Frances Ashcroft
Flamingo, 2001,
£8.99
ISBN 0 006 55125
4
Rating:
****
As
a climbing medic with a huge appetite for stories of wilderness
medicine, I jumped for joy when I found Frances Ashcrofts
Life at Extremes. After all, my weekend had involved a not so
thrilling rummage around a bookshop in Ambleside; I needed something
exciting, I needed extreme.
Where
better to start than exploring the high altitude world of Reinhold
Messners first Everest ascent without supplementary oxygen in
1978, of jet aeroplanes, vapourising blood, and acute mountain
sickness? The book also explores the effects of deep water pressure,
extremes of temperature, life in the fast lane, and survival in space.
Ever wondered why you need the toilet when you climb into a swimming
pool? Or how you might get a good nights sleep in the
microgravity environment of
space?
Ashcroft uses a
generous number of examples, including tales of nutty professors, and
she raises ethical questions of concentration camp research. She uses
fascinating animal examples to explain evolutionary responses to
extreme conditions. Throughout the book, attention grabbing snippets
enable the reader to explore further scientific aspects, be they
biochemical or historical; anecdotes are littered with illustrations
ranging from the benign to the
daunting.
There are
plenty of “What to do if you get sick in the wilderness”
books, but Ashcroft, who is a professor of physiology at Oxford
University, has contributed much more. She lets us know why we would
get sick and tells us about places we really should think twice about
visiting.
The book brings together a
phenomenal amount of information—and a wealth of
variety—exploring human capacity as much as it does human limits.
It isnt just a book for medics or extremists; its messages are
as far reaching as the human race itself. Throughout her book, Ashcroft
brings home the message that we are so strong, and yet we are so
vulnerable. Our surroundings have made us what we are, and as a
consequence we are entirely at their mercy. Life at Extremes is a treat. Ill be referring back to it time and time again, for
business and for pleasure.
Suzie Thompson, second year medical student, University of Aberdeen
Email: u05set@aol.com
studentBMJ 2002;10:397-440 November ISSN 0966-6494
