Error loading page.
Try refreshing the page. If that doesn't work, there may be a network issue, and you can use our self test page to see what's preventing the page from loading.
Learn more about possible network issues or contact support for more help.
Title details for Mighty Bad Land by Bruce Luyendyk - Available

Mighty Bad Land

A Perilous Expedition to Antarctica Reveals Clues to an Eighth Continent

by Bruce Luyendyk
ebook
1 of 1 copy available
Borrow Read a sample Read a sample
1 of 1 copy available
A tale of grit and real teamwork in the wilds of Antarctica when the hunger for knowledge reigns supreme.
Anything can happen in a pure wilderness experienced by few humans—a place where unseen menace waits everywhere. This story is an unembellished account of a scientist and his team exploring the last place on Earth. But, unlike most recent books on Antarctica, the reader becomes embedded with geologist Bruce Luyendyk's team. They share the challenges, companionship, failures, bravery, and success brought to light from scientific research pursued in an unforgiving place, Marie Byrd Land, or Mighty Bad Land.

The geologists make surprising discoveries. Luyendyk realizes that vast submarine plateaus in the southwest Pacific are continental pieces that broke away from the Marie Byrd Land sector of Gondwana. He coined "Zealandia" to describe this newly recognized submerged continent. Only the tops of its mountains poke above sea level to host the nation of New Zealand. This stunning revelation of a submerged eighth continent promises economic and geopolitical consequences reverberating into the twenty-first century.

The story occurs in the 1990s and fills a gap in the timeline of Antarctic exploration between the Heroic Age, the age of military exploration, and before the modern era of science. Danger is exponentially greater, isolation a constant threat without GPS, satellite phones, and the internet. As the expedition's leader, Luyendyk stands up to his demons that surface under the extreme duress of his experience, like nearly losing two team members.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    May 30, 2023

  • Formats

    • Kindle Book

    • OverDrive Read

      • ISBN: 9781637588444

    • EPUB ebook

      • ISBN: 9781637588444
      • File size: 17188 KB

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Kirkus

      Luyendyk's memoir recounts a geological expedition to the "pure wilderness" of Antarctica's Marie Byrd Land. The Marie Byrd Land region of Antarctica is one of the most remote territories on the planet, a "pure wilderness experienced by few humans" that has earned the nickname Mighty Bad Land. For six weeks in late 1989 and early 1990, the author, a geology professor, experienced it as the leader of a six-person scientific expedition, encountering enough challenges to satisfy even the most demanding fans of nonfiction adventure. In Marie Byrd Land, "zero degrees Fahrenheit is a warm day, grandeur stirs disbelief, and in summer, there is no night," he writes in his engaging account of the expedition. The goal of the enterprise was to investigate, through the analysis of rock samples, how the southern "supercontinent" of Gondwana split apart. To that end, Luyendyk and his team endured an eight-hour flight in a Hercules transport aircraft to the McMurdo Station on Antarctica's Ross Island, where they spent two weeks preparing to "unearth the secrets of Marie Byrd Land." The author is particularly adept at evoking the privations of Antarctic life--a McMurdo building "reminded me of a down-market ski resort," while a colony of penguins "stunk like old fish." The team's sojourn into the eerie emptiness of Marie Byrd Land included such mishaps as one member's falling 100 feet into an ice crevasse--"I almost died," he told Luyendyk--and some tense interpersonal dynamics. Luyendyk struggles with his own demons, fretting over his "weight of responsibility" as expedition leader: "I felt frightened often, more than I expected, and anxious," he later tells his therapist. There is some padding that weighs down the book, as the author re-creates every planning discussion with his colleagues, and lay readers may find the level of geological detail--as when the team members get into an argument about "anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility"--somewhat intimidating. But the journey is mostly a memorable one, leaving no doubt that, "In Antarctica, nothing's under control." Vividly details the harshness and hazards of life in a "land of hypnotic chaos."

      COPYRIGHT(2023) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. (Online Review)

Formats

  • Kindle Book
  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

subjects

Languages

  • English

Loading
Check Out What's Being Checked Out Right Now