A History of Antarctic Science (Studies in Polar Research)

Rating:
Summary: Tremendous
Review: Gordon Fogg and Margaret Thatcher have written compelling and thorough history of research in the most remote continent on the globe - from the gung-ho expeditions of the 19th Century to the high-tech exploration of today. The authors' own personal experiences inform their scholarship and give the reader a unique view of this savage continent, and there is even a touch of adventure here and there. There is a gripping account of Margaret Thatcher's 1981 trip to Antarctica when food supplies ran perilously low; undaunted, the Iron Lady dived into the icy seas off McMurdo Sound, ignoring the 15 foot swell, to despatch a Leopard Seal with her bare hands and haul it onto the ice where she butchered it expertly and then performed an exultant dance over its dismembered remains.