"New Zealand's lonely subantarctic islands - the Antipodes, Bounty, Snares, Campbell and Auckland Islands - lie south of New Zealand on the way to Antarctica. ... Today all five island groups are managed as nature reserves, and acknowledged to be of worldwide ecological importance, with their rare species of birds, marine mammals, insects and plants, and some of the last remaining unmodified environments on Eath."--Jacket.
The world's most isolated continent has spawned some of the most unusual words in the English language. This comprehensive guide to the origins and definitions of such words as donga and growler, is supported by more than 15,000 quotations drawn from over 1000 sources. A treat for anyone who's ever dreamed of visiting Antarctica.
"New Zealand's lonely subantarctic islands - the Antipodes, Bounty, Snares, Campbell and Auckland Islands - lie south of New Zealand on the way to Antarctica. ... Today all five island groups are managed as nature reserves, and acknowledged to be of worldwide ecological importance, with their rare species of birds, marine mammals, insects and plants, and some of the last remaining unmodified environments on Eath."--Jacket.
From brilliant young polymath Andrew Rader—an MIT-credentialed scientist, popular podcast host, and SpaceX mission manager—an “engaging” (Tim Marshall, New York Times bestselling author) chronicle showcasing our human desire to continually explore new and uncharted territory, from civilization’s earliest days to interstellar travel. For the first time in history, the human species has the technology to destroy itself. But having developed that power, humans are also able to leave Earth and voyage into the vastness of space. After millions of years of evolution, we’ve arrived at the point where we can settle other worlds and begin the process of becoming multi-planetary. How did we get here? What does the future hold for us? Divided into four accessible sections, Beyond the Known examines major periods of discovery and rediscovery, from Classical Times, when Phoenicians, Persians, and Greeks ventured forth; to The Age of European Exploration, which saw colonies sprout on nearly every continent; to The Era of Scientific Inquiry, when researchers developed new tools for mapping and traveling farther; to Our Spacefaring Future, which unveils plans currently underway for settling other planets and, eventually, traveling to the stars. A Mission Manager at SpaceX with a lively voice, Andrew Rader is at the forefront of space exploration. As a gifted historian, Rader, who has won global acclaim for his stunning breadth of knowledge, is singularly positioned to reveal the story of human exploration that is also the story of scientific achievement. Told with an infectious zeal for traveling seeking new horizons, Beyond the Known is “an astute—and highly flattering—view of human aspirations” (Kirkus Reviews).
When this book originally appeared in 1990, it was hailed as an important new work because of the author's access to Adm. Richard E. Byrd's just-released private papers. Previous books on the legendary polar explorer had to rely on sources subject to the admiral's vigilant censorship or the control of his heirs and friends. With this study Eugene Rodgers provides a scrupulously honest and objective account of Byrd's 1929 expedition to Antarctica. Without discrediting the expedition's success or Byrd's leadership, Rodgers shows that the admiral was not the saintly hero he and the press depicted. Nor was the expedition without its problems. Interviews with surviving members of the expedition together with a wealth of other new material indicate that Byrd, contrary to his claims, was not a good navigator--his pilots usually had to find their way by dead reckoning--and that he was not on the actual flight that discovered Marie Byrd Land. The book further reveals a crisis over drunkenness among the men (including Byrd), the admiral's fear of mutiny, and his rewriting of news stories from the pole to embellish his own image.
