diving expedition, and a trip to Bird Island on the Antarctic Peninsua. I learned so much form this book! It would be well worth the price even if it were only in text form. The amazing pictures throughout it really add to the sense of what it is really like there.



2. I expected a tome from someone who worked in Antarctica, heavy on the narrative, light on coffee-table book quality photographs. I was pleasantly surprised to find a fine quality book with excellent photographs. Well-written and nicely laid out, this makes a good introduction to modern-day Antarctic history.

   I've read the account of the doctor who had breast cancer and her rescue "Ice Bound" as well as a scientist's account of working in the Antarctic area, "Crystal Desert". Neither of them were as good as this book.

   I've travelled to the Antarctic peninsula (as well as the fantastic South Georgia Island, a sub-antarctic island), and it's a wonderfully beautiful place. Some of the photographs capture the southernmost continent's incredible beauty and equally fantastic wildlife.

   Recommended.




3. The author, Jim Mastro, got to spend one year at the bottom of the world and he wrote first person text and included beautiful photographs in his presentation. Some of the photographs capture the incredible beauty of Antartica and of the beauty of the wildlife.



4. This is a clearly written, funny, moving and fascinating account of what it was like for the author to work in Antarctica over a number of years. While he has told it like a one-year trip, in fact it is a distillation of 14 years experience.
   
   The book is distinguished in several respects. First, the photography is wonderful - just it is worth the price of admission. Second, there is the story of working there as a scientist, in particular the work underwater. It is really fascinating and full of quirky tidbits, like mummified seals thousands of years old or the faulty insulation of some fish. Third, there are the personal tales of what it is like for the residents, and they are harrowing not in any adventuresome sense, but in the psychological demands placed on them. Women beware of living there with so many hungry males!
   
   Warmly recomended. It is also beautifully written from a stylistic standpoint. Truly a mini-masterpiece of the genre.



5. This book is amazing!!! The photos are spectacular, and the author is very descriptive -- he makes you feel like you are actually there. Recommend highly.

2 comments about South of Sixty.

1. This is a day-to-day account of life in an Antarctic base in the 1960's. Michael Warr was a meteorologist with the British Antarctic Survey, first on Deception Island, then on Adelaide Island.
   
   The author makes no bones about the harshness of life below 60 degrees of latitude; there are scenes of seal-killing that will affect the animal-rights people (they needed seals to feed the dogs; if you can't stand hunting scenes, you won't like this.) The gritty details like cooking, sledging, what plant life you find, is in excellent detail. Then the author takes a tourist trip to Antarctica a few years ago and compares life today versus life in 1963.
   
   I really enjoyed this memoir (well, I love memoirs, and travel memoirs especially.) But what I really liked was how the author discussed how he matured from a raw youth, how it was to be young, in a remote, dangerous place and how the Antarctic had changed when he went back as a tourist forty years later. The scene of Briscoe House, abandoned and damaged by volcanic ash, was poignant. The pictures more so.
   
   
   I don't know if I will ever be privileged to go to the South Shetland islands, but if I don't, I can enjoy this tale of an arctic expedition, complete with dogs and funny British customs. This is wonderful reading.



2. In 1963 20-year-old Michael Warr signed up for a two-year hitch with the British Antarctic Survey as a meteorologist in the Antarctic. He kept a diary. "South of Sixty" is the diary transformed into a most engaging memoir forty years later by the now sixty-year-old Michael Warr.
   
   I recently read Charles Darwin's famed "Voyage of the Beagle," and while Warr's account of his adventures is modest compared to that masterpiece, it is nonetheless similar in some respects. They went to some of the same places, Montevideo and the Falkland Islands, for example; and while Warr didn't circumnavigate the globe, he did get a lot colder than Darwin even did! And both men transcribed their notes some years after the event. There is a certain charm in such narratives perhaps because the writer gets to look back at the life of a younger man who was himself.
   
   The further similarity that struck me was the love of learning and exploring that both men share. Like Darwin, Warr observes the flora and fauna and takes a delight in what he sees. His interaction with the huskies that pull the sledges, full of warmth and understanding, was one of the highlights of the book. Here's an example of Warr's clean, crisp prose:
   "In May 1958 three men from the Horseshoe Island base sledged west to the Dions. They were not seen again. Nine of their fourteen huskies made their way back to the Horseshoe Island and the Stonington Island area. The dogs had traveled east for thirty miles over broken sea ice. One of the men, to give the dogs a chance at surviving, had cut their traces." (pp. 111-112)
   
   Whenever I read a memoir I can't help but read between the lines, asking myself, what kind of person is the author? What does he think of himself? How candid is he? How much or how little does he try to make himself look good? The magic of this book is that Warr doesn't attempt to make himself out in any way. He lets the words of the 20-year-old that he once was speak for themselves. What comes through is an earnest, likeable, and talented young man learning about the world. His interactions with the other "Fids" at the two bases suggest a young man eager to learn from others and eager to take his place in that unique world of men, a world that was in some respects like being in the army or in the French Foreign Legion or even in prison! Warr adapted so well that when it came time to leave after two years of virtual isolation, he was a bit sorry to go and even wanted to stay longer. Personally I think I would be rabid with cabin fever.
   
