Thank you to Netgalley and University of Chicago Press for providing me with an ARC of Sand, Snow, and Stardust! Unfortunately, this book was a DNF for me. While I was very excited to read a book tackling extreme environments, particularly how they were handled in a military context, I found that the text lacked a central through line. Chapters could vary in their content, and it was sometimes difficult to see how topics were related or to follow the general flow of the argument. Additionally, the text felt dry and wasn’t particularly engaging me throughout. This book may be a better fit for military enthusiasts as well as those interested in learning more about extreme environments and the engineering used to make them habitable for the military.

Very very interesting and informative. I learned more about the U.S military’s survival and harsh weather management tactics than I ever thought I’d want to, and I’m thrilled. Definitely recommend.

This was a really interesting book! I hadn't really given much thought to environments and what that would mean and so I found this book to be really engaging. I like how the book was organized (exactly how it was named!) and the inclusion of the pictures throughout gave some interesting context to the writing. Heefner's writing itself was also really well done, and I continually found myself taking notes as I learned new things.