Of Ice and Men, Fred Hogge
Of Ice and Men, Fred Hogge
List: $16.99 | Sale: $11.89
Club: $8.49

Of Ice and Men
How We've Used Cold to Transform Humanity

Author: Fred Hogge

Narrator: Brian Telestai

Unabridged: 5 hr 57 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 12/06/2022

Categories: Nonfiction, Science


Synopsis

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.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Scott on February 20, 2023

This book left me cold. There were interesting parts like the history of refrigeration but then he slips on the ice and veers into discussions of the history of skiing, climate change, Arctic exploration. I guess it all ties together as related to ice and cold, but much of it seems gleaned from 4-5......more

Goodreads review by Marina on April 21, 2024

If casually used as an audiobook to pass the time in the car like I did, great choice. 5/5 score–especially if into medicine or food history. The anecdotes and storytelling were perfect for keeping me awake on a drive that is quite boring and full of traffic. This was a combination of the narrator’s......more

Goodreads review by Terzah on December 31, 2022

It's the end of the year, which means it's time for books about winter, ice, cold, and snow. This book was all over the place with far too many digressions into history that, while interesting, detracted from the particular focus promised in the title. But I learned many things--all about the origin......more

Goodreads review by Cj on December 26, 2022

The book spends many of its pages talking about ice/refrigeration/cold things and how it has at times thwarted and advanced humankind. It takes us through the history of ice. The last chapter is an environmental rant about vanishing ice with little of the history and story telling that make the book......more

Goodreads review by Shaeleigh on August 07, 2023

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 differe......more