A Hostile Beauty

Book excerpt: There are few places today that are truly wild. Macquarie Island is still one such place-a small, wind-blasted rocky outcrop between Tasmania and Antarctica. In exquisite pictures and words, A Hostile Beauty tells the story of this extraordinary Australian outpost teeming with life. Alistair Dermer's stunning photography gives us an up-close look at the lives of the inhabitants: gentle gentoo penguins, engorged elephant-seal bulls and scavenging skuas, and takes us deep into a landscape that is as beautiful and life-giving as it is hostile and pitiless. Let these superb images, from the fury of the squalling Southern Ocean to the warm, trusting eyes of a seal pup, transport you to one of the most remote and spectacular places on Earth.