BOOKLIST
November 1, 2005

Legler, Gretchen. On the Ice: An Intimate Portrait of Life at McMurdo Station, Antarctica. Nov. 2005. 207p. Milkweed, paper, $15.95 (1-57131-282-X). 919.

Legler traveled to Antarctica under the National Science Foundation's Artists and Writers Program, intending to "bring back visions, to translate that which could not be communicated in the language of numbers." Legler ventured far beyond McMurdo Station, from Scott and Shackleton's original huts to Siple Dome, where scientists collect ice cores to study climate change. Her attention to detail serves her well, and her ability to explain the history and science of Antarctica in a personable and poetic style truly makes her book sing. Legler's descriptions of the past are fascinating as she explores Scott's Cape Evans hut and recreates photographs taken during his 1911-12 expedition. Equally impressive is her analysis of the region's current residents, people employed in all facets of the station's operation and coping with isolation in their own ways. Legler begins a relationship with Ruth, an electrician, and her thoughts on their romance provide insight into the motivations for her journey. Ultimately, her personal revelations illuminate her Antarctic discoveries, resulting in a perfect combination of nature writing and memoir. **Colleen Mondor

Salon Interview Link:

http://www.salon.com/books/int/2005/12/20/legler/index.html
    
By CAROLYN T. HUGHES
Published: May 19, 1996

ALL THE POWERFUL INVISIBLE THINGS A Sportswoman's Notebook. By Gretchen Legler. Seal Press, cloth, $20.95; paper, $12.95.

Gretchen Legler's essays are as much a study of the natural world as they are an analysis of the author's mind. Ms. Legler, who has spent the better part of her life hunting and fishing, considers herself an outsider in the male world of the outdoors. However, "All the Powerful Invisible Things" is more than an indictment of the various injustices she has endured; it also chronicles her efforts to understand her remote father and to come to grips with the suicide of her sister. Ms. Legler, who teaches creative writing at the University of Alaska, has written a book that is part nature guide, part family history and part feminist tract, and she captures the reader's imagination with the same skill and precision with which she catches spring walleyes on the Rainey River. Carolyn T. Hughes