Ms. Adventure

August 24, 2020
Volcanologist Phoenix debuts with an entertaining collection of career highlights capturing the thrills and perils of studying some of Earth’s most deadly mountains. She enthusiastically describes the “immense satisfaction in scrawling pages of information in rain, snow, and under the glaring sun, filling the lines of yellow hard-backed Rite in the Rain notebooks” with information about rock specimens that could reveal secrets about the earth’s beginnings. Pushing back against how the media sensationalizes her profession, Phoenix rages about “being stereotyped as a helpless female” when a reality TV crew accompanying her expedition to Ecuador’s El Reventador ask her to fake falling and then being rescued by a male team member. In Cusco, Peru, she takes an actual fall into a sewer, injuring her right leg before a dangerous high-altitude trek into the Andes’ Nevado Salkantay; an appendicitis attack nearly maroons her on Hawaii’s Mt. Kilauea. Occasionally Phoenix goes overboard with mundane detail (such as the dress she wears when first visiting Manhattan’s Explorers Club) but the sheer grit and tenacity displayed in her stories ensure their grip on the reader’s attention. Geology and adventure enthusiasts will have a blast.

December 1, 2020
How does a history major who has never even gone camping before end up becoming a globe-trotting, barrier-breaking volcanologist who sleeps in tents while doing field work on some of the most extreme landscapes on earth? Phoenix tracks her discovery of geology and its accompanying adventures in prose that bursts with enthusiasm. Chapter by chapter, mountain by mountain, Phoenix's knowledge of volcanoes grows, as do her experience of the nuances of being a woman in a male-dominated scientific community and her understanding of herself as a scientist and ""science evangelist."" Her stories range from the tragic loss of a team member and the frustrations of a TV crew trying to ""Indiana Jones-up"" her work to the exuberance of discovery and success. Part coming-of-age story, part travelogue, part geology crash-course, Phoenix's book doesn't just bring the reader into her life but also into her work, making science feel approachable, important, and possible for readers from a wide range of backgrounds. This is a discussable, inspiring scientific memoir with broad appeal.Women in Focus: The 19th in 2020

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January 1, 2021

Phoenix, a volcanologist and geologist, relates her adventures from the time she first discovers geology as a history undergrad to her induction into the famed Explorers Club. Along the way, she conducts research on volcanoes and glacial movement in the rugged terrain and hot and cold temperatures of Hawaii, Peru, Ecuador, and Mexico. There is plenty of emotional and physical hardship along the way. But it may be the revelations of filming for science reality television that are the most enlightening, and to avid viewers of the same, somewhat disheartening. At the very end, still driven by science, Phoenix finds herself drawn into the most hazardous environment of all: politics. This book does not cover her unsuccessful bid for Congress, and one senses that experience could be another book in the making. A self-proclaimed "science evangelist" and speaker, Phoenix is cofounder of Blueprint Earth, a nonprofit science research and education organization designed to support STEM education for girls, minorities, and disadvantaged youth. No doubt Phoenix aims to inspire young people drawn to science to follow in her dusty footsteps with this book as well. VERDICT Recommended for those interested in geology and geography, adventure travel readers, and those considering science careers.--Teresa R. Faust, Coll. of Central Florida, Ocala

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