Comments on: Book review – Land of Wondrous Cold: The Race to Discover Antarctica and Unlock the Secrets of Its Ice

By: Book review – Endless Novelties of Extraordinary Interest: The Voyage of H.M.S. Challenger and the Birth of Modern Oceanography | The Inquisitive Biologist

Thu, 19 Oct 2023 15:30:43 +0000

[…] further on the matter. Since then, we have filled in many gaps and have a better picture of just how diverse ancient penguindom was. The scientists were also fascinated by birds of paradise but were only able to find a few species. […]

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By: Book review – The Ages of Gaia: A Biography of Our Living Earth | The Inquisitive Biologist

Thu, 27 Jul 2023 10:56:31 +0000

[…] that we do not know what caused the most recent ice ages, ignoring evidence from plate tectonics. Land of Wondrous Cold explained how Australia and South America drifting away from Antarctica led to the formation of an […]

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By: Book review – When the Sahara Was Green: How Our Greatest Desert Came to Be | The Inquisitive Biologist

Mon, 15 Aug 2022 13:15:35 +0000

[…] When the Sahara Was Green shines on the geography and geomorphology front, which are Williams’s home turf. He makes accessible what might otherwise have been, sorry, dry topics. This takes you through the deep history of the formation and dissolution of the supercontinent Gondwana, ancient glaciations, and the impact of the very old basement rock that underlies Africa and still impacts what happens at the surface. Williams explains the geological and climatological reasons why the Sahara has become a desert. The obvious reason is plate tectonics. North Africa moved into the latitudinal zone where large-scale atmospheric circulation patterns pretty much dictate a dry climate. Beyond that, however, many other particularities have enhanced its aridity over the last ~7 million years. For example, the sheer size of the continent means inbound winds lose moisture before reaching its heart, the presence of mountains creates rain shadows, and more distant influences include overall global cooling in the last 33 million years after Antarctica became an isolated continent. […]

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By: Book review – The Earth: A Biography of Life | The Inquisitive Biologist

Book review – The Earth: A Biography of Life | The Inquisitive Biologist — Fri, 22 Jul 2022 09:31:38 +0000

[…] orogeny leading to increased silicate weathering that drew down atmospheric carbon dioxide, the Antarctic Circumpolar Current putting Antarctica in the deep freezer, and the Isthmus of Panama interfering with global ocean […]

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By: Book review – A (Very) Short History of Life On Earth: 4.6 Billion Years in 12 Chapters | The Inquisitive Biologist

Mon, 15 Nov 2021 10:44:21 +0000

[…] and more seasonal. More recently, the opening of the Drake Passage allowed the Southern Ocean to flow uninterruptedly around Antarctica, shaping Earth’s climate to this […]

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By: Andreas

Andreas — Wed, 06 Oct 2021 14:02:38 +0000

In reply to inquisitivebiologist.

It’s from 1997. I‘m a fan of the author, so maybe checkout my other reviews of him. His newest is Ministry for the Future.
The other prominent CliFi author would be Paolo Bacigalupi.

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By: inquisitivebiologist

inquisitivebiologist — Wed, 06 Oct 2021 13:52:15 +0000

In reply to Andreas.

Oh nice, that sounds like an interesting book. CliFi is a new genre to me!

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By: Andreas

Andreas — Wed, 06 Oct 2021 13:47:33 +0000

Thanks for your intriguing review! Ever since I read Kim Stanley Robinson’s Antarctica, I keep watching for tales of this continent. https://reiszwolf.wordpress.com/2020/05/24/antarctica-•-1997-•-clifi-novel-by-kim-stanley-robinson/

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