The Big Thaw: Ancient Carbon, Modern Science, and a Race to Save the World
Permafrost--dark, ice-flaked, permanently frozen ground that lies under tundra and boreal forests across our northern regions--covers more than 12 percent of the earth’s land mass. It exists in places that seem otherworldly and unimaginably remote to most of us, but the changes taking place in the permafrost layer may ultimately affect the lives of every person on Earth. In The Big Thaw, readers meet a diverse team of scientists and students who have been studying the permafrost and what lies beneath: a vast store of ancient carbon, more than four times the quantity found in all of today’s forests, a ticking “carbon bomb” releasing carbon dioxide and methane as the permafrost thaws. The release of so much carbon would alter Earth’s climate forever. Braving endless hordes of mosquitoes, quicksand, and extreme temperatures, the researchers are racing against the clock to educate us all about the changes we must make in order to preserve Earth’s carbon balance.
Learn more @ Braided River's Big Thaw page
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Awards
2020 Washington State Book Award Winner in General Nonfiction
2020 Gold Independent Publisher Book Award in Environment & Ecology
2019 Nautilus Grand Award Winner and Gold Winner in the Ecology and Environment
2019 Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards Honorable Mention in Ecology and Environment
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Science on Ice: Four Polar Expeditions
”Polar exploration is at once the cleanest and most isolated way of having a bad time which has been devised,” wrote Apsley Cherry-Garrard of his time with the 1910 Scott expedition to the South Pole. And that’s how most of us still imagine polar expeditions: stolid men with ice riming their beards drawing sledges and risking death for scientific knowledge. But polar science has changed drastically over the past century—as Chris Linder shows us, brilliantly, with Science on Ice.
An oceanographer and award-winning photographer, Linder chronicles four polar expeditions in this richly illustrated volume: to a teeming colony of Adélie penguins, through the icy waters of the Bering Sea in spring, beneath the pack ice of the eastern Arctic Ocean, and over the lake-studded surface of the Greenland Ice Sheet. Each trip finds Linder teamed up with a prominent science journalist, and together their words and pictures reveal the day-to-day details of how science actually gets done at the poles. Breathtaking images of the stark polar landscape alternate with gritty, close-up shots of scientists working in the field, braving physical danger and brutal conditions, and working with remarkable technology designed to survive the poles—like robotic vehicles that chart undersea mountain ranges—as they gather crucial information about our planet’s distant past, and the risks that climate change poses for its future.
The result is a combination travel book and paean to the hard work and dedication that underlies our knowledge of life on earth. Science on Ice takes readers to the farthest reaches of our planet; science has rarely been more exciting—or inspiring.
Learn more on the Science on Ice website
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The Photographer's Guide to Cape Cod and the Islands: Where to Find the Perfect Shots and How to Take Them
Lively fishing harbors and postcard-perfect villages draw photographers from all over the world to Cape Cod and the islands of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. Whether you're hoping to capture waves pounding an Atlantic beach or a clammer digging for dinner, this book will tell you where to go, when to be there, and how to get the shot.Detailed descriptions and maps will guide you to the Cape and Islands' prime photography locations—both iconic landmarks and off-the-beaten-track hotspots. Seasonal recommendations and professional tips tailored to each location will help you make the most of any shoot. Written by a photographer for photographers, this guide is a must for anyone hoping to bring home great images from the Cape and Islands.
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