Dispatches from Continent Seven An Anthology of Antarctic Science

"To me, the hills are a landscape of brown on brown: hip-high, wind-blasted boulders … To Adam, they are clues to millions of years of history." Since British explorer James Cook first circumnavigated Antarctica in the late eighteenth century, the white continent has exerted a powerful attraction. There is no permanent human habitation in this ice-bound wilderness, and no mercy from the raw, relentless elements, yet for nearly 200 years explorers and scientists from around the world have been drawn to work and sometimes risk their lives here. This landmark anthology brilliantly reveals the numerous scientific discoveries that have been made, from how sea creatures survive in the freezing waters, to the continent’s extraordinary proliferation of meteorites, and the startling revelations of fossils, which show Antarctica was once covered in luxuriant forests teeming with creatures. More than an anthology, this book is a thrilling journey through time as explorers and scientists painstakingly unravel the profound mysteries of Earth’s last great wilderness.

Rebecca Priestley is a science writer and historian. She reviews popular science and science history books for The Listener and The Dominion Post, writes for the Listener's health and science pages, and is a contributor to Te Ara - the online encyclopedia of New Zealand. She has written and edited numerous books on science, including The Elegant Universe of Albert Einstein, The Awa Book of New Zealand Science, and Mad on Radium: New Zealand in the Atomic Age.