The Ice at the End of the World: An Epic Journey into Greenland's Buried Past and Our Perilous Future Cover
Podcast Mentions

The Ice at the End of the World An Epic Journey into Greenland's Buried Past and Our Perilous Future

Jon Gertner

A riveting, urgent account of the explorers and scientists racing to understand the rapidly melting ice sheet in Greenland, a dramatic harbinger of climate change Greenland: a remote, mysterious island five times the size of California but with a population of just 56,000. The ice sheet that covers...

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The host highlighted the book as a favorite because it recounted the daring 19th‑century expeditions across Greenland’s ice sheet, long before modern climate science. It examined the explorers’ drive for fame and a morbid fascination with death, while drawing connections to today’s climate concerns. The discussion conveyed strong admiration for the title.

Highly Recommended

Episode: The End

It was discussed as a book about explorers in the late 1800s who walked across Greenland's ice sheet, long before the scientific understanding of climate change.

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I fell pretty deep into a few books before this trip. My favorite was called The Ice at the End of the World by John Gertner.

Episode: 09 The End

It chronicles how, in the late 1800s, lunatic explorers tried to walk across Greenland's ice sheet, often dying in the process. The author reflects on their motivations, highlighting both the pursuit of fame and a darker, almost self-destructive fascination with death.

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a weird beauty without feeling as though of a dead planet built of shining white marble And everything so still so awfully still with the silence that shall one day rain When the earth becomes desolate and empty when the fox will no more haunt these marines When the bear will no longer wander about on the ice out there When even the wind will not rage Infinite silence Isn't that beautiful

Note: The book recommendations on this page are discovered automatically from podcast transcripts, and may be incorrect or incomplete.