One Day the Ice Will Reveal All Its Dead

by Clare Dudman

Book Overview

In this unforgettable debut novel Clare Dudman has imaginatively re-created the life of the German scientist Alfred Wegener, whose theory of continental drift—derided by his contemporaries—would eventually revolutionize our perception of the world. Wegener’s irresistible urge to discover the unknown takes him from the horrors of World War I’s trenches to several lengthy expeditions across the unexplored ice of Greenland, an extraordinary quest that—with...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0143034731
• ISBN13: 9780143034735
• Release Date: February 2005
• Publisher: Penguin Group
• Length: 416 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.1" x 7.7"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

An Outstanding Novel about a Extraordinary Scientist

Dudman's novel offers an intriguing look at the life of Alfred Wegener, who began his career in meteorology but went on to propose important scientific theories, most famously continental drift. The book effectively uses ice and cold as an omnipresent theme, helping to explain why Wegener was drawn to expeditions in Greenland, leaving behind the warmth of his colleagues and family members. Through Dudman's spectacular prose, we are able to view the world through Wegener's eyes, witness his grand moment of insight about why continents seem to fit together like a jigsaw puzzle, experience the ridicule he faced about his theories, and ultimately voyage with him to his frigid, untimely death. A wondrous fictional representation of an amazing life-journey.

Equal parts science and poetry

Clare Dudman's first novel for adults (she published a children's book in 1995) takes the form of a series of vignettes strung bead-like from the memory of her subject, German scientist Alfred Wegener (1880-1930). If Wegener's name isn't familiar to you it's because you don't have a geologist in your life: he is the father of modern plate tectonics. Though recognized today for his contributions, Wegener was derided during his lifetime for his theory of Continental Drift--that the earth's continents are not static but are constantly moving, and that their movement over billions of years can explain various geological and biological phenomena. Channeling Wegener's voice, Dudman tells his story from childhood, through his days as a student, to adulthood, a full scientific and personal life that included the deaths of siblings, military service, marriage and children, repeated expeditions to the frozen reaches of Greenland, and ridicule at the hands of his scientific peers. Occasionally the older Wegener, the man telling the story, interjects to remark on his youthful pomposity, say, or to hint at future events. But for the most part one is allowed to lose oneself in the reading, which very often means finding yourself alongside Wegener on the Greenlandic ice, behind a sledge in minus 30 or 40 or 50 degrees, the white underfoot difficult to distinguish from the white above the horizon: "I look no farther than the pony's hindquarters. To look any farther would be to see the bank of snow, appearing almost vertically in front of me. I don't want to see. I don't want to know. If I can just travel as far as the pony, if I can just do that. I look no farther. I celebrate each one of these small victories in silence, and then go on again. Sometimes I tell myself that when I reach that point just a little ahead of me we will stop and rest, or stop and make camp. But we don't. ... There is just more and more snow, more and more ice, and the only thing that changes is that sometimes it is deeper, sometimes softer, sometimes breaks away in pieces, and sometimes groans a little under foot or crunches. But it is all just snow. Or ice. Part of a slope that doesn't seem to end, just goes on and on, until my clothes are wet with effort." When you walk away from this book what you're sure to take with you are Dudman's descriptions of ice, its different textures and temperatures and colors, rendered so vividly on the page you can almost feel its cold. One Day the Ice Will Reveal All its Dead is not a straightforward account of a man, nor quite like anything I've read before. Often Dudman approaches the episodes of Wegener's life that she has elected to include obliquely, from some wholly unexpected angle. Here, for example, is Wegener during his days as an astronomy student at the University of Berlin, adding his corrections to the Alfonsine astronomical tables: "It is a printed copy I hold now, a late edition, the famous Parisian one of 1545. The paper is cream,

Poetic Glimpse Into A Scientific Mind

ONE DAY THE ICE is a poetic, fictionalized biography of early 20th century German scientist Alfred Wegener. As scientists go, Wegener is pretty obscure - I hadn't heard of him before reading this book. Trained in meteorology, Wegener made several grueling trips to arctic Greenland to conduct experiments. However, he did not limit his scientific curiosity to weather. His most important theory was continental drift, which was highly controversial at the time. The compelling need to defend his theory to skeptical geologists led to him leaving his family at age 49 for a final trip to Greenland. Early on Dudman uses the analogy of beads on a string to describe memories and it's a very fitting analogy for the flow of the book. Written in first person, Wegener reminisces about his life - moving from one set of memories to another. Dudman captures everyday sweet and bittersweet moments of love, family and deep friendships; the driving force behind a scientific mind; the beautifully bleak and hostile landscape of Greenland; and the horrific chaos of war. This is not a standard biography with comprehensive coverage of dates and names, and is also not a scientific discourse on continental drift and other theories. ONE DAY is instead an emotional portrait of a man driven to understand the workings of the world through science. Dudman does an excellent job of setting up the times and Wegener's narrative never rings false. At times I forgot that I was reading fiction because the style was so convincing. Not a quick, easy read, but ultimately satisfying. This will mostly appeal to history/science buffs who want to peek into the mind of a early 1900s scientist.

Absorbing historical fiction

A wonderfully written interpretation of the life and thoughts of the man responsible for the early formulation of ideas that led to the theory and understanding of plate tectonics. Wegener was a true genius and Ms. Dudman is a true writer. I would suggest pairing the reading of this book with Simon Winchester's "Krakatoa".

Exciting Scenes of Daring Adventures in Greenland

Those who love to read stories about dangerous, arduous expeditions to extend knowledge in Arctic regions will find this book to be a fine addition to the literature. From the preface discussion of ice through to the ending chapter, you will feel yourself enduring the difficulties of the various explorers as they trek where no one had gone before and measure what had not been studied before. Normally, I prefer to read nonfiction books about scientists but in this case Ms. Dudman's imaginative, sensitive writing makes the novelistic journey to understanding Wegener a rewarding one.Today, German meteorologist Alfred Wegener is best known for putting together the first well documented hypothesis about continental drift. But even in that context he is not well known. His ideas were widely derided during his life by geologists who disliked his poaching into their territory without academic credentials. As a result, memories of him and his work had largely died out by the time that continental drift was proven in the 1960s through the use of research methods unavailable during Wegener's life. But Wegener was a man of many modes. As a young man, he and his brother established a duration record for balloon flight, and he participated in three scientific studies in Greenland . . . heading the last one at age 49. He also made scientific contributions to our understanding of how rain is formed and that meteorites helped produce many of the craters on the moon. I decided to read the book because I wanted to know more about his role in the continental drift hypothesis. That aspect of the book receives relatively little attention, and I came away little more informed than I was when I began except to know more about what his critics had to say at the time. I graded the book down by one star for its lack of emphasis in this area.What I found surprising and exciting was that Wegener was such an intrepid and successful Artic explorer. The parts about him in Greenland are very well done. If you want to read a book with that kind of orientation, I can strongly recommend this one. It will be a five star effort for you.After the preface, the book gets off to a slow start in describing his early years. Be patient though. By page 52, the book begins to hit its pace. By page 71, you will find yourself engrossed in a way that will continue to the end.Where can curiosity take you? What have you noticed that speaks to you . . . that no one else understands? How can you explain what it means so that others will see what you see?