The quickening : creation and community at the ends of the Earth /

In 2019 Pulitzer Prize--winner Rush was invited as part of the National Science Foundation Antarctic Artists and Writers program to accompany a group of 57 scientists and crew on board an icebreaker for a 60-day voyage to study the Thwaites Glacier. Dubbed the "Doomsday Glacier" by Rolling Stone, Thwaites has the potential to catastrophically impact the world if it destabilizes. After a review of existing Antarctic literature left her underwhelmed due to its emphasis on heroic exploration, Rush embarked on a unique narrative choice that showcases passages written on a variety of subjects by others on the ship. Blending these personal stories with her observations of the journey and its scientific endeavors can be tricky and Rush goes even further by adding her concerns about her own postponing plans to start a family by going to sea. This theme is prevalent in the introduction which has a visceral description of her eventual childbirth, and contributors also discuss their own births throughout the text. Recommend to those interested in Antarctic experiences and who enjoy hybrid memoirs on unique topics.

In this searching meditation, Brown University writing teacher Rush (Rising) reflects on accompanying a 2019 research expedition to Thwaites, "Antarctica's most important and least understood glacier," as part of the National Science Foundation's Antarctic writers program. She describes how the scientists and crew onboard the research vessel cope with heavy storms while analyzing samples of seafloor sediment and measurements taken by underwater gliders to understand how rising water temperatures are hastening the melting of "the widest glacier in the world." Amid the alarming science, Rush ruminates on the "ethics of bringing more people into the world," discussing her own desire to conceive in spite of anxieties about the planet's future. Rush also includes extensive interviews with her shipmates in which they expound on the vicissitudes of conducting research at the bottom of the world ("Persistent uncertainty is something you get used to," says one marine geophysicist) and how they decided to have or not have children. Rush's reporting is top-notch, and her personal reflections make this an unusually intimate account of climate change. Readers will find plenty to ponder. Agent: Julia Lord, Julia Lord Literary Management. (Aug.)

An account of the first research voyage to the so-called Doomsday Glacier. In 2019, Rush joined an international group of marine biologists, oceanographers, and geologists aboard a research vessel heading toward the calving edge of Antarctica's Thwaites Glacier. Because Thwaites sits partially below sea level, exposed to the Southern Ocean, it is vulnerable to warming seas and liable to contribute upward of 2 feet to sea-level rise. However, the rate of its disintegration is poorly understood. In this follow-up to Rising: Dispatches From the New American Shore, Rush shows us how data collection happens, capturing the intriguing details of climate science in the field. The scientists' goal is to "gain a clearer understanding of Thwaites's past and present to better predict the future," and the author brings us along as they send their submersible under the ice, take sediment samples from the ocean floor, gather the bones of penguins, and face down uncertainty and stormy seas. The scientists are not the only heroes of Rush's book, which emphasizes above all the collaborative and interdependent nature of such voyages, where so much depends on support staff and crew. In addition to her own poetic voice ("the edges of Thwaites's unfathomable fracturing, its hemorrhaging heart of milk"), the author incorporates the voices of everyone on the ship, highlighting women and racial and ethnic minorities, who have been overlooked in the canon of Antarctic literature. As Rush captures shipboard conversations about the planetary future evident in the data, she also weaves in what her fellow passengers are thinking about a quickening of another kind: Given everything we know about climate change, what are the ethical implications of having children? Considering all sides of the debate, Rush finds that "having children can be an act of radical faith that life will continue, despite all that assails it." The fascinating inside story of climate science at the edge of Antarctica. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.