Monday, June 2, 2008
One Day the Ice Will Reveal All Its Dead by Clare Dudman
"Let me tell you about ice.
"In this passionate and haunting tale of obsession, endurance, courage and love, Clare Dudman imaginatively re-creates the life of the German scientist Alfred Wegener, whose theory of continental drift--derided and discredited by his contemporaries--would eventually revolutionize our perception of the world.
From the moment he nearly drowns in an icy Berlin canal in 1883 at the age of three, Alfred Wegener's irresistible urge to discover the unknown takes him on an extraordinary quest. Record-breaking flights in hydrogen balloons, several lengthy expeditions across the unexplored and treacherous ice of Greenland, the searing horrors of trench warfare in the First World War all form part of a restless search for truth, knowledge and the meaning of love. Wegener's keen powers of observation and his theories on everything from the flow of ice to the formation of raindrops eventually coalesce into his controversial theory of continental drift, which he struggled his whole life to defend.
Distinguished by Clare Dudman's lyrical evocation of the unforgiving beauty of the Arctic, One Day the Ice Will Reveal All Its Dead is the beautifully written story of one man's unshakable belief in an idea and the remarkable woman whose strength and devotion allowed him to pursue all his dreams. -- from the inside flap
Seen through the eyes of Alfred Wegener, this book about his life mixed both poetry and science. I liked learning about Wegener's expeditions in Greenland and about his trying to convince the scientific community about continental drift.
Date read: 5/15/2008
Book #: 29
Challenge: Numbers Challenge
Rating: 3*/5 = good
# of Pages: 401