Taking us from the beginning of our story to the present day A Cold Spell examines how ice has
shaped our thoughts actions and societies - and what it means for us that it is rapidly
disappearing from our planet 'Bracingly original . . . As the earth warms threateningly there
could hardly be a more pertinent time for a story like this' MICHAEL PALIN 'A book of limitless
fascinations' OLIVIA LAING Ice has confounded delighted and fascinated us since the first
sparks of art and culture in Europe and it now underpins the modern world. Without ice we
would not feed ourselves or heal our sick as we do and our towns and cities countryside and
oceans would look very different. Science would not have progressed along the avenues it did
and our galleries and libraries would be missing many masterpieces. A Cold Spell uses this
vital link to understanding our past to tell a surprising story of obsession invention and
adventure - how we have lived and dreamed celebrated and traded innovated loved and fought
over thousands of years. It brings together a sacrificial Incan mummy Winston Churchill's
secret plans for unusual aircraft carriers strange bones that shook Victorian beliefs about
the world and a macabre journey into the depths of the human body. It is an original and unique
way of looking at something that is literally all around us whose loss confronts us daily in
the news but whose impact on our lives has never been fully explored.
