Mighty Bad Land, Bruce Luyendyk
Mighty Bad Land, Bruce Luyendyk
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Mighty Bad Land
A Perilous Expedition to Antarctica Reveals Clues to an Eighth Continent

Author: Bruce Luyendyk, Edward J. Larson

Narrator: Christopher Grove

Unabridged: 9 hr 49 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 05/30/2023


Synopsis

What does it take to prevail in Antarctica?

Four geologists and two mountain guides face the brutal beauty of West Antarctica eight hundred miles from the United States main base. Their search reaches far into the treacherous mountains of Marie Byrd Land. Over six weeks of living in tents and traveling by snowmobile, the team endures endless cold and furious blizzards. They cross ice fields and hidden crevasses, which one of the team learns about the hard way.

What keeps them going in spite of these dangers? Will the mountains give up their secrets? Can these scientists find evidence of the formation of the ranges many millions of years ago as the giant continent of Gondwana began to break apart? Was a new continent, now known as Zealandia, created by this event?

Mighty Bad Land, told firsthand by Bruce Luyendyk, a former professor of geology, reveals his inner battles and challenges: he's almost fifty, asthmatic, and fights chronic pain. Through deft storytelling, listeners are invited into a land of emptiness, beauty, constant daylight, and unseen menace.

About Bruce Luyendyk

Bruce Luyendyk, Distinguished Professor Emeritus from the University of California, Santa Barbara, was elected a fellow of the Geological Society of America, the American Geophysical Union, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. On his first expedition to West Antarctica in 1989, Luyendyk and his geology team found evidence that a large submarine plateau, a fragment from the Gondwana breakup, comprises a sunken continent beneath New Zealand. This eighth continent was named Zealandia by Luyendyk.

In 2016, the United States Board on Geographic Names honored the author by naming a summit in Antarctica Mount Luyendyk. Luyendyk is a graduate of San Diego State University and the University of California, San Diego. His prior research in marine geophysics included exploration of 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.


Reviews

This spoke to me, I too am almost fifty, asthmatic and have chronic pain. That being said I would never dream of undertaking a journey like the author did. This was absolutely fascinating and I'm so glad I requested a copy on NetGalley, I will also be purchasing the hardback on release date to add t......more

Goodreads review by Rose on September 12, 2023

Dangerous and Thrilling Scientific Research Reviewed in the United States on June 4, 2023 The author has written an outstanding first person account of his first (of many) expeditions as a scientific research team leader in Antarctic research. The true account not only shows the science but the human......more

Goodreads review by Kathleen on September 20, 2023

This is a truly exceptional book, a riveting first hand account of the perils and challenges encountered at the bottom of the earth; a remote area where no man had yet to explore. It left me with shivers considering the degree of remoteness, especially should a rescue become necessary, as you will l......more

Goodreads review by Kathleen on September 14, 2023

What an amazing experience! This book opened my eyes to the wonders and terrors of the vast continent of Antarctica. I'd never thought much about it, but reading Mr. Luyendyk's personal story of isolation, fear, and the push to achieve his goals was terrific. It is a page-turner, and I discovered man......more

Goodreads review by Constance on June 16, 2023

That quest for knowledge - What drives it? What completes the inquiry? Dr. Luyendyk's determination and persistence compel him to seek an unknown continent lying underneath the icy world of Antarctica and extending into the South Pacific. A world of wonder appears as his team of geologists travel 80......more