Charles Wohlforth

Odnazhdy ljudi nauchatsja zhit na Titane, samom krupnom sputnike Saturna. Etimi slovami nachinaetsja kniga "Za predelami Zemli", napisannaja planetologom Amandoj Khendriks i nauchnym zhurnalistom Charlzom Uolfortom. Ne na Marse, kak schitalos dolgie gody, a imenno na Titane, s ego plotnoj atmosferoj, schadjaschim klimatom i neischerpaemymi zapasami topliva i vody, vozmozhno sozdanie avtonomnoj kolonii. Argumentiruja svoju tochku zrenija, uchenyj i zhurnalist pokazyvajut ne tolko neizbezhnost i zamanchivye perspektivy osvoenija planet i sputnikov Solnechnoj sistemy, no i bolevye tochki gosudarstvennogo i kommercheskogo osvoenija kosmosa, politicheskie, bjurokraticheskie i nauchnye problemy, kotorye prepjatstvujut pokoreniju inykh mirov. I vse zhe eto realnaja perspektiva, a ne fantasticheskij stsenarij, ubezhdeny avtory i zarazhajut svoej veroj chitatelja.

From a leading planetary scientist and an award-winning science writer, a propulsive account of the developments and initiatives that have transformed the dream of space colonization into something that may well be achievable. We are at the cusp of a golden age in space science, as increasingly more entrepreneurs--Elon Musk, Richard Branson, Jeff Bezos--are seduced by the commercial potential of human access to space. But Beyond Earth does not offer another wide-eyed technology fantasy: instead, it is grounded not only in the human capacity for invention and the appeal of adventure but also in the bureaucratic, political, and scientific realities that present obstacles to space travel--realities that have hampered NASA's efforts ever since the Challenger disaster. In Beyond Earth, Charles Wohlforth and Amanda R.Hendrix offer groundbreaking research and argue persuasively that not Mars, but Titan--a moon of Saturn with a nitrogen atmosphere, a weather cycle, and an inexhaustible supply of cheap energy, where we will even be able to fly like birds in the minimal gravitational field--offers the most realistic and thrill-ing prospect of life without support from Earth.

The Fate of Nature is a profoundly relevant call to action from journalist Charles Wohlforth, whose award-winning reportage addressed the infamous 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. In the wake of the tragic 2010 BP disaster, Wohlforth's voice has never been more necessary. Using as a stage coastal Alaska, populated by an array of odd and inspiring characters, he presents both an insightful assessment of our present state and a hopeful vision for our planet in his "thoughtful and felicitous new book . . . an inspired view of humankind's future" (Anchorage Daily News).

In The Whale and the Supercomputer, scientists and natives wrestle with our changing climate in the land where it has hit first--and hardest A traditional Eskimo whale-hunting party races to shore near Barrow, Alaska-their comrades trapped on a floe drifting out to sea-as ice that should be solid this time of year gives way. Elsewhere, a team of scientists transverses the tundra, sleeping in tents, surviving on frozen chocolate, and measuring the snow every ten kilometers in a quest to understand the effects of albedo, the snow's reflective ability to cool the earth beneath it. Climate change isn't an abstraction in the far North. It is a reality that has already dramatically altered daily life, especially that of the native peoples who still live largely off the land and sea. Because nature shows her footprints so plainly here, the region is also a lure for scientists intent on comprehending the complexities of climate change. In this gripping account, Charles Wohlforth follows the two groups as they navigate a radically shifting landscape. The scientists attempt to decipher its smallest elements and to derive from them a set of abstract laws and models. The natives draw on uncannily accurate traditional knowledge, borne of long experience living close to the land. Even as they see the same things-a Native elder watches weather coming through too fast to predict; a climatologist notes an increased frequency of cyclonic systems-the two cultures struggle to reconcile their vastly different ways of comprehending the environment. With grace, clarity, and a sense of adventure, Wohlforth--a lifelong Alaskan--illuminates both ways of seeing a world in flux, and in the process, helps us to navigate a way forward as climate change reaches us all.