In his latest quest to discover how people survive in severe climates, Oxford University geographer Middleton visited locations even worse than those in his last book, Going to Extremes
. That work took him to Siberia and northeast India; this time, he seeks places without permanent towns, locations where "survival requires a lifestyle completely in tune with Nature's rhythms." Middleton's good-humored, almost naïve attitude makes his often treacherous explorations seem merely fun. He travels to remote, unlivable sites and visits indigenous people who live there happily. In Greenland, where four-fifths of the land is permanently ice-covered, an ice-sheet rescue worker teaches him to dig an emergency shelter within the frozen water. In Congo, Middleton hunts with locals and learns the dual role insects there play, as both pest and foodstuff. In Niger, he treks across sand dunes with Tuba women seeking date palms. Papua brings crocodile hunts and tree-house dwellers. Middleton wouldn't survive more than a few days in any of these places without the kindness of strangers, and their resourcefulness is striking. Unlike many books of its kind, the account doesn't bemoan environmental damage or displaced natives. Rather, it's a lighthearted and entertaining look at places most will never see. Agent, Doreen Montgomery. (June)
