Life at the Extremes UK ed. Edition, Kindle Edition

This book is a fascinating read! Brilliantly written, easy-to-understand, and gives a perspective on the human body from various angles.I have studied medicine, and even in our course, did we not get as much context & story behind the development of our understanding of the human body, as I found in this book. Even so, it has been written in a language that can be understood by anyone, without dumbing down the information.We are truly a magnificent design!

I think this is a very interesting and original book written with scientific language yet comprehensible to majority of unprepared readers. Author gives a lot of examples of extremes and their affect on human body. Even photos correspond to the narrative. If someone wants to read about the limits of our bodies and reactions of our animal friends on the extremes this book is for you. I want to thank its author for such a masterpiece! Well done!

Almost finished reading this book. It's "extremely" informative and interesting. The author has a captivating style that keeps you turning the pages. Illustrations and captions add even more information. Temperatures are in Celcius, so keep a conversion calculator handy if you're used to Fahrenheit. She covers not only the human extremes (and why we're affected) but other life forms at extremes. Perhaps not for everyone, so try the sample first.

Frances Ashcroft is a talented author, it isn't necessary to be a science major to enjoy this book. Full of amazing facts, how any lifeforms can exist at such extremes and have learned to thrive under such conditions will leave the reader with an expanded worldview, and a desire to learn even more about science.

I couldn’t get passed the first 10 pages. Egotistical doctor goes to exotic places to fulfill god complex needs. His repeated and disgusting use of the word ‘Indians’ made me weep for the people he helped, do they know he didn’t actually give a crap about them? It’s like he’s trying to prove he’s not racist by helping these people, but really he sees them as inferior and that they should feel blessed by his medical benediction.

Very informative, lots of details on Physiology of Human Explorers, and is very well written. She is very very historicalalso...

Bought for a class at school.

You do not have to be particularly interested in the physiology of extreme conditions to enjoy this book. Ashcroft manages to get even the potentially complex across in clear, simple prose, and uses formatting, the textual boxes, to provide amplification or digression without interrupting the flow. The anecdotes, especially the autobiographical, are always fun. Much of the material is relevant to the non-adventurer: the physiological effects of training (p.208); adjustments to hot weather ( p.125) or long term adjustment to altitude (p.33); why detergents make use of enzymes from alkaliphiles (p.303), what brown fat cells are and why it may be that some people stay thin due to uncoupling proteins (p.159); how the body senses temperature and the effect of eating hot or cold foods (p.108); the basis for sensations such as what you feel when you turn your head. For an update on what Ashcroft has to say about brown fat and thin adults, Google "beige fat". Ashcroft clarified or made me more comfortable with some science I was already familiar with. It is now accepted that eukaryote ability to photosynthesize was developed by a single celled animal incorporating a bacterium into its cell as an organelle; well, sulphur processing bacteria currently live INSIDE the cells of a species of tube worm (p277). To successfully use PCR to multiply DNA, scientists needed to utilize an enzyme from a heat tolerant organism: because PCR must be accomplished at temperatures hot enough to separate the two strands of the DNA helix (p.302). Chaperone proteins to govern the correct folding of other proteins is needed because of molecular crowding as well as heat (p.280): to prevent accidental bonds with other proteins, as well as to cope with molecular vibrations.

What happens to your body when it is subjected to temperatures or pressures far, or even only just, outside the narrow margins of those in everyday life? Nasty stuff! If you deep sea dive with an abscess in your tooth, it could implode, ouch - or choose to go ballooning, and it could explode instead, lovely! If those oxygen masks do drop from the ceiling above, how many seconds have you got left to put the mask on? What happens when you spend too long bathing in a hotspring? When you've miraculously survived a long and unexpected dip in the sea, please don't drop dead when you get out because of the pressure change on your legs, lie down! Fascinating, well written, explains aspects of circulation, hormones, breathing, what happens at extremes and why, and full of good anecdotes and history of exploration and science. Highly recommended.

Basing this review on what my little scientist sister told me - she said it was amazing, interesting and a great read. After reading it she couldn't stop talking about it with me, she was really excited by the stories and science in the book. That's always a good sign of a good book! Bought it for her as a graduation present with the idea that it could be a symbol/motivational tool for her. The author is an amazing female role model for young girls and women who are training/studying/working in the sciences and I know my sister could one day be in that role for others.

This is a wonderful book. The subject is fascinating - a comprehensive review and explanation of the human animal's survival mechanisms when pushed to the most extreme limits of heat, cold, atmosphere and other physical limits. The writing is wonderful - clear, concise and erudite.

Superb. Not the sort of book I would usually read (I read fiction in the main), but an accessible, lucid and captivating explanation of how we perform and what happens to us in extreme environments. Every chapter held interest for me.

Excellent book