Cryobiology is the subject of this clearly written book by Lucy Kavaler; even those who fancy that they dislike biology or science in general will find this book fascinating. Kavaler writes about heart transplants and people addicted to eating ice cubes; people buried in snow who survived that experience and the longer average life span of those who in live in cold climates; arctic exploration and Australian aborigines; experiments on the relative tolerance of people to cold and hot; and a great deal more, in a nice, fat volume that reads as fast as a billboard (well, almost). I checked this book out from the library, skimmed it by reading huge chunks, and then went searching through the book to find any spots I might have missed. And then I searched again, hoping to find more. Other readers will find themselves doing the same thing.

Although Kavaler's style occasionally seems better suited to a romance novel than this pseudo-feminist adventure story, her accounts of the suffrage movement and polar exploration are gripping. I lost patience quickly with the protagonists' weaknesses for a "certain kind of man" (i.e., a macho jerk) but found the plot twists and period details mesmerizing.

I simply couldn't put this book down, but stayed up half the night to find out the ending.It has two interrelated plots, one taking place in modern times, the other in the early 20th century.The modern heroine tries to solve the mystery of what really happened on the Antarctic icecap during the golden age of polar exploration. It's as exciting as the Shackleton story. Did Viola Lambert, the feminist heroine, win the race to the South Pole against her lover, Byron Tremaine, the most famous polar explorer of the day? Why was that race and her very existence hidden for all these years? As a lawyer, I do a lot of research, and I admire and respect the author's accuracy and ability to bring another era to vivid life.,