Improbable Eden: The Dry Valleys of Antarctica

by Bill Green (Essay), Craig Potton (Photographs)

The Dry Valleys of Antarctica are one of the last truly remote places left on earth. With no cover of ice or snow and no rainfall, these dry valleys are "islands" in the midst of the frozen ice of the Antarctic continent, a strange environment of ice-covered lakes that hold some of the planet's purest water, huge expanses of wind-sculpted rock, barren eroded land forms and glaciers that intrude into the edges of the valleys. Access to this unique environment is extremely restricted. This book is built around the landscape photographs of Craig Potton, who gathered the images on two separate trips to Antarctica. The text is provided by Bill Green whose previous non-fiction writing on the Dry Valleys won him the John Burroughs Medal for nature writing in the USA.

Genres: Nonfiction

128 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's rare for me to read a coffee-table book from start to finish, but I was immediately captivated by the combination of Bill Green's poetic essays (adapted from his book "Water, Ice, Stone") and Craig Potton's photography of Antarctica's Dry Valleys, which constitute most of the 2% of the Antarctic continent which is ice-free. In combination, they give a powerful sense of what being in this remarkable landscape is like.[return][return]If, like me, you are a fan of Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy, then there is an extra reason to read this book. The Dry Valleys feature in "Red Mars" as the training area for the Mars explorers, and seing the photos in this book brings many of the real and imagined landscapes described by Robinson - the chaotic terrain, the ground fractured into polygons, the rocks of Nussbaum Riegel - vividly to life.

[Kathryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

probably the best book ever. the author is brilliant. i'm not biased.

[Darkpool · Rating 5 out of 5]

Deeply beautiful words, startling photos. Wonderful.

[Marilyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

How can these landscapes be real? They threaten my reality.