Why read on Fable?
Publisher Description
A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice
An exploration of humanity’s relationship with ice since the dawn of civilization, Of Ice and Men reminds us that only by understanding this unique substance can we save the ice on our planet—and perhaps ourselves.
Ice tells a story. It writes it in rock. It lays it down, snowfall by snowfall at the ends of the earth where we may read it like the rings on a tree. It tells our planet’s geological and climatological tale.
Ice tells another story too: a story about us. It is a tale packed with swash-buckling adventure and improbable invention, peopled with driven, eccentric, often brilliant characters. It tells how our species has used ice to reshape the world according to our needs and our desires: how we have survived it, harvested it, traded it, bent science to our will to make it—and how in doing so we have created globe-spanning infrastructures that are entirely dependent upon it.
And even after we have done all that, we take ice so much for granted that we barely notice it.
Ice has supercharged the modern world. It has allowed us to feed ourselves and cure ourselves in ways unimaginable two hundred years ago. It has enabled the global population to rise from less than 1 billion to nearly 7½ billion—which just happens to cover the same period of time as humanity has harvested, manufactured, and distributed ice on an industrial scale.
And yet the roots of our fascination with ice and its properties run much deeper than the recent past.
An exploration of humanity’s relationship with ice since the dawn of civilization, Of Ice and Men reminds us that only by understanding this unique substance can we save the ice on our planet—and perhaps ourselves.
Ice tells a story. It writes it in rock. It lays it down, snowfall by snowfall at the ends of the earth where we may read it like the rings on a tree. It tells our planet’s geological and climatological tale.
Ice tells another story too: a story about us. It is a tale packed with swash-buckling adventure and improbable invention, peopled with driven, eccentric, often brilliant characters. It tells how our species has used ice to reshape the world according to our needs and our desires: how we have survived it, harvested it, traded it, bent science to our will to make it—and how in doing so we have created globe-spanning infrastructures that are entirely dependent upon it.
And even after we have done all that, we take ice so much for granted that we barely notice it.
Ice has supercharged the modern world. It has allowed us to feed ourselves and cure ourselves in ways unimaginable two hundred years ago. It has enabled the global population to rise from less than 1 billion to nearly 7½ billion—which just happens to cover the same period of time as humanity has harvested, manufactured, and distributed ice on an industrial scale.
And yet the roots of our fascination with ice and its properties run much deeper than the recent past.
6 Reviews
3.0
Kyrsten Newlon
Created 16 days agoShare
Report
“A sleepy kind of fascinating.”
Anne Rutherford
Created 5 months agoShare
Report
Heather Jordanna
Created 11 months agoShare
Report
Shaeleigh
Created over 1 year agoShare
Report
“This story went into the fascinating history of ice and how it was used throughout history.
I found it interesting on the different uses that ice such as medical care, food packaging, and early stages of refrigeration. It makes you think about what had to be done to persevere and take care of different foods back then. We would not have some of the freshest food without the proper refrigerator system between grocery stores and home kitchens. Ice brought a fresh and clean quality to the food.
The medical component was extremely interesting with how it plays a crucial role in organ transplants. I know that organs are put on ice, but I never really knew why it was done. This is done with the heart and the use of oxygen. It just fascinates me on how ice can keep the body cool to keep the body alive and functioning. The thought of that is just mind boggling. Stuff like that just might stick in your brain.
Once I started reading, I did find that it did go off topic to an extent that it lost full connection to the story. Most of the background information was useful to provide more context for what ice can be used for at the time, but at some parts it seemed unnecessary to an extent. I got lost slightly, but I got back on track after passing the confusion. At some point it just felt like there was too much information that just did not flow together.
In the end, I did learn something new about ice and the countless uses it obtains. Some information was insightful, but some was not needed.
An educational read about an everyday item.”
Start a Book Club
Start a public or private book club with this book on the Fable app today!Similar Books
Save to a list
0
/30
0
/100
Private List