Many theories predict that at least Mars and Europa are suitable hosts for life within our solar system. With a series of ever more sophisticated missions destined for Mars, plus exploratory ones to Europa also in the pipeline, it will be very disappointing if we fail to discover signs of an extraterrestrial biology.

If we do find life beyond Earth, then what an eye-opener that will be: different biologies and biochemistries to deal with hostile environments. It will help us understand our own origins so much more completely. And what a can of worms it will open, literally and figuratively, in terms of the ethics of planetary exploration and exploitation. SETI here we come!

Monica Grady is professor of planetary and space sciences at the Open University in Milton Keynes, UK

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ROBERT SWAN has written a compelling account of his efforts to walk
to the North Pole, thus becoming the first person ever to reach both poles
on foot. The aim of the expedition to the North Pole was not solely one
of personal ambition, but also to draw attention to environmental pollution.
Stressing the global nature of pollution, Swan recruits an international
team to join him on his quest: the eight team members represent Australia,
Canada, Japan, UK, US, USSR and West Germany.

In parallel with the walk to the North Pole, Swan initiates a student
education programme, whereby a group of 22 students from 15 countries spend
approximately a month in the Canadian Arctic. There they learn about the
spread of pollution, and the environmental dangers that the Arctic wilderness
faces as a result of humanity’s carelessness.

The narrative opens at the opposite side of the world, in Antarctica,
where Swan, having successfully completed his walk to the South Pole, is
greeted by the news that his support vessel has sunk in pack ice. It is
the ability to overcome setbacks such as this which characterises Swan.
Few could face the prospects of debts arising from one expedition by almost
immediately launching into a hectic round of fund raising and sponsorship
deals for a second, even more ambitious, project.

The book continues with descriptions of how the final team was selected,
and the preparations they made among the Inuit at Iqaluit in northernmost
Canada, before the epic journey commences.

Icewalk is an eminently readable story of Swan’s polar expedition; a
fast-paced account of an ‘Indiana Jones style adventure’, as the author
himself describes it. He captures the tensions, frustrations, camaraderie
and heroism shown by the eight individuals: the reader can follow the trials
and tribulations of the team as it overcomes fatigue, illness, weather and
adverse terrain to reach the pole. No individual escapes illness: from the
blistered feet of the American, Darryl, and the spinal injury of Swan, to
the viral infection of Hiro, the Japanese mountaineer.

The terrain and weather also conspired to create almost overwhelming
barriers to success. Pressure ridges of ice, which had to be climbed, stretched
much farther north than anticipated, reducing the amount of relatively easy
flat-ice skiing. In addition, warmer than average weather led to the earlier
break-up of pack ice, necessitating diversions around unforeseen patches
of open water.

Swan’s graphic account is well illustrated by numerous photographs of
Arctic scenery, revealing both its serene beauty and harsh, majestic grandeur.
Other pictures show the expedition members engaged in various tasks, from
the precarious negotiations of open water to relaxing in the tent. The text
is enlivened by references to other explorers and historical expeditions.

Where the narrative does perhaps fail is in details. Although the expedition
is billed as attempting, through the student education programme, to highlight
problems of environmental damage, Swan devotes little space to this aspect
of the project. I would like to have seen Appendix 5, ‘The student experience’,
extended to include a description of how students were selected, and giving
details of the experiments they carried out at Eureka, and what was actually
achieved.

Similarly, there is only brief mention of the experiments of Rupert
Summerson and the medical observations by Misha Malakhov. What were their
purposes? Were any worthwhile results obtained? Robert Swan, polar explorer,
shares more than his name with Robert Falcon Scott and Robert E. Peary;
he also possesses the vision, grim determination and, many would add, madness
of these men. Icewalk is testament to his obsession with polar exploration.
If, by its publication, the book succeeds in heightening public awareness
of the rapid spread of environmental damage through industrial pollution,
then the author must feel his sacrifices and discomfort were not in vain.

Monica Grady is a project officer in the Planetary Sciences Unit at
the Open University, Milton Keynes.