Thin Ice

"Bowen practices the kind of smell-the-sweat journalism familiar from the pages of Outside magazine and Men's Journal: If you don't risk your life, it's not worth writing about . . . His muscular approach gives punch and urgency to warnings about global warming."—The Washington Post Book World

"Thin Ice should correct the notion that climatologists are just number-crunching geeks . . . Bowen tells Krakaueresque tales of Thompson's trials, alternating with a meticulous history of the science. An occasionally hair-raising picture of an overlooked and surprisingly risky quest that will appeal to science buffs and armchair adventurers alike."—Mother Jones

"Amusing and entertaining . . . Thin Ice is at the same time a scientific biography, a fine introduction to the sciences of climate change and a vivid description of a geophysicist's work under most extreme conditions."—Nature

"Capturing the fanatical enduring love of a scientist for his work, wars and pettiness amongst terrestrial 'big-thinkers,' and heroic failures and success in the most forbidding and spectacular places on our planet, Thin Ice is more revealing than The Double Helix."—James E. Hansen, Director, NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies

"Superheroes, unconquerable courage, and towering intellect at deadly altitudes; it would be a great bigger-than-life novel—if it wasn't all true. A thrilling scientific adventure, Thin Ice just happens to be about an issue that stands poised to change the course of human history."—Carl Safina, author of Eye of the Albatross and Song for the Blue Ocean

"This is high adventure of every sort—up in the mountains, but also in the corridors of top-flight science. If you read it you will understand much of what you need to know about the century's most important story."—Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature

"Bowen is a science writer and climber. Lonnie Thompson is a climatologist from Ohio State University who spends much of his time studying remote ice caps along the equator to map the course of climate change. Bowen first joined Thompson on the summit of Nevado Sajama, the highest mountain in Bolivia. Sajama—21,500 feet high—is in what climbers call the 'death zone,' the environment above 18,000 feet. Bowen also joined Thompson for three weeks on Tanzania's Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa. The 19,344-foot Kibo is the highest of three volcanoes there. Bowen describes the pain brought on climbing at that height, the equipment, the warm clothes and boots required to survive months in harsh conditions, and the equipment needed to perform research involved in ice core climatology. Bowen offers a detailed background of the science of climatology and Thompson's part in this scientific pursuit to comprehend the global climate system. Readers will be intrigued by the author's exceptional narrative and—at the same time—will be able to stay safe and warm."—Booklist

"This book will appeal to mountaineering and climatology buffs, but should be read by everyone concerned about the future of our planet."—Publishers Weekly