End of the Earth

End of the Earth

voyages to Antarctica

by Peter Matthiessen
3/5
(19 votes)

End of the Earth brings to life the waters of the richest whale feeding grounds in the world, the wandering albatross with its 11-foot wingspan arching through the sky, and the habits of every variety of seal, walrus, petrel, and penguin in the area, all with boundless and contagious inquisitiveness.

Magnificently written, the book evokes an appreciation and sympathy for a region as harsh as it is beautiful.

"Luminous and haunting.

the contemporary Thoreau.

"-The Wall Street Journal "[Matthiessen] doesn't waste words, and in End of the Earth: Voyages to Antarctica, his homage to the austere splendor of that frozen continent, he hasn't deployed a single one whose choice I would care to take issue with.

Matthiessen writes crusty, chiseled sentences that demand to be read slowly-the perfect prose equivalent of the landscapes he's describing.

"-The New York Times Book Review "Matthiessen and polar landscapes seem perfectly suited.

I found myself constantly re-reading sentences or paragraphs to savour all of their rich resonances.

Few if any authors on the region have so successfully compressed.

Antarctic life.

and I suspect it will become standard reading.

"-The Guardian.

Format
242 pages, Hardcover
Publishers
National Geographic
Subjects
Matthiessen·Peter·Emperor penguin·Antarctica·Antarctic peninsula·Zoology·Antarcica·Antarctic peninsula
Language
English

I've always enjoyed Peter's books, especially the Snow Leopard. I've travelled to many spots all over the world (unfortunately, not to Antarctica yet - although my husband is a pilot on "the Ice").

The man wears his pretensions on his sleeve. OK, I could deal with that.

After reading End of the Earth, by Peter Matthiessen I felt a lot more informed about the continent that you exist, but never really is talked about. Other then that it's a continent made up of water that's been frozen for thousands of years, you really don't know much about.

Peter Matthiessen

About Peter Matthiessen

Peter Matthiessen is the author of more than thirty books and the only writer to win the National Book Award for both non-fiction (The Snow Leopard, in two categories, in 1979 and 1980) and fiction (Shadow Country, in 2008). A co-founder of The Paris Review and a world-renowned naturalist, explorer and activist, he died in April 2014....

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