A review by margaret_adams
Big Dead Place: Inside the Strange and Menacing World of Antarctica by Nicholas Johnson

I really regret that I didn't read this book sooner, before the author's unexpected death. I'd exchanged brief emails with him once, years ago, when he'd blasted my newspaper column on his website. He leveled some excellent criticisms at me that were very, very true and which took me several years to "hear." This book was full of the same brand of clear-sighted criticisms that had made me so uncomfortable when I'd crossed paths with him before. "Big Dead Place" is not the single story of contemporary Antarctica, but it is a story, one which yes, made me uncomfortable, but also made me laugh out loud, and was full of undeniable veracity. I think what struck me the most about reading this and comparing it to my own experiences of working in the USAP was how honest the author was willing to be with himself, how wholly unwilling he was to romanticize his own experiences, something I have a tendency to do with unconscious regularity. It's a good book, done well. I wish I could email him and thank him for it.