"Delightful debut travelogue by botanist Malusa, who cycled to the lowest point on each of six continents." --Kirkus Reviews

With plenty of sunscreen and a cold beer swaddled in his sleeping bag, writer and botanist Jim Malusa bicycled alone to the lowest point on each of six continents, a six-year series of "anti-expeditions" to "anti-summits." His journeys took him to Lake Eyre in the arid heart of Australia, along Moses' route to the Dead Sea, and from Moscow to the Caspian Sea. He pedaled across the Andes to Patagonia, around tiny Djibouti in the Horn of Africa, and from Tucson to Death Valley.

With a scientist's eye, Malusa vividly observes local landscapes and creatures. As a lone man, he is overfed by grandmothers, courted by ladies of the night in Volgograd, invited into a mosque by Africa's most feared tribe, chased by sandstorms and hurricanes--yet Malusa keeps riding. His reward: the deep silence of the world's great depressions.

A large-hearted narrative of what happens when a friendly, perceptive American puts himself at the mercy of strange landscapes and their denizens, Into Thick Air presents one of the most talented new voices in contemporary travel writing.

"I've followed all of Jim's amazing and hilarious journeys, and I am happy to claim him as one of my favorite writers." --Barbara Kingsolver, New York Times bestselling author

"His descriptions of desert landscapes can be extraordinary . . . You can almost feel the dry gusts turning Malusa's lips into cracked leather." --The New York Times Book Review

Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Catapult
Published: 04/01/2008
ISBN: 9781578051410
Pages: 336
Weight: 0.88lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.03w x 0.89d

Review Citations: Kirkus Reviews 03/01/2008 pg. 233
Booklist 05/15/2008 pg. 17
New York Times Book Review 06/01/2008 pg. 23
Science 07/04/2008 pg. 42