Antarctic Science D.W.H. Walton, ed. Cambridge University Press, New York, 1987. 280 pp. $39.50.


Antarctic Science is unique in that it is the first book that attempts to present a comprehensive history of scientific research on Antarctica. Five scientists from the British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge—David Walton, Christopher Doake, John Dudeney, Inigo Iverson and Richard Laws—have combined their expertise in this coherent, well-balanced book. Its publication is timely as it chronicles a century of polar activities since the First International Polar Year (1882-83), summarizes 30 years of intensive international research that followed the International Geophysical Year (1957-58), and precedes the year (1990) in which the Antarctic Treaty will come up for review and extension.

Some Americans may not care for the strong British flavor of the book; it is written primarily for readers in the United Kingdom although it is being distributed in the United States. Even though many of...

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