About the Author

KIM STANLEY ROBINSON is a winner of the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus Awards. He is the author of ten previous books, including the bestselling Mars trilogy and the critically acclaimed Forty Signs of Rain, The Years of Rice and Salt, and Antarctica–for which he was sent to the Antarctic by the U.S. National Science Foundation as part of their Antarctic Artists and Writers' Program. He lives in Davis, California.

Reviews

"Fifty Degrees Below should be required reading for anyone concerned about our world's future.... it provides perhaps the most realistic portrayal ever created of the environmental changes that are already occurring on our planet."—Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Fast-paced and exciting.... First-rate ecological speculation."—Kirkus Reviews

"Could give Michael Crichton a run for his money.... should be required reading for government officials and voters."—St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Adult/High School-Picking up where Forty Signs of Rain (Bantam, 2004) leaves off, this second book in a planned trilogy finds Earth about to experience the most intense winter on record. Governments worldwide blithely go about their routines in spite of the monumental recent flooding in Washington, DC, and other areas around the globe. When the record-setting cold sets in, people begin freezing to death and starving due to crop failures. Large corporations and world governments use the crisis to attempt to rig elections and plan other agendas to tighten their hold on the public. Meanwhile scientists, especially those at the National Science Foundation, frantically search for a way to shift the weather patterns. The answer seems to be to jump-start the Gulf Stream to get it flowing again; the world watches as millions of tons of salt pour from ships into the ocean in this attempt. While the major plot of ecological chaos plays out, the subplots show how the effects of the weather changes, ecological turmoil, and governmental and big business assaults affect the various characters as they try to survive. This well-researched and expertly written novel about a future that might be coming true all too soon will hopefully serve as a wake-up call about Earth's current serious situation.-Pam Johnson, Fairfax County Public Library, VA Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

In this latest from multi-award-winning sf writer Robinson, politicians and business sorts are in deep denial even as global warming leads us inevitably (if ironically) toward a new Ice Age. Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

"Fifty Degrees Below should be required reading for anyone concerned about our world's future.... it provides perhaps the most realistic portrayal ever created of the environmental changes that are already occurring on our planet."-Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Fast-paced and exciting.... First-rate ecological speculation."-Kirkus Reviews

"Could give Michael Crichton a run for his money.... should be required reading for government officials and voters."-St. Louis Post-Dispatch