Jul 20, 2023
Books That Make You Explore Antarctica, Facing Down Dangers and—A Lost 8th Continent?
We read books from the safety of our home, maybe our back porch, batting away a few summer mosquitos or, in the fall, curled up before the fireplace. It’s amazing how books transport us to certain dangerous places—real and imaginary—and unveil realms most of us can only dream about.
In his new release, Mighty Bad Land, geologist Bruce Luyendyk takes us to the last wilderness on Earth: Antarctica. In addition, he explores evidence for Zealandia, the “lost 8th continent” split off from Antarctica long ago and sunk below the waves. Unlike most recent books on Antarctica, the reader finds themselves entangled with Bruce Luyendyk’s team, experiencing firsthand the perils, difficulties, relationships, failures, audacity, cowardice and success endemic to scientific research in such an unforgiving place.
A distinguished Professor Emeritus from UC Santa Barbara, Bruce was elected a Fellow of the Geological Society of America, the American Geophysical Union, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 2016, summit 1070 in Antarctica, Mount Luyendyk, was named after him by the US Board on Geographic Names. His research in marine geophysics included exploring deep-sea black smokers (I.E., hydrothermal vents) using the deep submersible ALVIN off western Mexico. For this, he and colleagues shared the Newcomb Cleveland Prize of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
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