Ice by Karal Ann Marling

Cover of Ice

Karal Ann Marling, author of Ice, makes it clear she is no scientist. Those looking for a treatise on the physical and chemical aspects of frozen water won't find it here. What one will find though, is an easy to read, casual survey of some high points in the history of ice, and stories of how people use it and think about it. Ice is not a technical book, but more of a series of historical essays, with a bit of social science thrown in for good measure.

This is the kind of book you can pick up and put down without worrying too much about where it's been or where it's going. There is no definite sequence, no particular focus. It seems as though the author picked a handful of interesting things surrounding ice, and wrote about them.

Polar Exploration

There is some coverage of the human fascination with the poles that kept explorers in trouble for the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Franklin, Peary, Scott, Shackleton and a few others all get their mention. It's hard to pin down exactly what the author is getting at, but it seems to be something like "humans are an odd lot, and they don't treat strangers very well." That's just the way it was.

The Golden Age of the Ice Palace

Ice palaces are usually erected as part of an ice festival, several of which are still at various cold locations around the world. These ice palaces are particularly fascinating to Marling. One can learn quite a bit about them from reading Ice. Like everything else in the book, it's not too deep, not too trite, just a smooth flow from one anecdote to another, with more of the "gee that's sort of a strange thing to do" sense about it. Kind of fun actually.

All About Ice

Ice cream, the advent of refrigeration and the ice trade, ice in literature, film, and art, and icebergs each get a turn. Throw in a final chapter on climate change and its affect on the planet's ice, and it's a wrap. Read them in any order, or skip ones that don't excite. With a few exceptions, the latter material doesn't rely on or reference the earlier.

The book includes sidebar-like additions that throw in short points of interest about ice and iciness. This adds to the "bathroom reader" quality of the book (no offense intended). Pick it up for a minute here and there, put down again. Open it anywhere and read a bit. No pressure.

If cold weather, ice, and snow are fascinating, then Ice is a pleasure. It's probably even more fun to read on a beach and not in an igloo.

Ice, 2008, Karal Ann Marling, Borealis Books, St. Paul, MN