My Last Continent by Midge Raymond

Raymond is the co-editor of a boutique publisher in Ashland, Oregon dedicated to publishing books with a "world view".  This book is a lot of things - some worldly  and some which get in the way of others.  First it is about the ecological problems created by the adventurers of the world wanting to get a visit to the continent of Antartica off their bucket list.  On the other hand, her descriptions of this stunning frozen desert and its charming penguin populations make even someone who thinks of 60º as cold consider a visit.  And then there is the love story.  This is a quick read which makes the jumping back and forth in time easier to manage and the Eugene references are fun to follow but the most thoughtful part is the realization that is it very hard to leave a small footprint in the wild and wonderful parts of the world. Darn it.