Overview

A captivating blend of true adventure and natural history by one of today's leading penguin experts and Antarctic explorers George Murray Levick was the physician on Robert Falcon Scott's tragic Antarctic expedition of 1910. Marooned for an Antarctic winter, Levick passed the time by becoming the first man to study penguins up close. His findings were so shocking to Victorian morals that they were quickly suppressed and seemingly lost to history. A century later, Lloyd Spencer Davis rediscovers Levick and his findings during the course of his own scientific adventures in Antarctica. Levick's long-suppressed manuscript reveals not only an incredible survival story, but one that will change our understanding of an entire species. A Polar Affair reveals the last untold tale from the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. It is perhaps the greatest of all of those stories--but why was it hidden to begin with? The ever-fascinating and charming penguin holds the key. Moving deftly between both Levick's and Davis's explorations, observations, and comparisons in biology over the course of a century, A Polar Affair reveals cutting-edge findings about ornithology, in which the sex lives of penguins are the jumping-off point for major new insights into the underpinnings of evolutionary biology itself.

Full Product Details

9781094136387

Table of Contents

Reviews

Victorian morals, the sex lives of penguins, and Antarctic exploration combine in this unusual natural history and travelogue. -- Shelf Awareness Fascinating....Insightful...A timely illumination of a mysterious and vital ecosystem. -- New York Times Book Review Davis serves it all up with wit and a wry, irrepressible sense of humor, while imparting everything there is to know about penguins. -- BookPage (starred review) Davis combines history and science seamlessly. -- Kirkus Reviews A tremendous resource. -- Vaughan Turekian, American Association for the Advancement of Science A rip-roaring read on research at the edge. -- Nature A gonzo-journalistic retelling of the Antarctic expeditions of the early twentieth century. The climax of what might otherwise have been routine field work is a harrowing trek...intercut with evolutionary insights Davis gleaned from his own observations. A welcome look behind the scenes, representing Levick as a brilliant explorer and a keen observer of nature. -- Natural History Magazine

Author Information

Lloyd Spencer Davis received the New Zealand PEN Best First Book Award for Nonfiction for Penguin: A Season in the Life of the Adelie Penguin. He is the author of Looking For Darwin, which won the CLL Writer's Award, New Zealand's most significant nonfiction award. He has been a recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship, an Anzac Fellowship, and a Prince and Princess of Wales Science Award. Raphael Corkhill grew up in central London and attended the renowned Eton College before moving to the United States to attend Princeton University, after which he completed his MFA acting degree at the University of Southern California. Raphael's recent credits include the Los Angeles Theatre Center's production of Short Eyes, A Happy End at the Museum of Tolerance, and Luke Eberl's latest film, The Movie. Raphael's voice-over work includes the Weinstein Company's upcoming feature Lawless and the award-winning short film Wrecks and Violins.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available