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In the past when WWBC has broached this topic, I believe I picked being a college English professor or librarian or other booksish answers. While they’re still true, I’m branching out a little this time into the scientific field.
Stephen @ Reading Freely, if you read this, I know we talked about this book a few years ago on a Top Ten Tuesday post of mine. It might be new to most other WWBC participants, though.
The Last Cold Place: A Field Season Studying Penguins in Antarctica by Naira de Gracia was an excellent book that made me wish I were better at math in school. In a different life where that subject was my best one instead of English, I would have loved to be one of the scientists studying penguins in Antarctica.
Did you know that the penguins on that continent will walk right up to you to see what you’re doing? Humans are not allowed to harm or annoy them in any way, and from what I understand visitors to that continent have respected that rule pretty well for the past few generations.
In fact, on of the other rules for humans who visit Antarctica from what I’ve read is that if you’re walking on a path in the snow and a penguin walks towards you, you are supposed to step off the path and let them pass because they’re probably the ones who created that walkway in the first place. It’s their little bird highway of sorts, and we’re just visitors.
Penguins see humans so rarely there that they are generally not at all afraid of us. I think it would be incredible to stand close to them and watch them waddle by. Yes, I would respect the rules and not touch or otherwise bother them at all…but I would also be imagining what it would be like to gently stroke their feathers and tell them they were good birds before I went back to collecting my data and otherwise being a proper scientist.
(There are a few funny stories in this book about penguins actually wandering inside human shelters and interrupting the scientists as they were working. That is how used to and unbothered they are by us!)
Who else out there would enjoy this sort of work?
I have a funny meme saved somewhere where a penguin has come VERY close to a couple of scientists with a caption like “SIR? SIR? …I would like to science pls 🙂 ”
I’m reading about Antartica right now, sort of — reading memoirs of a cave diver. The woman opens up with an account of cave diving INSIDE AN ICEBERG.
That meme sounds great. And what a brave woman!
I’m going to have to check out that book… it sounds fascinating. But the cold? I think I’ll read about it from the warmth of my house.
Ha, I can’t blame you there. I’d need a lot of warm layers for sure.
The book sounds interesting! I love penguins! 🙂🙂🙂
I think you’d love this book.
Now I want to go to Antarctica! Getting respectfully close and personal with penguins sounds so cool! 🤭
Glad to hear it. 🙂
What a fun topic, and a great response! I’ve read a few books about Antarctic research, and they always make me wish I’d chosen a more adventurous path for myself!
Thank you. They’re doing amazing things with the research there for sure.
This is an amazing and specific choice, Lydia. Penguins are so fascinating. No one would ever call me a math scholar either. LOL!
It could be interesting, for a month or two. Definitely not for a full-time job!