Glaciers are enormous masses of ice that slowly move across the Earth's surface. But how does something so big move on its own? And why are people concerned that glaciers might be melting more quickly? The answers to these probing questions and more can be found in this fascinating book. The book includes dazzling photographs of these icy behemoths as well as graphic organizers and annotated illustrations to aid learning.

"Glaciers is a volume about the role glaciers play in our daily lives (often without us knowing), the risks posed to glaciers from natural and anthropogenic activity (including climate change and industrial pollution), and policies and practices that should be employed to protect this fundamental hydrological reserve"--

A never-before-seen look into the forbidding environment of glaciers, this book celebrates a realm of magnificent endangered beauty. Since 2005, renowned nature photographer James Balog has devoted himself to capturing glaciers and documenting their daily changes. These stunning images are a celebration of some of the most extraordinary natural formations on earth, as well as a dramatic and timely demonstration of the stark consequences resulting from global warming—from Alaska to Iceland to the Alps. As glaciologists for the Extreme Ice Survey, Balog and his team are conducting the most extensive glacier study ever, covering France, Switzerland, Iceland, Greenland, the United States (Alaska and Montana), Nepal, Bolivia, and Antarctica. Their high-resolution cameras capture approximately 4,000 images per year. From this collection of nearly half a million photos, Balog presents the most stunning panoramic photography of glaciers ever published.

A Vulture Best Short Book A She Reads Indie Book Club Pick for Summer “Alexis Smith’s brilliant debut novel is filled with kaleidoscopic pleasures. Line by line, in and out of time, this is a haunted, joyful, beautiful book—a true gift.” —Karen Russell “Her story could be told in other people’s things. The postcards and the photographs. A garnet ring and a needlepoint of the homestead. The aprons hanging from her kitchen door. Her soft, faded, dog-eared copy of Little House in the Big Woods. A closet full of dresses sewn before she was born. All these things tell a story, but is it hers?” Isabel is a single twenty-something in Portland, Oregon, who repairs damaged books in the basement of the local library, dreaming of a life she can’t quite reach. She is filled with longing—for a life in Amsterdam even though she’s never visited, for the unrequited love of a coworker, for a simpler time from her childhood in Alaska among the threatened glaciers she loves, and for the perfect vintage dress to wear to a party that just might change everything. Unfolding over the course of a single day, Alexis M. Smith’s shimmering debut finds Isabel looking into her past—remembering her parents’ separation, a meeting with an astrologer, and a life-changing encounter with a glacier—and shows us how fleeting, everyday moments can reveal an entire life. In classic movies, in old photographs and unsent postcards, rare books, and thrifted gems, Glaciers tells the story of a young woman’s love of the past and a hope to make something new and all her own.

Glaciers are among the most beautiful natural wonders on Earth, but for most of us the least known and understood. This book describes how glaciers grow and decay, how they move, and how they influence human civilisation. Today covering a tenth of the Earth's surface, glacier ice has shaped the landscape over millions of years by scouring away rocks, transporting and depositing debris far from its source. Glacier meltwater drives turbines and irrigates deserts, yields mineral-rich soils, and has left us a wealth of valuable sand and gravel. However, glaciers also threaten human property and life. Our future is indirectly bound up with the fate of glaciers and their influence on global climate and sea level. A lively running text develops these themes and is supported by over 200 stunning photographs, taking us from the High-Arctic through North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, New Zealand and South America to the Antarctic.