Sno
A History
Published on 9. October 2025
Book
Hardback
400 pages
978-1-5299-4787-8 (ISBN)
Description
A beautiful and profound natural history of snow from the bestselling, award-winning Swedish environmentalist Sverker Soerlin, exploring the cultural, scientific, artistic and existential significance of what is, due to climate-change, fast-becoming a vanishing fact of nature.
Selected as one of the Financial Times Best Books on the Environment.
'Amazing anecdotes ... thrilling and moving.' Nature
'Part a love letter to snow, part a goodbye, Snoe is extraordinary.' Sally Coulthard - Author of The Secret World of Twilight: A Natural History of Dusk & Dawn
'Arresting facts and extraordinary insights. Sverker Soerlin is a scholar and writer at the height of his creative powers.' Klaus Dodds, Professor of Geopolitics, Royal Holloway, University of London
Snow. A single word, for an infinite variety of water formulations, frozen in air. The study of snow is physics, chemistry, meteorology, anthropology, geography, poetry and art. It is hope - annually renewed. And it is history, too.
Earth saw its first snowfall 2.4 billion years ago. The world's oldest skis, made by hand five thousand four hundred years old, pre-date the pyramids of ancient Egypt. To humanity, snow has variously been an ally and an adversary; an inspiration to countless artists and a place of breathtaking tragedy and survival. But it's always been there. And now it is melting.
In 1927, the snow was already more than nine metres deep on Japan's Mount Ibuki when a remarkable 230cm fell in 24 hours, bringing about the greatest depth of snow - 11.82m - ever recorded. Yet it is a fact today that, ironically not only has this mountain's resort been forced to close due to lack of snow, most people in the world have never been near snow: never felt the soft crunch of snow underfoot, never held snow to see it melt in their hands, let alone stood on a pair of skis.
As the seasons lose their rhythm, and whole landscapes risk vanishing, shrinking too our planet's ability to reflect sunlight, Swedish environmentalist Sverker Soerlin urges that we take the time to look - really look - at what it is we're losing, in all its multifaceted wonder. And to question, what comes next?
Selected as one of the Financial Times Best Books on the Environment.
'Amazing anecdotes ... thrilling and moving.' Nature
'Part a love letter to snow, part a goodbye, Snoe is extraordinary.' Sally Coulthard - Author of The Secret World of Twilight: A Natural History of Dusk & Dawn
'Arresting facts and extraordinary insights. Sverker Soerlin is a scholar and writer at the height of his creative powers.' Klaus Dodds, Professor of Geopolitics, Royal Holloway, University of London
Snow. A single word, for an infinite variety of water formulations, frozen in air. The study of snow is physics, chemistry, meteorology, anthropology, geography, poetry and art. It is hope - annually renewed. And it is history, too.
Earth saw its first snowfall 2.4 billion years ago. The world's oldest skis, made by hand five thousand four hundred years old, pre-date the pyramids of ancient Egypt. To humanity, snow has variously been an ally and an adversary; an inspiration to countless artists and a place of breathtaking tragedy and survival. But it's always been there. And now it is melting.
In 1927, the snow was already more than nine metres deep on Japan's Mount Ibuki when a remarkable 230cm fell in 24 hours, bringing about the greatest depth of snow - 11.82m - ever recorded. Yet it is a fact today that, ironically not only has this mountain's resort been forced to close due to lack of snow, most people in the world have never been near snow: never felt the soft crunch of snow underfoot, never held snow to see it melt in their hands, let alone stood on a pair of skis.
As the seasons lose their rhythm, and whole landscapes risk vanishing, shrinking too our planet's ability to reflect sunlight, Swedish environmentalist Sverker Soerlin urges that we take the time to look - really look - at what it is we're losing, in all its multifaceted wonder. And to question, what comes next?
Reviews / Votes
Arresting facts and extraordinary insights. Sverker Soerlin is a scholar and writer at the height of his creative powers. -- Klaus Dodds, Professor of Geopolitics at Royal Holloway, University of London and author of Ice An eclectic meditation. * Financial Times: Best Books on the Environment * The frozen landscape has been central to both our evolution as a species and our cultural history, and yet we face an uncertain, warming future. Part a love letter to snow, part a goodbye Snoe is extraordinary. -- Sally Coulthard - Author of 'The Secret World of Twilight: A Natural History of Dusk & Dawn' Amazing anecdotes ... Snoe is for anybody who ever felt sadness when faced with melting snow, either globally or in their own garden ... Thrilling and moving. * Nature *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Transworld Publishers Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 219 mm
Width: 146 mm
Thickness: 39 mm
Weight
528 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-5299-4787-8 (9781529947878)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Persons
Sverker Soerlin is an author, historian, and science communicator. He is currently Professor of Environmental History at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm and during his career has worked with universities and institutes in Berkeley, Princeton, Cambridge, Vancouver, Cape Town, Oslo, and others. As a public intellectual he is a defining voice in Swedish public affairs, writing, broadcasting and as a science policy advisor to the Swedish government.
His more than forty books include bestselling literary non-fiction, biographies, academic books, journalism, and personal essays on everything from climate change, the Anthropocene, and Charles Darwin to gout, popular education, and cross country skiing. In 2004 he received the August Award for Non-fiction, Sweden's pre-eminent literary award, and in 2024 the Inge Jonsson Prize, awarded by 'The Nine Foundation' for outstanding non-fiction.
His more than forty books include bestselling literary non-fiction, biographies, academic books, journalism, and personal essays on everything from climate change, the Anthropocene, and Charles Darwin to gout, popular education, and cross country skiing. In 2004 he received the August Award for Non-fiction, Sweden's pre-eminent literary award, and in 2024 the Inge Jonsson Prize, awarded by 'The Nine Foundation' for outstanding non-fiction.