Riddle of the Ice (Hardcover)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The work of Myron Arms represents the best qualities of literary science writing; his intelligent, curious mind spins lyrical accounts of natural phenomena and the world around us. During a 1991 sailing expedition off the coast of Labrador, the author is blocked by a surprising and frustrating mass of ice--an unusual event occurring out of season and during a particularly warm summer. Riddle of the Ice is the result of that trip, and although the riddle is never really answered, we are treated to a fun--and informative--shaggy-dog inquiry that probes nautical science, weather patterns, and deep shifts in our environment. All of this is told in an engaging voice capable of turning an implacable mass of ice into a richly textured character at the center of a strange mystery.

From Publishers Weekly

Sailing the Labrador coast in July 1991, Arms, a U.S. Coast Guard-licensed ocean master and regular contributor to Sail and Cruising World, found his way blocked by ice, nearly 400 miles short of his destination. Yet a few hundred miles south, there was record-breaking heat. Why the ice barrier? Arms's search to find out led him to major climate-study centers where scientists are attempting to understand Arctic ice and its relationship to the changing global climate. In 1994, Arms took his 50-foot sailboat Brendan's Isle, with a small crew from Woods Hole, to Greenland, "to dramatize this investigation, to rescue it from the computer screens and library carrels." His engaging account of that voyage, in the form of a ship's log, encompasses nearly all of this book, and allows him to muse, sometimes quite technically, over the connection between sea ice, ocean currents and climate. We learn about the Great Ocean Conveyer Belt and the Great Salinity Anomaly, and that the route covered by the Brendan's Isle?Labrador Sea, Davis Strait, Baffin Bay?is believed to control global climate change. The sailing adventure will appeal to saltwater buffs, and readers interested in climate will find this a dynamic look at what's happening to the natural world, and why.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday; New edition edition (January 20, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385490925
• ISBN-13: 978-0385490924
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,703,274 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars I'd have to agree with the skeptical reviewers., February 19, 2002

By	R. Mahnke (Berkeley, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

There's just not that much here. As a travelogue, Arms does not have a whole lot to say, either about sailing or about the places he visits. It's not clear why he took the trip at all -- some sort of scientific investigation -- other than to see Greenland. If you want to read about a visit to the coast of Greenland and Labrador, I would recommend Rowing_To_Latitude, by a woman (whose name eludes me) about rowing these and other coasts. As for the science in Arms' book, there's not enough of that to satisfy, either. He's talked to some interesting people with interesting research, but there's about enough there to fill a long magazine article. He uses the device of jumping back and forth from the sailing trip to his discussions with scientists, but this feels forced, and eventually calls attention to the fact that his trip doesn't seem to advance the science at all. As another reviewer noted, his characterization of his fellow travelers makes them seem one-dimensional, at best, and if you read the afterword you'll see that there were two other people on board -- including his wife -- whom he omitted altogether.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Raises questions on the human fingerprint in climate change., May 3, 1998

By A Customer

Like the setting, like the narrative, like the tone but with a small sigh for little character development, I like and respect altogether Myron Arm's balance when addressing complex natural events in Riddle of the Ice. Not a traditional saga of the sea but an intellectual thinking-out-loud wrrestling match, his struggle is to understand. Riddle of the Ice bears his personal witness not so much to scenes of physical grandeur in Greenland and Labrador, as to "scenes" of professional climatologists hard at work. Arms appreciates their sophistication and their sincerity, their methods and models, their numbers and equations, their opinions and openness, their current knowledge and yet awe at the rocky field of uknowns beyond. Arms is himself a question mark but a wise question mark, for his alliances are with individuals whose work is aimed at "getting it right." So, discard some editorial mistakes; put aside frustration at the lack of traditional adventures; never mind incomplete descriptions of the countryside and its peoples; don't read for political commentary; simply enjoy his gift. Riddle of the Ice powerfully quickens our interest to understand global climate changes underway, to approach change humbly with a tool kit that asserts we are self-conscious after all, the tool kit of science.

5.0 out of 5 stars a magnificent book, December 13, 2007

By	J. S. Mason "johnmason1" (Fort Lauderdale) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Riddle of the Ice: A Scientific Adventure into the Arctic (Paperback)

A fascinating science book - I learned so much from this book about climatology and how ice in the arctic can affect my life on the beaches of Florida! I wonder what has been added to the theories the author presents since it was written, but this is a tremendous starting point for anyone interested in global climate change. I cannot give it enough stars! It needs ten, not five. I started to re-read it as soon as I finished it because I want to make sure I remember the important parts.
I mean like, before the ocean covers my home when the polar caps melt...