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A review by liralen
Empire Antarctica: Ice, Silence & Emperor Penguins by Gavin Francis
4.0
In late 2002, Francis arrived in Antarctica to take on a job like no other: physician at Halley Research Station. In these remote wilds—with only fourteen winter-over residents and, fortunately for everyone, very little doctoring to do—he sank into the isolation with something like relief.
Lindsay and I picked up medical supplies as they arrived on the depot line and prepared field medical boxes for the staff who would spend the six-week summer out on the ice, ‘deep field’, doing research. She showed me the emergency supplies secreted around base, contingencies in case the main platform burned down. We pulled out and assembled every type of stretcher, splint and machine hidden in the medical-room cupboards. There was a guide to penguin taxidermy and a neurosurgical drill pack. (72)
Like [b:Jerri Nielsen|569972|Ice Bound A Doctor's Incredible Battle for Survival at the South Pole|Jerri Nielsen|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348618084l/569972._SY75_.jpg|2154295], Francis had to be prepared for just about any medical emergency; unlike Nielsen, he had very little official doctoring work to do (see: fourteen winter-over residents), and so he spent much of his time reading, helping out around the base wherever an extra set of hands was useful, and studying penguins.
Almost nothing is known about the rise and fall of different emperor colonies. Only fifty years ago just four emperor rookeries were known. That number has edged up slowly as ever more comprehensive surveys, mostly by air, have cross-hatched the continent. For rookeries to be visible they must be counted in late winter or spring, a time when most of the continental fringe is inaccessible. Groups of penguins are invisible from sea level more than a few kilometers away. By 1993 it was thought that there were perhaps thirty-two emperor colonies worldwide, but this estimate was said to have a significant ‘location bias’ – biased towards locations that could actually be reached. (214)
It's with some ambivalence that Francis describes leaving Antarctica at the end of his tenure there; it seems to have been just about all he ever wanted but also a profoundly isolating (there's that word again) experience.
At times I felt keenly the lack of human history in the Antarctic. There were days when the absence seemed Antarctica’s greatest gift, and days when it rendered the continent wasted and sterile. (219)
I expect Nielsen's book is more widely appealing—certainly it's livelier—but in the right mood, this deep meditation may last with you longer.
Lindsay and I picked up medical supplies as they arrived on the depot line and prepared field medical boxes for the staff who would spend the six-week summer out on the ice, ‘deep field’, doing research. She showed me the emergency supplies secreted around base, contingencies in case the main platform burned down. We pulled out and assembled every type of stretcher, splint and machine hidden in the medical-room cupboards. There was a guide to penguin taxidermy and a neurosurgical drill pack. (72)
Like [b:Jerri Nielsen|569972|Ice Bound A Doctor's Incredible Battle for Survival at the South Pole|Jerri Nielsen|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348618084l/569972._SY75_.jpg|2154295], Francis had to be prepared for just about any medical emergency; unlike Nielsen, he had very little official doctoring work to do (see: fourteen winter-over residents), and so he spent much of his time reading, helping out around the base wherever an extra set of hands was useful, and studying penguins.
Almost nothing is known about the rise and fall of different emperor colonies. Only fifty years ago just four emperor rookeries were known. That number has edged up slowly as ever more comprehensive surveys, mostly by air, have cross-hatched the continent. For rookeries to be visible they must be counted in late winter or spring, a time when most of the continental fringe is inaccessible. Groups of penguins are invisible from sea level more than a few kilometers away. By 1993 it was thought that there were perhaps thirty-two emperor colonies worldwide, but this estimate was said to have a significant ‘location bias’ – biased towards locations that could actually be reached. (214)
It's with some ambivalence that Francis describes leaving Antarctica at the end of his tenure there; it seems to have been just about all he ever wanted but also a profoundly isolating (there's that word again) experience.
At times I felt keenly the lack of human history in the Antarctic. There were days when the absence seemed Antarctica’s greatest gift, and days when it rendered the continent wasted and sterile. (219)
I expect Nielsen's book is more widely appealing—certainly it's livelier—but in the right mood, this deep meditation may last with you longer.