One Day the Ice Will Reveal All Its Dead

Rating:
Summary: lyrical, strong central character, slows a bit toward end
Review: German scientist Alfred Wegener, whose Continental Drift theory met with years of derision, is the focus of this lyrically told fictionalized biography. Known, if at all, for his theory on the continents, Wegener actually delved into more than one discipline and Dudman wisely chooses to show the totality of his life rather than focus on his major claim to semi-fame. In fact, his battle over the continents is less interesting than his several trips to the Greenland ice sheet.
As much biography as fiction, there isn't much in terms of narrative, the book simply follows Wegener through childhood, when scientific curiosity begins; young adulthood when his interests begin to focus; adulthood and its accompanying issues of marriage, fatherhood, World War I, and the introduction of his theory; and finally later adulthood where he battles for his theory against the many naysayers.
The language shifts easily between the poetic and the scientific, with the two sometime merging in some of the best passages of the book. The most "exciting" parts of the book, in terms of adventure, are the expeditions to Greenland, though I personally never found them more than interesting, certainly not as compelling or mythic as similar tales of Shackleton or Franklin. Once we leave Greenland behind and return to the fight over his theory, the book seems to lose some of its urgency. It's difficult to make scientific lectures, articles, and responses to articles particularly interesting but it's also hard to tell this part of the story without referring to such things. Things perk up a bit by the last trip to Greenland, which shifts into a more poetic stream of consciousness. By then though the book had admittedly started to drag a bit and I found myself wishing I could enjoy the writing a bit more without the accompanying sense of impatience. The close, however, is as moving as it is b beautiful.
Overall, though the book does lose some of its drive and interest, it remains well worth reading, somewhat for its subject matter but more for its characterization and its poetic depiction of the scientific imagination. Recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Absorbing historical fiction
Review: A wonderfully written interpretation of the life and thoughts of the man responsible for the early formulation of ideas that led to the theory and understanding of plate tectonics. Wegener was a true genius and Ms. Dudman is a true writer. I would suggest pairing the reading of this book with Simon Winchester's "Krakatoa".

Rating:
Summary: Meandering plot
Review: Nowadays, the theory of plate tectonics is firmly grounded in fact. For example, from satellites in stable orbit and using lasers to bounce off them, the various continental plates can be measured moving relative to each other. But in the early 20th century, when Wegener proposed his theory, no such observations were possible. Existing evidence was far more tenuous.

Dudman attempts to recreate some of that controversy in this fictionalised biography. Based in part on actual biographies written by his wife and a colleague. Some of spirit of the scientific debates come through well in portions of this book. Personally, being a physicist, I would have wished for a more detailed fleshing out of the issues. But I realise that Dudman has to pitch the book to a wider audience.

To this ends, the book seems to drift [pun intended]. The travails of Wegener tromping in the snows of Greenland are told in a somewhat incoherent stream of consciousness style. No doubt, this is meant to reflect Wegener's state of mind, as told in the first person. But the meandering also happens where he describes his experiences with his family and friends, when not on expeditions. Frankly, I could not discern much of an interesting plot.

Rating:
Summary: Poetic Glimpse Into A Scientific Mind
Review: ONE DAY THE ICE is a poetic, fictionalized biography of early 20th century German scientist Alfred Wegener. As scientists go, Wegener is pretty obscure - I hadn't heard of him before reading this book. Trained in meteorology, Wegener made several grueling trips to arctic Greenland to conduct experiments. However, he did not limit his scientific curiosity to weather. His most important theory was continental drift, which was highly controversial at the time. The compelling need to defend his theory to skeptical geologists led to him leaving his family at age 49 for a final trip to Greenland.

Early on Dudman uses the analogy of beads on a string to describe memories and it's a very fitting analogy for the flow of the book. Written in first person, Wegener reminisces about his life - moving from one set of memories to another. Dudman captures everyday sweet and bittersweet moments of love, family and deep friendships; the driving force behind a scientific mind; the beautifully bleak and hostile landscape of Greenland; and the horrific chaos of war.

This is not a standard biography with comprehensive coverage of dates and names, and is also not a scientific discourse on continental drift and other theories. ONE DAY is instead an emotional portrait of a man driven to understand the workings of the world through science. Dudman does an excellent job of setting up the times and Wegener's narrative never rings false. At times I forgot that I was reading fiction because the style was so convincing.

Not a quick, easy read, but ultimately satisfying. This will mostly appeal to history/science buffs who want to peek into the mind of a early 1900s scientist.


Rating:
Summary: A Beautiful, Poignant, and Complex Novel
Review: The physicist who gave this book three stars wants the book to be something it isn't. It's not trying to be a biography of Wegener. If Dudman wanted to write a biography of Wegener, she would have. As it stands, she has instead written a poetic, wonderfully idiosyncratic and moving portrait of a life, complete with stunning adventure and complex relationships. By eschewing a traditional plot, Dudman has freed up her story and characters to be both more real and more immediate. Amazing work. One of my favorite novels of the past few years, right up there with Edward Carey's Observatory Mansions.

Rating:
Summary: Absorbing historical fiction
Review: Those who love to read stories about dangerous, arduous expeditions to extend knowledge in Arctic regions will find this book to be a fine addition to the literature. From the preface discussion of ice through to the ending chapter, you will feel yourself enduring the difficulties of the various explorers as they trek where no one had gone before and measure what had not been studied before.

Normally, I prefer to read nonfiction books about scientists but in this case Ms. Dudman's imaginative, sensitive writing makes the novelistic journey to understanding Wegener a rewarding one.

Today, German meteorologist Alfred Wegener is best known for putting together the first well documented hypothesis about continental drift. But even in that context he is not well known. His ideas were widely derided during his life by geologists who disliked his poaching into their territory without academic credentials. As a result, memories of him and his work had largely died out by the time that continental drift was proven in the 1960s through the use of research methods unavailable during Wegener's life.

But Wegener was a man of many modes. As a young man, he and his brother established a duration record for balloon flight, and he participated in three scientific studies in Greenland . . . heading the last one at age 49. He also made scientific contributions to our understanding of how rain is formed and that meteorites helped produce many of the craters on the moon.

I decided to read the book because I wanted to know more about his role in the continental drift hypothesis. That aspect of the book receives relatively little attention, and I came away little more informed than I was when I began except to know more about what his critics had to say at the time. I graded the book down by one star for its lack of emphasis in this area.

What I found surprising and exciting was that Wegener was such an intrepid and successful Artic explorer. The parts about him in Greenland are very well done. If you want to read a book with that kind of orientation, I can strongly recommend this one. It will be a five star effort for you.

After the preface, the book gets off to a slow start in describing his early years. Be patient though. By page 52, the book begins to hit its pace. By page 71, you will find yourself engrossed in a way that will continue to the end.

Where can curiosity take you? What have you noticed that speaks to you . . . that no one else understands? How can you explain what it means so that others will see what you see?