Ends of the Earth: Journeys to the Polar Regions in Search of Life, the Cosmos, and Our Future

**Shortlisted for the 2025 Royal Society Trivedi Science Book Prize**

The bestselling author of Your Inner Fish takes readers on an epic adventure to the North and South Poles to reveal the secrets locked in the ice about life, the cosmos, and our planet's future.

"Urgent [and] prescient...The book captures Shubin's reverence for both the beauty and the mysteries hidden in the cold, barren tundra."--The New Yorker

Renowned scientist Neil Shubin has made extraordinary discoveries by leading scientific expeditions to the sweeping ice landscapes of the Arctic and Antarctic. He's survived polar storms, traveled in temperatures that can freeze flesh in seconds, and worked hundreds of miles from the nearest humans, all to deepen our understanding of our world.

Written with infectious enthusiasm and irresistible curiosity, Ends of the Earth blends travel writing, science, and history in a book brimming with surprising and wonderful discoveries. Shubin retraces his steps on a "dinosaur dance floor," showing us where these beasts had populated the once tropical lands at the poles. He takes readers meteor hunting, as meteorites preserved in the ice can be older than our planet and can tell us about our galaxy's formation. Readers also encounter insects and fish that develop their own anti-freeze, and aquatic life in ancient lakes hidden miles under the ice that haven't seen the surface in centuries. It turns out that explorers and scientists have found these extreme environments as prime ground for making scientific breakthroughs across a vast range of knowledge.

Shubin shares unforgettable moments from centuries of expeditions to reveal just how far scientists will go to understand polar regions. In the end, what happens at the poles does not stay in the poles--the ends of the earth offer profound stories that will forever change our view of life and the entire planet.

Author: Neil Shubin
Publisher: Dutton
Published: 02/04/2025
Pages: 288
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.01lbs
Size: 9.22h x 6.34w x 1.04d
ISBN: 9780593186527


Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 12/09/2024
Booklist 12/01/2024 pg. 94
Kirkus Reviews 01/01/2025

About the Author
Neil Shubin is the bestselling author of Your Inner Fish, The Universe Within, and Some Assembly Required. He is the Robert R. Bensley Professor of Organismal Biology and Anatomy at the University of Chicago. He was host of the Emmy Award-winning PBS miniseries Your Inner Fish. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2011. Educated at Columbia, Harvard, and the University of California, Berkeley, he lives in Chicago.