Freezing Point: Cold As a Matter of Life and Death by L. Kavaler

Absorbing, December 27, 1999

Cryobiology is the subject of this clearly written book by Lucy Kavaler; even those who fancy that they dislike biology or science in general will find this book fascinating. Kavaler writes about heart transplants and people addicted to eating ice cubes; people buried in snow who survived that experience and the longer average life span of those who in live in cold climates; arctic exploration and Australian aborigines; experiments on the relative tolerance of people to cold and hot; and a great deal more, in a nice, fat volume that reads as fast as a billboard (well, almost). I checked this book out from the library, skimmed it by reading huge chunks, and then went searching through the book to find any spots I might have missed. And then I searched again, hoping to find more. Other readers will find themselves doing the same thing.