"This excellent book makes permafrost a lot more exciting than one might imagine it possibly could be, literally bringing the topic to life. Pey-Yi Chu gives the inanimate permafrost agency in these pages." -- Robert Orttung * Eurasian Geography and Economics, Vol. 62 *
"The life of permafrost has generated the material for a fine, well-researched, clearly-argued, and deeply-thoughtful book." -- David Moon, University of York * Slavonic and East European Review *
"I found this book very informative. The quality is greatly enhanced by the authors style, which makes the book easy to read. It is illustrated by maps and diagrams from former researchers which well support the arguments of the author. The research behind the study was built on a forceful combination of scholarly literature, archival sources and powerful storytelling that brought permafrost to life, while also employing most recent scientific findings on global climate change. -- Fruzsina Gresina, Eotvos Lorand University * Hungarian Geographical Bulletin *
"Throughout the book, Chu does a wonderful job of describing the politics and other cultural factors informing scientists study of permafrost." -- Ryan Tucker Jones, University of Oregon * Canadian-American Slavic Studies *
"The science of permafrost is here embedded within a historical, social, and cultural context, providing a new outlook that would not otherwise be available given the literature written by geoscientists alone. This book is a thorough compendium on the life of permafrost, providing insights that build from the history of earth sciences." -- R. A. Delgado Jr., National Science Foundation * CHOICE *
"Pey-Yi Chus brilliantly written book on the hitherto unexplored history of permafrost in Soviet and Russian science is very timely. By investigating the scientific debates and developments around the phenomenon from a history of science perspective, she helps us go beyond the dominant image of permafrost as hostile. As she embeds the story of permafrost into a historical context, she points to the complex entanglements of science, culture, politics and history in Russia and the Soviet Union." -- Katja Doose, University of Fribourg * Cahiers du monde russe *
"By situating frozen earth research in the cultures that created and shaped it, Chu demonstrates that the way frozen earth science was used and promoted significantly affected the way frozen earth was conceived, studied, and named. She offers an engaging look at an understudied topic and makes an important contribution to the wider history of science in the USSR and on a global scale." -- Samantha Lomb, Dotsent, Vyatka State University * Europe-Asia Studies *
"In an elegant manner, Chu thoroughly examines how and under what conditions interest in the study of the frozen earth was born in the Russian Empire, what values and imperatives shaped Soviet merzlotovedenie, and what influenced the global adaptation of the Soviet concept as permafrost, which continues to be used in both public and scientific discourses." -- Aleksandr Korobeinikov * Ab Imperio *