My interest in this book is mostly due to its central (and largest) section: the poems written by Manhire after his stint as an Artist in Antarctica (a NZ programme aimed at encouraging connections between art and science).

Manhire's got an observant eye for the little details, the things that make his time on the ice stand out - the items in the historic huts, the little fluffy dice in the helicopter. It's interesting and vivid - almost makes you feel as if you're there with him.

The rest of the collection doesn't grab me so much. There are some lovely images, some witty observations, so I'm not sure that the poems are themselves actually any less deserving. It's just personal interest in and preference for the stories of science that makes me like the Antarctic poems better.