[.ca] Iceman: Uncovering the Life and Times of a Prehistoric ... (ISBN 0226258238)

From Amazon.com:
In 1991, a dead man was found in a glacier on the Italian side of the Tyrolean Alps. How could he have known, as he settled down for a very long winter's nap, that his discovery would unleash a circus of political, scientific, and journalistic shenanigans that would make and break careers and cause international tension? Science writer Brenda Fowler takes a peek at the bizarre odyssey of this incredibly well-preserved frozen corpse in Iceman, covering every step of his transition from Stone Age accident victim to celebrity specimen to museum piece. The cast of characters involved is large and colorful, including archaeologists, smalltime politicians, curators, writers, and even channelers claiming to speak for Ötzi, as he came to be known. Initially taken to Austria and studied there, he was brought back closer to where he was found in northern Italy after years of political and scientific wrangling, though evidence suggests he may have originally come from modern-day Switzerland. Beyond the battles between nationalistic and egotistical players, Iceman contains an absorbing examination of the scientific process at work: hypotheses announced and discarded, the accretion of new evidence, and the ever-narrowing range of explanations for the find. The story is far from over, as research continues even as the question of Ötzi's resting place is settled (temporarily?). With luck, we may soon learn as much about our recent ancestors as we recently learned about ourselves. --Rob Lightner

Politics of science rather than Iceman:
The book is focused on the politics of science, the fighting among interested parties, and what surrounds academic interests rather than the finding itself, which is rather a background. It is written like a novel, including many irrelevant details of two or more years past, that the Author obviously assumes. It is well written, reads easily and pleasantly, and contains a long bibliography of scarce interest to the general reader. No references to internet websites. Pictures are very poor. Mostly of the scientists and other people involved. They have very little interest, and none in color. Wery few graphics or ilustrations. I would recommend the book if you want to know the hidden story around the iceman and the glory and misery of science. Search the internet if you want to see it. Or do both.

Iceman: Uncovering the Life and Times of a Prehistoric Man:
Since Konrad Spindler's book "The Man in the Ice" (1996) has been shown to be more flight of fancy than fact-based reconstruction, those interested in this subject have been awaiting the scientific revelations the Iceman's well-preserved corpse undoubtedly embodies (pun intended). Although I found Fowler's journalistic narrative both well-written and interesting for its behind-the-scenes peek into the events following the sensational discovery of this 5,300-year-old mummy, I found the subtitle misleading, and the book, ultimately, disappointing. Though not an archaeologist by profession, I am deeply interested in the subject and count myself among thousands of well-educated laypeople eager to share in the discoveries of our more formally qualified brethren. Both the promise of the book's subtitle ("Uncovering the Life and Times of a Prehistoric Man...") and its recent publication date had me thinking that Fowler would be presenting the very latest findings and drawing on these to create a vibrant portrait of daily life in Alpine Europe during the Copper Age. Alas, Fowler is first and foremost a journalist, not a prehistorian. This is evident throughout her work, as she insistently focuses on the political maneuvering and interpersonal politics between the various scientists and institutions involved in research on the Iceman, almost to the point of ignoring what we have learned about him and the world in which he lived. The paucity of illustrations is another strike against the book. What few there are, are blurry b/w photos and a handful of line drawings. Any reader hungry for insight into what this man's life might have been like is sure to come away unsatisfied. Still, what Fowler does have to say is of interest, if only for revealing the petty infighting and blunders that have overshadowed what little research has been done on the Iceman.

Excellent:
One of those rare books whose author recognizes that science doesn't occur in a vacuum. In "Iceman," a vivid description of the science behind Otzi is expertly interwoven with the political posturing that makes this such an engaging tale. I'm eagerly looking forward to Brenda Fowler's next book.

A Frozen Mummy Comes Back To Life!:
Brenda Fowler's training as a journalist pays a handsome reward in this thoroughly-researched and well-written account of Ötzi's discovery on September 21, 1991, his well-intentioned but badly flawed recovery, and his archaeological importance, as well as the academic, political, legal, and financial intrigue (almost always petty) taking place behind the scenes. For eight years, Fowler interviewed everyone involved with Ötzi to uncover the truth about the sometimes misreported and confusing "facts" published in the media. She also has taken a discerning look at the various personalities involved: from the austere Konrad Spindler (who became the main spokesperson concerning Ötzi--and the main recipient of the financial rewards) to the Simons (who first found the body and later wanted to be paid for their discovery) to Klaus Oeggl, a young German botanist, whose brilliant studies of Ötzi countered Spindler's own (fairly unscientific) theory. Her hard work clearly shows: this is as much an archaeological mystery (set both in the Copper Age and the modern scientific world) as it is a record of the facts and speculations about an archaeological wonder named Ötzi. I highly recommend this book. You won't stop turning the pages--and when you're done. you'll want to go visit Ötzi at his Bolzano, Italy home. Eleven chapters, a prologue and epilogue, as well as detailed notes, a lengthy bibliography, and a thorough index. 313 pages, with 33 black and white photo plates inserted in the center of the book. The photos show Ötzi, his accessories, and many of the personalities described in the book. These are not National Geographic quality photos, but that's not the point of Fowler's book. You won't go wrong by reading it.

A Constnatly Fascinating Book:
One year ago I read this book, transfixed by the writing. Fowler clearly got the science of the subject material better than "The Man in the Ice" (which I bought as soon as it came out.) As an engineer, and student of the development of both the sciences and the technologies, it is often amazing how little purity exists in new developments. Certainly, if one of the large projects - I've been on a few with international media coverage - is analyzed from the inside, it looks VERY different than the media hype or soundbites. Fowler wrote a book so filled with hooks that it will affix itself to anyone with a scintilla of curiosity, but whether she consciously considered this or not, her result was not only the history of one man dying high on a mountain glacier several thousand years ago and how he lived, but the story of how WE live in the same environs NOW, and how institutions of science can be rendered impotent by their own internal dynamics as amplified by the various needs of individual researchers. The Iceman's society was clearly fragmented and very rudimentary. There is no way to know if he even had much of a language, but we who live in the 21st century have benefitted from thousands of years of written history, the development of science, technology, and government/society... and, quite frankly, we almost botched this incredible discovery. It's a wonder that the Iceman wasn't sold to a rendering plant and turned into food pellets for mad cows! I guess if you don't want to know anything about the present state of our world society and why people would even BE in that area now, this would be pretty disrupting to you. It would require skimming through many pages of 'inconsequential' information to get what you'd really want: a time travel experience without knowledge of the society that produced the time machine or the technology of the time machine itself. It's rare enough to find a book that GETS the story of a present day development correctly, but one that gets the overall structure of something like Iceman... is... well, almost as rare as the Icemen himself.