Ms. Adventure: My Wild Explorations in Science, Lava, and Life by Jess PhoenixMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Jess Phoenix seems to thrive on danger, full on excitement when a volcano is erupting.
This book contains snippets in her life with not much detail on how it all came to be. The beginning held more on the decision-making process, of how she got into geology, and I enjoyed the first few chapters, for the most part. Although if you’ve camped before you may wonder about all that detail if it’s necessary.
Once Phoenix started in the field and working on field assignments, there was detail of what happened, but it felt like a large part of the narration was missing. It felt a little too much like she was skipping around to these moments and didn’t provide much in the bigger picture. How did the work she was doing contribute to the overall science? What is the meaning, what did she make of it? Why is this particular moment being told in this book other than saying well, I did this, and this happened? I wanted a little more in cohesion of her life and science.
My hope was the book would be aimed towards young women to encourage them to enter the science field that is typically dominated by men. I’m not sure this book does this. Perhaps I will be in the minority and others will find this memoir more satisfying and inspiring.
I listened to the audio book narrated by the author herself. She does a decent job of narrating and enunciating. You can hear her enthusiasm on her adventures. I’ve heard several author narrations leave me wishing they hired a professional, but not in this case. If you want to read this book, the audio version is a good way to go. 4.5 stars on the narration. Book overall 3.5 stars.
Thanks to Workman Audio and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book.
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