A passionate scientific account of the alien world inside our home planet.
The molten mystery beneath our feet.
The deepest human-made hole on Earth, drilled by the Soviets during the Cold War near the border between Russia and Norway, reaches more than 12 kilometers deep into the darkness of the Earth’s crust. Impressive, but barely a dent in the 6,000 kilometers that stretch to the center of the planet. Going further isn’t an option; the way is blocked by a boiling metal ocean. That’s why Tkalčić, a geophysicist at the Australian National University, considers seismology his “life’s calling”: The best tools scientists have for probing that inaccessible interior are earthquakes. And there are more of them than you’d think. In 2020 alone, seismographs recorded some 350,000 earthquakes around the globe. Most don’t rise to the level of human perception, but seismologists use them to image the Earth’s innards the same way radiologists use ultrasounds or X-rays to peer inside the body. Tkalčić explains these methods in rich but accessible detail. We learn, for instance, how plate tectonics regulate the climate by drawing down carbon deposits from the ocean floor, spewing it back into the atmosphere through volcanic eruptions. Meanwhile, the convection of liquid iron in the core produces the Earth’s magnetic field, which deflects solar wind and radiation. Without these dynamics, “life on Earth would not be possible.” Our planet, in Tkalčić’s rendering, is hardly an inert rock, but a restless network of roiling activity, with secrets still lurking in its depths. As the author traces the historical efforts to uncover those secrets, his narrative, at times, is overly expositional (“Charles Richter looked up at the starry sky of southern California and thought what a great job he had done in introducing the concept of magnitude into seismology, from astronomy”); nevertheless, the science is fascinating, and Tkalčić’s descriptions of his own fieldwork are riveting reminders of just how hard won the everyday facts of science really are. The author’s decades of research inform every page, and his enthusiasm for his subject is contagious.
A passionate scientific account of the alien world inside our home planet.Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2026
ISBN: 9780691271477
Page Count: 280
Publisher: Princeton Univ.
Review Posted Online: Oct. 9, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2025
PERSPECTIVES
A heartwarming and inspiring story for animal lovers.
The third volume in the Elephant Whisperer series.
In this follow-up to An Elephant in My Kitchen, Malby-Anthony continues her loving portrait of the Thula Thula wildlife reserve, which she co-founded in 1998 with her late husband, South African conservationist Lawrence Anthony, who published the first book in the series, The Elephant Whisperer, in 2009. Following his death in 2012, Malby-Anthony sought to honor his legacy by continuing his vision “to create a massive conservancy in Zululand, incorporating our land and other small farms and community land into one great big game park.” At the same time, the elephants gave her “a sense of purpose and direction.” In the Zulu language, thula means quiet, and though the author consistently seeks to provide that calm to her charges, peace and tranquility are not always easy to come by at Thula Thula. In this installment, Malby-Anthony discusses many of the challenges faced by her and her staff, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic. These included an aggressive, 2-ton rhino named Thabo; the profound loss felt by all upon the death of their elephant matriarch, Frankie; difficulty obtaining permits and the related risk of having to relocate or cull some of their animals; the fear of looting and fire due to civil unrest in the region; and the ongoing and potentially deadly struggles with poachers. Throughout, the author also shares many warm, lighthearted moments, demonstrating the deep bond felt among the humans and animals at the reserve and the powerful effects of the kindness of strangers. “We are all working in unity for the greater good, for the betterment of Thula Thula and all our wildlife….We are humbled by the generosity and love, both from our guests and friends, and from strangers all around the world,” writes the author. “People’s open-hearted support kept us alive in the darkest times.”
A heartwarming and inspiring story for animal lovers.Pub Date: April 25, 2023
ISBN: 9781250284259
Page Count: 320
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
Alternately admiring and critical, unvarnished, and a closely detailed account of a troubled innovator.
A warts-and-all portrait of the famed techno-entrepreneur—and the warts are nearly beyond counting.
To call Elon Musk (b. 1971) “mercurial” is to undervalue the term; to call him a genius is incorrect. Instead, Musk has a gift for leveraging the genius of others in order to make things work. When they don’t, writes eminent biographer Isaacson, it’s because the notoriously headstrong Musk is so sure of himself that he charges ahead against the advice of others: “He does not like to share power.” In this sharp-edged biography, the author likens Musk to an earlier biographical subject, Steve Jobs. Given Musk’s recent political turn, born of the me-first libertarianism of the very rich, however, Henry Ford also comes to mind. What emerges clearly is that Musk, who may or may not have Asperger’s syndrome (“Empathy did not come naturally”), has nurtured several obsessions for years, apart from a passion for the letter X as both a brand and personal name. He firmly believes that “all requirements should be treated as recommendations”; that it is his destiny to make humankind a multi-planetary civilization through innovations in space travel; that government is generally an impediment and that “the thought police are gaining power”; and that “a maniacal sense of urgency” should guide his businesses. That need for speed has led to undeniable successes in beating schedules and competitors, but it has also wrought disaster: One of the most telling anecdotes in the book concerns Musk’s “demon mode” order to relocate thousands of Twitter servers from Sacramento to Portland at breakneck speed, which trashed big parts of the system for months. To judge by Isaacson’s account, that may have been by design, for Musk’s idea of creative destruction seems to mean mostly chaos.
Alternately admiring and critical, unvarnished, and a closely detailed account of a troubled innovator.Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2023
ISBN: 9781982181284
Page Count: 688
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2023
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