Comparing herself to the larger Emperor penguins, Pip the Adelie penguin feels unhappy with her size until an encounter with a huge sperm whale puts things in a different perspective for her.

Brilliantly attuned to the transience of nature and painfully aware of the precariousness of a polar environment facing global warming, Peter Matthiessen provides an exquisite account of his voyage through the islands surrounding Antarctica. In lyrical prose, Matthiessen describes the wildlife he encounters and the region it inhabits, along with historical information regarding the greatest pioneers and adventurers who preceded him. Matthiessen brings...

Apsley "Cherry" Cherry-Garrard shares his adventures as the youngest member of Robert Scott's expedition to Antarctica in the early twentieth century, during which he and Edward Wilson try to learn the evolutionary history of emperor penguins. Includes historical notes.