Matthiessen, Peter

The author chronicles his journeys around the world in search of cranes, tracking the fifteen different species in Siberia, Mongolia, India, Bhutan, China, Japan, Korea, Australia, Africa, Europe, and the United States, discussing the birds' struggles to survive, as well as human attempts to help them.

Peter Mathiessen chronicles two voyages to the polar ice cap, discussing how the ice cap holds almost ninety percent of the world's fresh water and describing the wildlife and fish which live off the ice cap.