Antarctica on a Plate

If you enjoyed Dr. Gerri Nielsen's Ice Bound: A Doctor's Incredible Battle for Survival at the South Pole or Sara Wheeler's Terra Incognita, and especially if you liked Roff Smith's Life on the Ice: No One Goes to Antarctica Alone, you will be delighted with Alexa Thomson's "Antarctica on a Plate." Ms. Thomson rivals Roff Smith for sheer audacity in thinking that she is qualified to be hired and to travel to Antarctica, or that she can manage as a cook in tent at a base camp that is packed up and buried (sometimes for years) when not in use.

Her audacity serves her well as she joyfully bungles her way around her tent kitchen, enduring exploding stoves, waves of eccentric explorers, and the possibility that any day the whole camp could get blown away. A reader who, through lack of sufficient youth, health, funds or qualifications is unable to see Antarctica firsthand can revel in the vicarious adventure of seeing it through Alexa Thomson's eyes.

This reader owns and has read shelves of books about Antarctica, and "Antarctica on a Plate" has become my new favorite.