A celebration of the magnificent and unexpected world of the Arctic.

The Arctic, the mystical lands north of 60 degrees, is a cold and forbidding place that is covered in ice and snow for most of the year. Yet each spring the Arctic becomes a land of unforgettable beauty, when a profusion of life explodes across the entire landscape.

The Arctic is so different from the more temperate regions of Earth that author and photographer Wayne Lynch presents this region as though it were a different planet. In Planet Arctic, the reader can experience this land through the lens of a master photographer who has spent 30 years exploring and photographing this vast region. Lynch fully understands and appreciates Arctic birds, plants and animals in all their mystery. Here is the world of the polar bear, the arctic fox, the seal, the walrus and the musk ox, as well as a vast array of seabirds and exquisite, hardy wildflowers and ancient lichens.

Lynch's enthusiasm is contagious, and the photos, testament to his unerring eye for beauty, will captivate readers. Complex natural history concepts are decoded as Lynch describes the magnificent life-forms that inhabit this distant and frigid yet spectacular world -- one that is under increasing stress from global warming and climate change.