The race to uncover snow’s many mysteries before it disappears forever
Sverker Sörlin's book Snö has been reviewed in Nature, with the reviewer describing it as a historian bringing us "icy climate warnings and warm personal memories".
Snö: A History Sverker Sörlin Doubleday (2025)
Read the full review here .
"As a child growing up in northern Sweden, environmental historian Sverker Sörlin fell in love with snow. “I see the light outside, before I even open the slatted blinds. Snow! The miracle of whiteness is shining through the slats,” he recalls in his latest book, Snö.
Now, he fights for snow’s survival. And survive it must, Sörlin argues, if we’re to avoid droughts, sinking tundra fields and an overheated planet. With amazing anecdotes, emotive memories and pleas for climate action, Snö aims to galvanize readers.
Glaciers are not just blocks of ice — plans to save them mustn’t overlook their hidden life
A skiing trip to Norway’s Rondane Mountains marked a transcendent moment for Sörlin. After sundown, dozens of puddles started freezing over in the grass around his campsite, each making a distinct cracking sound. Sörlin felt at one with “the forces of nature, the whole solar system, at play in a condensed timescale”[...]"
(Thompson, 2025, Nature).