Climate change is here. This book moves beyond misery and misunderstanding, taking a literary approach to the debate. Below Freezing is a unique assemblage of scientific fact, newspaper reports, and excerpts from novels, short stories, nonfiction, history, creative nonfiction, and poetry—a commonplace book for our era of altering climate. This polyphony of voices functions as an oratorio, shifting from chorus to solo and back to chorus. An unconventional and brilliant book, Below Freezing is both timely and pertinent—an original gaze at this melting ball we call home.
Acclaim
“I don’t know of any book quite like this one. Barry Lopez’s Arctic Dreams is a distant relative.”
—Robert Morgan, author of Gap Creek: A Novel
“The story of ice has made our blood run cold for centuries. This ‘collage’ of inspiration and allusion defrosts its beauty and its danger without ever melting its incredible enchantment.”
—Aritha van Herk, author of Restlessness: A Novel
Listed among “The Best Books About Climate Change of 2018” [link]
—Chicago Review of Books
"This collage of scientific fact, newspaper reports and excerpts from novels, short stories, nonfiction, history, creative nonfiction and poetry, is both absorbing and informative. Anderson tackles the beauty and dangers of the cold, as well as the alarming rate at which our planet is warming in a meditated way that feels as serene as the conditions it explores."
—College News