   Warr describes the penguins, the seals, the flying birds and the few other bits of wild life that he encounters in a way that makes them vibrant. His descriptions of breaking up fights between the huskies, of feeding them and sledging with them read like something from Jack London. There is a sense of being one with the dogs, of sharing their short, harsh existence, and learning from them, that reminds me of the best in nature writing. His observations about the seals reminded me of an experience I had with a friend a few years ago. We think of seals as being basically harmless since we usually meet them on land or see them from ships. But Warr mentions that one of the men living in the Antarctic was actually drowned by a leopard seal. I can believe this because my friend and I had hopped out onto a kind of natural rock pier north of Ft. Bragg, California, and while standing there with the waves splashing by us as they hit the rocks, we spotted a couple of animals in the water. One of them got closer and then so close that we could see it was a male elephant seal who was eyeing us strangely, like maybe we were something to eat! Because we were out on the low lying rocks it was like being in the water with the seal. For a moment I realized that, had we actually been in the water, perhaps the seal would have bitten us, or--surprising technique--tried to drown us!
   
   Warr ends the book with a return to the Antarctic as a tourist and sees how things have changed. Women are now working there along with the men. They have snowmobiles and other modern equipment, and the dogs are no longer used to pull sledges. Trash is no longer just dumped into the sea or crevasses. There's email and the Internet, and clear evidence of global warming as the ice has receded noticeably. Warr looked at the changes that have taken place and realized that you can return, but it will never be the same. He notes though that there are more of the protected fur seals now.
   
   There are a couple of small maps in the book, a brief bibliography, and 16 color photos, some taken back in the sixties and some from 2005. Here's another beautifully written passage from Warr:
   
   "Saki, grey around the muzzle, got more arthritic as the winter progressed. Sometimes it was too painful for him to have his harness removed, and he had difficulty keeping up with the team.... It was decided to put him down. Jim offered to do it, but I felt it was my job. One morning in late October I led Saki up the edge of Neptunes Window overlooking Bransfield Strait. Cathedral Crags loomed up either side of the narrow gap, and a sheer drop fell to the sea below. I fired the .45. Saki whimpered as I grazed him. The next bullet killed him. I removed his wrinkled collar, and pushed him over the edge. I walked back to the base with tears in my eyes." (p. 76)

No comments about How To Survive In Antarctica.

No comments about Beyond the Barrier: The Story of Byrd's First Expedition to Antarctica (Bluejacket Books).

4 comments about The Frozen Coast: Sea Kayaking the Antarctic Peninsula.

1. The trio of authors are New Zealanders, with Charles the photographer. With the journalist Moodie, they do a journal of their incredible kayak trip around the Antarctic Peninsula jutting out toward South America. Charles's dramatic photos shift back and forth between shots of the kayaking and camping, and the forbidding, rugged, yet entrancing Antarctic landscape. The journal records the hardships and satisfactions on the challenging trip. The section "Equipment" following the text and photos lists the varied gear and supplies needed for the trip--which list in itself testifies to the uniqueness of the physical challenge and the hardships the kayakers had to overcome by careful preparation, ingenuity, and determination.



2. One day New Zealander Graham Charles realizes that no one else has kayaked the Artarctic Peninsula, and so he rounds up two similarly experienced Kiwi paddle pals to join him on a 528-mile voyage that is so well-planned it's almost dusty. (The fourth author, Sarah Moodie, is a journalist involved only in the writing end.) The three men write a little about each other and a little more about the trip per se (this is not a text-heavy production), each taking for himself one section of the journey. All in all there's more hard work than drama here, at least partly because their planning (exemplified by an excellent chapter on equipment) precluded the endless death-defying adventures, mishaps and show-off machismo that are all too commonly the stock of books of the into-the-void variety. In short there are some thrills--but no <cheap> thrills. The gang's greatest drama, in fact, comes when they're in someone else's hands, being ferried back to Argentina.
   
   The prose is workmanlike and in all there's a rather muted emotional tone here: The paddlers seem to think the voyage is a bit of all right as a fairly extreme male-bonding experience, but clearly no one's actually obsessed with it. To pump the emotional temperature up a bit, Mme. Moodie is dragooned to staple on some sonorous and high-flown prose about the idealism of adventure: how man must needs go a-questing, a-daring the unknown, and how the race needs people test themselves. Jeez: There's even a Mission Statement! Adding this claptrap to a lot of sudden realizations of man's wee-tiny place in the vast universe occasionally made me long for George Mallory's empty-headed (but brief!) explanation of why he wan ted to climb Everest: "Because it's there."
   
   But then there are the photos. Many of them are so perfectly exposed and beautifully composed that they look like studio shots or Sierra Club posters. They make you wonder who carried the 8X10 view cameras--and who lugged Ansel Adams. I'd like to see these shots three times as big and three times as many. They're perfect for winter dreaming by the fire with your feet up and some wine at your elbow. You can stare at them until you fall right into the frame.--Bill Marsano is an award-winning editor and writer whose own kayaking voyages fill only pages, not books.



