My penguin year : life among the emperors

First Title Value for Searching:

Personal Author:

McCrae, Lindsay

Edition:

First U.S. edition.

Physical Description:

vii, 292 pages, 32 unnumbered leaves of plates : color illustrations, color portraits ; 24 cm.

General Note:

Originally published in the UK in 2019 by Hodder & Stoughton, a Hachette UK company.

Summary:

For 337 days, award-winning wildlife cameraman Lindsay McCrae intimately followed 11,000 emperor penguins amid the singular beauty of Antarctica. This is his masterful chronicle of one penguin colony's astonishing journey of life, death, and rebirth--and of the extraordinary human experience of living amongst them in the planet's harshest environment. A miracle occurs each winter in Antarctica. As temperatures plummet 60 degrees below zero and the sea around the remote southern continent freezes, emperors--the largest of all penguins--begin marching up to 100 miles over solid ice to reach their breeding grounds. They are the only animals to breed in the depths of this, the worst winter on the planet; and in an unusual role reversal, the males incubate the eggs, fasting for over 100 days to ensure they introduce their chicks safely into their new frozen world. My Penguin Year recounts McCrae's remarkable adventure to the end of the Earth. He observed every aspect of a breeding emperor's life, facing the inevitable sacrifices that came with living his childhood dream, and grappling with the personal obstacles that, being over 15,000km away from the comforts of home, almost proved too much. Out of that experience, he has written an unprecedented portrait of Antarctica's most extraordinary residents.

Subject Term:

Emperor penguin

Camera operators -- Biography.

Publication Info:

New York, NY : William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 2019.

Subject:

Emperor penguin

Camera operators -- Biography.

McCrae, Lindsay -- Travel -- Antarctica.

Aptenodytes forsteri

Cameramen

Cinematographers (Camera operators)

Operating cameramen

Operators, Camera

SAILS ISBN:

9780062971364

Available:

Library	Shelf Number	Shelf Location	Status
Searching... Mansfield Public Library	598.47 M	NONFICTION	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Norton Public Library	598.47 MCC	NONFICTION	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Plympton Public Library	598.47 MCC	NONFICTION	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

A "remarkable memoir" (Nature) of life with an emperor penguin colony, gorgeously illustrated with 32 pages of exclusive photography

A miracle occurs each winter in Antarctica. As temperatures plummet 60° below zero and the sea around the remote southern continent freezes, emperors--the largest of all penguins--begin marching up to 100 miles over solid ice to reach their breeding grounds. They are the only animals to breed in the depths of this, the worst winter on the planet; and in an unusual role reversal, the males incubate the eggs, fasting for over 100 days to ensure they introduce their chicks safely into their new frozen world.

My Penguin Year recounts McCrae's remarkable adventure to the end of the Earth. He observed every aspect of a breeding emperor's life, facing the inevitable sacrifices that came with living his childhood dream, and grappling with the personal obstacles that, being over 15,000km away from the comforts of home, almost proved too much. Out of that experience, he has written an unprecedented portrait of Antarctica's most extraordinary residents.

Reviews (3)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Filmmaker McCrae energetically relates the 11 months he spent living in Antarctica filming a colony of emperor penguins for the BBC in this swift, but surface-level, debut. McCrae's choice to travel to Antarctica while his wife was expecting their first child allows him to contrast his own experience with that of the birds he's filming, as the females leave their unhatched eggs in the care of their mates as they depart to feed in advance of the birth of the next generation of penguins. However, the comparison falls flat and does not achieve the hoped-for feeling of kinship among species. McCrae is at his best when simply relating his experience of natural wonders, such as when the penguins all huddle together in the face of a threatening storm, a collective action which presents him with a "seemingly motionless mosaic of row upon row of emperors." Despite brief expressions of concern for the future of the Arctic world, most references to the changing climate are surprisingly oblique for such an existential crisis. Beautifully captured individual moments won't be enough to allow the reader to entirely warm up to this uneven Antarctic tale. (Nov.)

Booklist Review

Award-winning wildlife photographer McCrae's memoir, which chronicles his nearly year-long trip to observe the lives of Antarctica's emperor penguins, is a companion of sorts to BBC Earth's Dynasties. Readers will laugh, cry, wince, and even bristle at the incredible word-pictures McCrae paints of the birds' courting, births, and deaths. Interspersed with his observations of penguin habits and habitats are stories from his personal life; his wife, Becky, gives birth to their son while he's away, and he learns, slowly, of the patience and endurance required in temperatures of negative 50 degrees Celsius. Sharing well-documented science almost passively, McCrae, infuses his descriptions with plenty of scientific information, as well as compassion. Scenes of egg-laying, chick-hatching, and the inevitable struggles for survival in a world threatened by major climate change are especially unforgettable. Includes photographs not seen at time of review.--Barbara Jacobs Copyright 2019 Booklist

Library Journal Review

Natural history cameraman McCrae, winner of the 2019 BAFTA award in Factual Photography, spent his childhood observing the wildlife of England's Lake District, which led to his appearance, at age 14, on the BBC wildlife program Springwatch. He later secured a job as a runner at Springwatch, which led to camera assistant job, and then had a freelance career filming wildlife in the UK and abroad. When the BBC offers McCrae his dream job, filming emperor penguins in Antarctica, there's a catch: The job requires an 11-month commitment with no possibility of leaving Antarctica for eight of those months. McCrae accepts the job and begins a year of training and testing camera equipment, and then travels to Germany's Neumayer III research station. McCrae shares the joy and heartbreak of filming the penguins from their march to their breeding grounds to their courtship, egg laying, and raising chicks. VERDICT With beautifully descriptions of the stark landscape, harsh weather conditions, challenges of filming, and isolation during the dark Antarctica winter, this work lovingly and accurately details emperor penguin behavior in an engaging memoir that will appeal to wildlife enthusiasts, adventurers, and armchair travelers.--Sue O'Brien, Downers Grove, IL

3 April 2017	p. 1
1 To the Other End of the Earth	p. 5
2 The Emperors Return	p. 49
3 The Beginnings of a Dynasty	p. 85
4 The Next Generation is on its Way	p. 121
5 The Worst Winter on Earth	p. 153
6 New Life on the Ice	p. 189
7 A Spring Like No Other	p. 225
8 My Final Few Weeks	p. 263
Postscript - Back to Reality	p. 283
Acknowledgements	p. 291

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Summary

Summary

Reviews (3)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Booklist Review

Library Journal Review

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