The Greatest Polar Expedition of All Time

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What to expect

​​For readers of Endurance and other seafaring adventure stories comes a thrilling account of a twenty-first-century Arctic mission.

The Greatest Polar Expedition of All Time vividly describes one year aboard the Polarstern, a powerful ice-breaker ship that journeyed deep into the Arctic in 2019, carrying over 100 scientists and crew known as the MOSAiC Expedition. Hailing from across the world, they would become the largest expedition to ever survive a polar winter. Their purpose was to understand—and predict—the impacts of climate change on the Arctic.

Written by the expedition’s leader, the renowned atmospheric scientist Markus Rex, this page-turner reads like a captain’s log of daily life aboard the Polarstern. Living in one of the most remote, dangerous, and electrifying places on earth, Rex describes incredible sights: polar bears playing with scientific equipment, Christmas parties in the bitter cold, frostbitten scientists, and hair-raising storms that threaten to break the Polarstern’s cables and send it flying across the ice. He also reveals breathtaking science from deep inside the sea ice.

Filled with sobering, heart-warming, and bone-chilling moments, this book is a testament to Rex’s extraordinary drive to save a precious ecosystem. It’s also an ode to a place that has beguiled sailors and explorers for centuries.

Critics Review

  • “[A] show-stopping account…Rex has a knack for vivid and startling imagery…Required reading for anyone interested in seeing science in action.”

    Publishers Weekly (starred review)

  • “A fascinating account…Between diary entries there are diversionary essays on all aspects of the Arctic to help readers understand this environment.”

    Library Journal

  • “Paul Boehmer’s sonorous voice and deliberate pace match the scientist’s seriousness of purpose.”

    AudioFile

  • “In this compelling account, lead scientist Markus Rex shares the personal moments and the planetary stakes of the largest polar expedition in history.”

    Andrea Pitzer, author of Icebound

  • “This marvelous book brings us aboard a unique twenty-first century Arctic expedition…Tthis book is essential reading. A contemporary classic.”

    Ken McGoogan, author of Fatal Passage

  • “An illuminating portrait of a part of the planet that almost no one ever sees and of an undertaking whose scientific findings will be informing global decision making for years to come.”

    James Raffan, author of Ice Walker

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