Outpost
A journey to the wild ends of the earth
Dan Richards
Having read it
★★★☆☆
Like the start of walking somewhere you’ve never been before, to experience a new vista, the odd bit of challenging terrain and the company of good friends, this book started well then got a smidge tiring. Interesting, but not one to read in a few sittings. Best enjoyed an hour at a time, over many a day (or week), to really appreciate the author’s perspective on outposts.
A good passage
For better or worse homo sapiens are a questing, consuming, destructive species. We have now entered the age of Anthropocene – humans are ruining the planet. It might be better for the Earth if we stopped exploring, lest the human litter which now blights the top of Everest and the depths the sea spread to every part of the world. Or perhaps the wonders of the natural world can yet inspire us to change, and the ‘overview effect’ can make guardians of consumers. I believe the more we know about our world, the more we see, the more deeply we engage with it, understand its nature, the more likely we are to be good custodians and reverse our most selfish destructive behaviour.
A second good passage
The idea of all that pent-up power let loose, that water – and even though I knew it wouldn’t thaw and ‘go’ all at once, still, these things always make me feel so small. Which I am, of course.
A third good passage
I think Elon Musk, Dr Zubrin and the Trump administration may be rather more ore-inspired by the Red Planet’s metal and deuterium prospects – the opportunity to plant a flag and shout ‘Mine!’ – than the starry-eyed public are aware.