This stunningly beautiful and informative book celebrates the Arctic,
one of the last great wildernesses on the planet; a place where animals
have survived for thousands of years protected only by fur and feathers.
Humans also survive in the Arctic, but only those who have adjusted to
the climate over millennia and who clad themselves in the skins of the
animals they hunt. For the casual visitor, this is a place where
survival for any extended period requires taking advantage of the best
that modern technology can offer. But the rewards are immense: the
Arctic can be harsh, but it is also stunningly beautiful - days during
which the sun glints on ice, nights illuminated by the ethereal dancing
light of the aurora and with a glimpse of some of the most remarkable
animals on the planet. Many travel to the Arctic to see the animals, the
land mammals, the whales and seals, and the birds. However, the Arctic
also has an absorbing human history. The origins of the Inuit in North
America, and the array of Eurasian northern peoples, from the Sami of
Scandinavia to the Yuppik hunters from Asia's Bering Sea coast, are
still debated, while the discovery, just a year or so ago, of the second
ship of Franklin's doomed expedition to find the North-West Passage has
reopened the arguments over exactly what did happen to more than 100
Royal Navy seamen. The Arctic provides not only an understanding of the
formation of the Arctic but the science of snow and ice including the
phenomena of aurora and parhelia, and the way in which the area's
wildlife contends with the chilling harshness of its climate. This
fascinating, magnificent area is now under severe threat. Global warming
is causing the sea ice to shrink, in both area and volume. This allows
easier access to its probable resources and, ironically, this access
merely adds to the threats to the area and its wildlife. Due to feedback
mechanisms, the Arctic warms about twice as fast as the Earth. The area
therefore acts in the way that canaries once acted in coal mines, giving
an early warning of danger: melting sea ice not only threatens the local
wildlife but indicates the threat to the Earth as a whole. This is a
truly remarkable book encompassing the diverse facets of this
magnificent area and its vital importance as an indicator of the
planet's health.
