Mountains of Madness - 9780309070775

Paleontologist Long sets out for the Southern continent twice, the first time in December of 1988 and again in October of 1991, on an expedition sponsored by the National Geographic Society. Like the fossil hunters described in H.P. Lovecraft's classic novella, At the Mountains of Madness, Long heads straight for the frigid silhouette painted by the Transantarctic Mountain range. It is a profoundly lonely and desolate place, but it is also a scientist's playground. Long discovers specimens of fossilized fish from the Devonian period, dating back 380 million years when fish were the dominant form of life on the planet. The expedition is ultimately a success, achieving all of its scientific goals.
What Long does not expect is the effect that this frozen but hauntingly beautiful place will have on him. Certainly the prospect of adventure is fulfilled. Each day the scientists trek the mountains, exuberant as they unearth rare fossil specimens. When the conditions become too harsh and the howling winds make work impossible, they retreat to their tents and read to one another from Lovecraft's eerie book or pass the time concocting recipes for culinary delights like Peppermint Chicken - with a sauce made from toothpaste.
But there is a darker side of life on the ice. While it is exhilarating to tread in the footsteps of Shackleton, Scott, and Amundsen, there are constant reminders of the inherent danger of the place. Indeed, Long barely escapes death twice, once from falling into a bottomless crevasse, and again from almost being buried alive in a sudden avalanche.
Then there is simply the nagging solitude of the place, and the mind-numbing cold - juxtaposed with the stark but exquisite landscape that surrounds them - that combine to create fundamental changes in Long's perspective on life and civilization. As he boards the plane home, he knows that he can never look at his suburban, professional life in quite the same way again. With a poignancy that rings true, Long comes to understand the ultimate value of existence.
Mountains of Madness is the story of how real science is practiced in a unique and demanding setting. Like the polar explorers from the early 1900s, this team of scientists faces the unknown and the unpredictable in the pure and simple pursuit of discovery.