Extreme Scientists: Exploring Nature's Mysteries from Perilous Places

Sometimes the passion and the rewards of a job outweigh its risks as in the case of many "extreme scientists." They all have jobs to do and flirting with danger is just part of it. You just gotta do what you gotta do and in this book you'll be an armchair observer and feel the thrills without a chance of getting hurt unless of course you fall out of your chair with excitement when you dream of having one of these careers! Paul Flaherty was always fascinated by the weather and knew, even as a young boy, that he was going to be a meteorologist. The blizzard of `78 for a "weather-crazed kid" turned him on, but the first storm that totally mesmerized him was Hurricane Gloria. He went out in the storm . . . "the sand blinded me at times and it was the first time I saw the ocean crash over the seawall." Paul was going to be a hurricane hunter and mark the "absolute center" of them! Hazel Barton is a microbiologist and her quest takes her underground in search of some of the world's "tiniest inhabitants." Her specialty is looking for "extremophiles," microbes that can survive under the harshest of conditions. When she was a teenager, a biology assignment was to grow microbes in a petri dish using anything from her body, say like dandruff. "The next day, this gross yellow snotty thing grew, and it was just amazing to me . . . From that point on, I knew I wanted to do microbiology." Now the Cave Woman forges into the unknown beneath the Earth in search of microbes. Steve Sillett was like a lot of kids. He loved climbing trees. When he was in college, he "studied organisms that live in trees" and then became "fascinated with forest canopies," the stuff that grows at the top of trees. Now Steve was made of all the right stuff to become a botanist. He was the first scientist to climb to the top of the redwoods and the community he saw up there astounded him. He even found "wandering salamanders living in the soils high in the crowns of the redwoods." Amazing, isn't it? I found this book to be wildly fascinating as will its intended audience. The text is lively and engaging and is peppered with interesting photographs. There are several "oh, wow!" moments every few pages. There are numerous informative sidebars throughout the book and a "Quick Questions" section at the end of each chapter about each scientist. In the back of the book there is a glossary of "Trailblazing Terms," an index and additional recommended books, DVDS and website resources. Are you interested in being an extreme scientist? If so you might want to take a close look at this book!