THE reality of global warming makes Cold 鈥� an account of Earth鈥檚 relationship with the other end of the thermometer- all the more intriguing. Streever recounts his year chasing the cold and studying its effects on various ecosystems. More compelling than his own story, though, is the intertwined history of cold, from the theoretical Neoproterozoic Snowball Earth to the recent past. Stunning accounts of the 1816 and the 1888 drive home the consequences of severe weather. Cold sizzles with great factoids: we learn that cold precipitated the invention of the bicycle, and that cryogenics was inspired by amphibians whose intercellular membranes freeze, turning them to frogsicles. From historic polar expeditions to his own dip in an Arctic swimming hole, Streever鈥檚 narrative thaws the mysterious nature of cold.
Little, Brown & Co