Ms. Adventure: My Wild Explorations in Science, Lava, and Life

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 [she finds] 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. (Mar.)