The Penguin Book of Penguins

A charming and beautifully illustrated book about the world’s most beloved bird, written by a leading Scientist at The British Antarctic Survey, illustrated by his wife. 
There’s something about penguins that makes them irresistible. Maybe it’s their comical waddle, their black-and-white ‘tuxedo’ plumage, or their apparent cheerfulness in the face of extreme weather conditions. Whatever the reason, their cult following around the globe is indisputable. Penguins can tell us so much about the world we live in – and what the future of both our species might look like. 
 In The Penguin Book of Penguins, leading British Antarctic scientist Peter Fretwell introduces us to eighteen charismatic species of penguin and the fascinating lives they lead: their evolution, behaviours and habitats, and their history with humans. From the fact that emperor penguins dive twice as deep as any other bird, to the story of a king penguin called Sir Nils Olav III who was made a Major General by the Norwegian Army, we discover through fascinating first-hand encounters (and even penguin jokes and emojis!) why penguins matter so greatly to all of us.

DR PETER FRETWELL is an award-winning cartographer and lead scientist at the British Antarctic Survey, renowned for being a world expert in emperor penguins. He pioneered the use of satellite imagery to find and monitor polar wildlife, which led to him discovering more than half of the world’s emperor penguin colonies. He is a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and has completed six field seasons in Antarctica. In 2020, he published the award-winning book Antarctic Atlas, which was a Financial Times Book of the Year. 
 
LISA FRETWELL has been a working artist and teacher for over twenty-five years. She has exhibited her work in the Smith’s Gallery in London and in New York. She produced the line drawings and edited the book Antarctic Atlas alongside Peter.

Peter Fretwell

These mesmerising maps offer sparklingly clear prospects of an otherwise almost incomprehensible terrain

Tells the story of Antarctica in maps and shows the continent in ways never seen before

A cartographer and scientist with the British Antarctic Survey, Fretwell has created 70 new maps each revealing different aspects of the icy continent. We learn the locations of the "pole of ignorance", the world's driest place, and the largest penguin colonies, but also about the human history and politics of the region and - alarmingly - what Antarctica might look like once all the ice is gone.

Shows Antarctica in wonderful detail ... Peter Fretwell tells the tale of Antarctica through a collection of carefully constructed maps setting out the continent's geology, people and nature

A collection of maps and data from a leading cartographer seen in a new and fresh way ... really informative

New Maps and Graphics That Tell the Story of A Continent

One of the least-known places on the planet, the only continent on earth with no indigenous population, Antarctica is a world apart. From a leading cartographer with the British Antarctic Survey, this new collection of maps and data reveals Antarctica as we have never seen it before. 
 
This is not just a book of traditional maps. It measures everything from the thickness of ice beneath our feet to the direction of ice flows. It maps volcanic lakes, mountain ranges the size of the Alps and gorges longer than the Grand Canyon, all hidden beneath the ice. It shows us how air bubbles trapped in ice tell us what the earth's atmosphere was like 750,000 years ago, proving the effects of greenhouse gases. Colonies of emperor penguins abound around the coastline, and the journeys of individual seals around the continent and down to the sea bed in search of food have been intricately tracked and mapped. Twenty-nine nations have research stations in Antarctica and their unique architecture is laid out here, along with the challenges of surviving in Antarctica'sunforgiving environment. 
 
Antarctica is also the frontier of our fight against climate change. If its ice melts, it will swamp almost every coastal city in the world. Antarctic Atlas illustrates the harsh beauty and magic of this mysterious continent, and shows how, far from being abstract, it has direct relevance to us all.

Peter Fretwell

Praise for Antarctic Atlas

These mesmerising maps offer sparklingly clear prospects of an otherwise almost incomprehensible terrain

Tells the story of Antarctica in maps and shows the continent in ways never seen before

A cartographer and scientist with the British Antarctic Survey, Fretwell has created 70 new maps each revealing different aspects of the icy continent. We learn the locations of the "pole of ignorance", the world's ...

These mesmerising maps offer sparklingly clear prospects of an otherwise almost incomprehensible terrain

Tells the story of Antarctica in maps and shows the continent in ways never seen before

A cartographer and scientist with the British Antarctic Survey, Fretwell has created 70 new maps each revealing different aspects of the icy continent. We learn the locations of the "pole of ignorance", the world's ...

These mesmerising maps offer sparklingly clear prospects of an otherwise almost incomprehensible terrain

Tells the story of Antarctica in maps and shows the continent in ways never seen before

A cartographer and scientist with the British Antarctic Survey, Fretwell has created 70 new maps each revealing different aspects of the icy continent. We learn the locations of the "pole of ignorance", the world's ...

Books by Peter Fretwell

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