Soundings

This is a book about my all-time scientific heroes, so I could not put it down. I loved how it revealed beautiful details about the life of this woman whom I had grown to love merely by looking at her maps, a woman who had single-handedly invented the field in which I now work!

The more I researched her real backstory, the more convinced I became that this story, not only in words but also in data and MAPS, must continue to be told for the future of science and our planet. It is a remarkable testament to persistence, conviction,… show more.

Until the mid-20th century it was largely assumed that nothing interesting lay on the bottom of the ocean floor.

Enter Marie Tharp, whose pioneering work mapping the records of soundings (sonar pings) laid the groundwork—literally—for our modern understanding of how the world’s continents and oceans are put together. Hali Felt’s biography of Tharp restores her to her rightful place in science history. I enjoyed, especially, the artistry involved in Tharp’s maps, which complied data from ocean expeditions that Tharp herself, as a woman, wasn’t allowed to join.

And, as a fan of geology, I was fascinated by Felt’s descriptions of… show more.