Lamb, Simon 1958- (Simon Henry Lamb)

PERSONAL:

Born August 11, 1958, in England.

ADDRESSES:

Office—St. Cross College, Oxford University, St. Giles, Oxford OX1 3lZ, England. E-mail—simon.lamb@earth.ox.ac.uk.

CAREER:

Educator and writer. St. Anne's College, Oxford University, Oxford, England, lecturer in earth sciences; St. Cross College, Oxford, England, lecturer in structural geology and tectonics. Contributor to British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) documentaries.

AWARDS, HONORS:

St. Anne's College fellow, St. Cross College fellow; Best Books for Junior High and High School Readers citation, Science Books and Film Online, 1999, for Earth Story.

WRITINGS:

(With David Sington) Earth Story: The Shaping of Our World, Princeton University Press (Princeton, NJ), 1998.

Devil in the Mountain: A Search for the Origin of the Andes, Princeton University Press (Princeton, NJ), 2004.

Contributor to scientific journals, including Earth and Planetary Science Letters and Nature.

ADAPTATIONS:

Earth Story was adapted to an eight-part documentary miniseries by the British Broadcasting Corporation.

SIDELIGHTS:

Simon Lamb is a lecturer and a fellow of St. Cross College, Oxford, and the author, with David Sington, of Earth Story: The Shaping of Our World. The volume is the companion book to an eight-part British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) series that aired in September of 1998. Gloria Maxwell, in Library Journal, called the book "a noteworthy addition to any library." The authors explore how our planet was formed, the connection between volcanoes and the creation of continents, the causes of ice ages, and the effects of mountains on climate. They show how seemingly unrelated earthquakes, glaciers, volcanoes, and weather are very connected. Earth is presented as a complex, balanced system because of its unique atmosphere that sustains liquid water. To date, no other planet has been discovered to contain the geological activity of Earth. The book covers the geology of Mars and Venus and the evolution of the solar system.

Lamb and Sington demonstrate with photographs, illustrations, and graphics how Earth's layers of crust, mantle, and outer and inner cores are continually changing. They discuss how, through cracks in mid-ocean ridges, new surfaces emerge and how the resulting heated waters create currents that impact weather. Plate tectonics are linked to the geological activity of Earth, and geological activity was crucial to the beginning of life on the planet and to its continuing evolution. The authors demonstrate how the balance of tectonic plates, atmosphere, water, and living organisms has sustained Earth as a living planet for nearly four billion years. Booklist contributor Gilbert Taylor wrote that in describ- ing how plate tectonics became the accepted theory in explaining the history of the earth, the authors "offer a splendidly concise presentation." A Publishers Weekly contributor called Earth Story a "compelling and accessible account."

Lamb's research as a professor includes work on the deformation process in the Peruvian Andes. He also has supervised students studying geological formations in the Andes. Lamb's next book, Devil in the Mountain: A Search for the Origin of the Andes, "melds geological theory and personal observation," according to a Publishers Weekly contributor. In his book, the author sets out to find the answer to a question geologists and others have pondered for centuries: How do high mountain ranges form on the face of the earth? As he searches for the answer to this question, Lamb takes the reader on both a voyage of scientific discovery and a travel adventure as he spends a decade exploring the Bolivian Andes with a small team of geologists.

Devil in the Mountain describes how Lamb and his team cope with extreme environments and unrest as they travel through the country of Bolivia in the middle of civil war. Lamb describes the area's geology back to the Ice Age. Eventually, Lamb reveals evidence discovered by him and his colleagues that may answer the question of how vast mountain ranges are formed. The book's title comes from Bolivian silver miners who fear a spirit they call "Tio," or "the devil in the mountain."

Sarah Barnett, writing in Geographical, noted that Lamb "concludes this engaging book by bringing home the importance of these mountains." American Scientist contributor Richard W. Allmendinger wrote: "Lamb largely succeeds in describing both the scientific work and the personal motivation of a field geologist in terms that a nonscientist can understand. His prose is lively and for the most part free of jargon."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Scientist, January 1, 2005, Richard W. Allmendinger, "At Home on the Range," p. 81.

Booklist, September 1, 1998, Gilbert Taylor, Earth Story: The Shaping of Our World, p. 45.

Bookwatch, August, 2004, review of Devil in the Mountain: A Search for the Origin of the Andes, p. 11.

Discover, January, 2005, review of Devil in the Mountain, p. 80.

Geographical, July, 2004, Sarah Barnett, review of Devil in the Mountain, p. 89.

Library Journal, October 15, 1998, Gloria Maxwell, review of Earth Story, pp. 93-94.

Nature, May 6, 2004, David E. James, review of Devil in the Mountain, p. 21.

Publishers Weekly, August 17, 1998, review of Earth Story, p. 60; March 15, 2004, review of Devil in the Mountain, p. 63.

Science Books & Films, November-December, 2004, Pascale Poussart, review of Devil in the Mountain, p. 251.

Times Literary Supplement, September 24, 2004, Richard A. Fortey, "Titanosaurs by the Sea" p. 23.

ONLINE

American Scientist Online,http://www.americanscientist.org/ (February 8, 2008), "The Bookshelf Talks with Simon Lamb."