The harsh beauty of the polar regions has long fascinated explorers and armchair adventurers alike. The forbidding terrain and exotic life-forms appeal to our sense of wonder, and while we may think of them as similar, the Arctic and Antarctic are as unlike as Kansas and Kenya. In Poles Apart, Galen Rowell takes us on an exhilarating visual journey to the top and the bottom of the world, using his camera to reveal the fascinating differences in these polar opposites.

In Part I, Rowell's side-by-side photographs highlight the contrasts between North and South. The photo essays of Part II continue the comparisons, developing such themes as Arctic and Antarctic science, polar bears and penguins, and visits to the North and South Poles. Part III provides detailed information on the story behind each photograph as well as technical data of interest to photographers.

Galen Rowell is known for choosing subjects that, while beautiful, are unfamiliar to much of his audience. Yet his books enjoy wide appeal because he accurately focuses—in images and words—on the essential spirit that sets his subjects apart from the rest of the world. So it is with the distant lands and seas of the polar regions, which hold valuable lessons for all of us concerning evolution, geology, history, human endeavor, and the impact of human greed. No other vast areas of the earth remain as pristine, and for Rowell, the Arctic and Antarctic have become metaphors for those intangible elements that define the earth's wild places. In a world fast becoming a theme park of artificial experience, his book is an invitation to understand and appreciate what is real.

Galen Rowell (1940-2002) devoted his life to wilderness exploration, photography, and writing, making more than twenty journeys to the polar regions. In 1992 he received a grant from the National Science Foundation to travel around Antarctica with scientists to research this book. Rowell is a recipient of the Ansel Adams Award for his contributions to wilderness photography, and his work has often appeared in Life, National Geographic, and other major publications. Among his eleven previous books are Galen Rowell's Vision: The Art of Adventure Photography (1993) and Mountain Light: In Search of the Dynamic Landscape (1986). He photographed and produced My Tibet, with text by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, for the University of California Press in 1990.

"Rowell represents an endangered species rarer than many of the animals and birds he photographs so brilliantly—the true adventurer."—Marvin Weinstein, Chicago Sun-Times

"A cross between Sir Edmund Hillary and Ansel Adams, Rowell has become a cult figure to climbers and photographers alike."—Margot Dougherty, People Weekly

"[Rowell] has a delightful time traveling from pole to pole with his camera, and delights us as well. . . . I boldly allege that no one but Rowell has reached so many difficult places, assigned so magical a role to his camera, and put so much of it all so well into words."—David R. Brower, Los Angeles Times

"A book that combines hyperborean vividness with a savvy text."—Washington Post Book World

“[Poles Apart is] a dazzling geography lesson.”—Amy Gamerman, Wall Street Journal

“The photographs are beautiful in themselves, sometimes surprising, sometimes amazing, and always informative. Mr. Rowell’s text is gracefully written and poignantly sympathetic to the creatures and the country that he records.”—Atlantic Monthly

“The most likely mental image of the polar regions, which make up about 15 percent of the planet’s land area, is of frigid, undifferentiated wastelands. Award-winning wildlife photographer Galen Rowell dispels this common notion in a series of thoughtful photographs and informative word pictures.”—Mary Warner Martin, Christian Science Monitor

“Well written, beautifully photographed, and handsomely produced, Poles Apart is for those looking for diversion as well as those interested in geography and ecology. It is unusual to find such a successful, compelling combination of entertainment and education.”—Bloomsbury Review

"Galen Rowell has a wonderful combination of qualities—eye, energy, intelligence, sensitivity, courage both physical and moral, and above all, heart. Very seldom have I experienced so clearly defined the connection between the artist and what he sees, feels, and does with the work itself."—Robert Redford

Winner, Commonwealth Club of California silver medal for nonfiction

Obituary for Galen Rowell

A tribute to Galen Rowell