3. Very well written. Read from cover to cover without stopping. A tribute to the vision, research and sheer determination to succeed and overcome awesome conditions at times. Very philosophical in attitude to overcome daunting prevailing circumstances.



4. My brother and I went on an expedition ship along the Antarctic Peninsula last year. We brought back some great images, but 8 days in the area wasn't nearly enough. The images in this book are magic, especially so when you remember everything was carried in and done from 3 kayaks. The typical Kiwi understatement may hide the true passion that must be there to undertake such an unearthly challenge. I can understand the immense effort involved, and also the absolute fascination of this unique environment. So much so, that we're going back next January for a 21 day trip. Can't wait.
   
   Thanks guy's for an un-put-downable read and set of images!

5 comments about Endurance: An Epic of Polar Adventure.

1. I read this after "South" and I think it is the right way to go. Worsley not only recounts the difficulties of the journey, but makes no effort to hide his admiration for his great leader and friend. The way Shackleton manages to motivate his crew in an unimaginably hostile environment is an example of true, effective leadership. Adventurers and business men, children and adults should all read this book.



2. I have read every book about Shackleton's epic voyage to Antarctica, and this book is by far the best. It is written by the captain, so it is first hand info, written from his personal diary. The details are magnificent; you are there, alternately shivering or tasting the caribou fur in your mouth. This book makes Lansing's book look like toast; and Lansing's book is good!



3. Now those were some tough adventurers back then...just solid outdoorsman and really strong willed and strong physically. This was outstanding to read and imagine what the human spirit can endure.



4. Amongst all the books on Shackleton's voyage, this one provides the best insight into Shackleton as a man and as a leader. Due to his sense of humility and perhaps focus on the task at hand, Shackleton's own account of the voyage tends to dwell on the daily details of the group's struggles. Worsley's account on the other hand provides great insight into group dynamics and Shackleton's skill at maintaining unity under trying conditions. Shackleton's story needed someone other than Shackleton himself to tell it, Worsley being the expeditions captain and Shackleton's right-hand man, not to mention a masterful writer, is just the person. This book should be mandatory reading for anyone studying leadership and team building.



5. Endurance: An Epic of Polar AdventureI wanted to know something new, beyond the shackleton's book - south, but sometimes I think Worlsley had a great imagination.

3 comments about Antarctica: The Last Continent (National Geographic Destinations).

1. Kim Heacox shows in his book,Antarctic Value daily way of life in the Southern Antarctica. The writer recounts to us the history of discovery missions sent to this continent,which is characterized by its interesting style with avery wonderful and unique photos taken be these missions. These photos interpret the very nature of hard life over there on the Antarctica. All the pictures tell the story of human,animal,sea life in this continent in splendid and exciting manner. In addition, there are sufficient and helpful remarks about every thing pertinent to Antarctica. of course,the Antarctica enjoys many splendid characteristics in animal and sea life, which make it distinguished and unique in all over the world. There are also many detailed maps about the Antarctica. It is a minimum- size volume distinguished in its subject matter and photos, which are represented in simple and easy manner. N. B.: It should be noted that the success of an geographical/travel guide book depends on the sufficient number of photos available their quality and uniqueness.in this book we find that there are many photos covering all life aspects on this continent. The photos are of high quality and exciting shots which attract your attention to the extent that you would imagine that you would believe that the photos represents one book inside this book. In short this book is recommended for any one who likes to discover this ambiguous area and who can not visit it. Iconsider this book as a reference/easy guide for the wonderful southern Antarctica.



2. When I needed reference material on Antarctica for fact-checking my next suspense novel, I turned to this National Geographic classic. I expected the usual fare: extraordinary photography and a few pertinent bits of data. My expectations were exceeded.

   The volume is divided into four sections. The first covers the physical geography, a litany of world record extremes. The coldest, driest, highest, windiest, least populated, etc. The next touches on the rich heritage of exploration and discovery there, incredible tales of bravery and hardship like those of Shackleton, Scott, and Mawson. You'll want to read more after this primer. The third section is on wildlife, very little of which is land-based. But the surrounding seas and sky are the most fertile and abundant on the planet. Penguins, seals, squid, krill, albatross, whales, algae, and more. The final section is devoted to Antarctica's environmental peril. Kim Heacox simply states the facts here, avoiding the overstatement and wolf-crying that cause such disservice to the environmental movement.

   The biggest surprise was the quality of writing. My previous exposure to National Geographic was cursory perusal at the dentist's office. This one I read from cover to cover. The writing is simply wonderful. It was the mother lode of information for my next book, and will now rest on my coffee table, proudly displayed for years to come. --Christopher Bonn Jonnes, author of Wake Up Dead.




3. I've been fascinated with Antarctica for some time now, and I recently acquired several books on the continent after seeing the Boston Museum of Science Omni Show, "Shackleton's Antarctic Adventure." Of those books, this is clearly the best. It provides information on the geography and topography of Antarctica, a history of South Pole explorations, and information on the wildlife that populates the coasts. The pictures are far superior to any other book I've read. The writing is concise and easy to understand. It is a truly amazing book--the pictures alone are worth the cost.