It sounds like science fiction, but award-winning journalist Stephen Petranek considers it fact: within 20 years, humans will live on Mars. We'll need to. In this sweeping, provocative book that mixes business, science and human reporting, Petranek makes the case that living on Mars is an essential back-up plan for humanity, and explains in fascinating detail just how it will happen.

It is no secret that the Antarctic is one of the most dangerous, forbidding places for explorers to step foot in. The terrain is treacherous, the wildlife predatory and the climate fatal if not adequately prepared for. 'Icy Graves' uses a selection of the tragic losses of such famous explorers as Arthur Farrant, Belgrave Ninnis and Robert Falcon Scott to plot the forward progress of Antarctic exploration and sensitively tells, often in their own words,...