The Mediterranean Was a Desert: A Voyage of the Glomar Challenger [Hardcover]

Kenneth J. Hsu (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 216 pages
• Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr (September 1983)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0691082936
• ISBN-13: 978-0691082936
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #642,856 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Gives an objective account of one Glomar Challenger voyage., November 6, 1997

By 

[e-mail] (Lubbock, Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Mediterranean Was a Desert: A Voyage of the Glomar Challenger (Paperback)

For those interested in science, earth sciences or plate tectonics, "The Mediterranean Was a Desert" delivers. The book gives an objective account of one of the most important Glomar Challenger voyages. It gives a nice build-up to the discovery, made over the course of that summer voyage, that the Mediterranean had once virtually dried up. The author is a scientist and focuses on aspects of the science and underplays human relationships although some conflicts and human interactions are mentioned. I most enjoyed the descriptions of the way the Mediterranean Sea had been some 4 or 5 million years earlier, the progression of changes, and the evidence which brought him to this viewpoint and why. I least enjoyed the book's style which sounded a bit too much like it had been written by an average scientist rather than a Carl Sagan scientist. Still, it is a worthy read.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 4.5 Stars for Virtually Hidden Science, Resolving the Construct of a Separation of Continents, March 31, 2008

By 

Bonam Pak (Berlin) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Mediterranean Was a Desert: A Voyage of the Glomar Challenger (Paperback)

I read the 1987 reprint of the 1983 published, 1982 written book about the science cruise of the Glomar Challenger in the Mediterranean in 1970. Described is the scientists' step by step realization that this sea fell victim to dessication some 5.3 million years ago - and will so once more in some 2 - 3 million years, when the Strait of Gibraltar will get naturally plugged again. Not to speak of Africa colliding further with Europe, completely causing the Mediterranean to vanish a further long time after that. Both of which are probably the reasons why that scientific knowledge from some two generations ago isn't eagerly taught today: Both implies further that there isn't really a continental separation. Europe and Africa (and actually Asia) being one continent isn't really politically profitable for the West for the time being. Even though there remains no doubt about this long and officially established fact, people seeing me reading this book expected it to be something "esoteric" or a science fiction novel. This book is probably dated, yet to me and most people, many of whom weren't even born yet at the time of the ship's voyage, it's still fresh news, so I will not subtract a star for potentially accumulated dust, this would be my guessing only anyway.

Half a star I do subtract after all. With 188 regular text pages (including pictures) this is a rather thin book. Yet it could be much thinner indeed, if it wouldn't have been written in a travelogue style. In principle, I do not mind not just reading about the unadorned scientific results, but also about the way, the scientists found out about them, if it is written suspensefully. It is - but very, very detailed. I don't REALLY need to know all about the movies the sciencetist were watching in their free time, who got sick with what, etc. On the one hand, it makes this book a very human endeavor, on the other hand, it's a bit time thieving considering that some of us are on a tight schedule of reading time.

A similar quest may be read about the Black Sea in Noah's Flood: The New Scientific Discoveries About The Event That Changed History. If you are interested in the (highly exaggerated) issue of the flooded ancient ancient Mediterranean valley culture(s), read Before the Pharaohs: Egypt's Mysterious Prehistory and/or the even more outrageously fantastic version in Technology of the Gods: The Incredible Sciences of the Ancients. (The latter two are compilation books of various topics.) However sometimes, little known reality defeats broadly known fantasy: From 1928 till the 1950s one of those visionary crazy Germans made it his lifework to infect a lot of people and regimes with the idea to artificially close up the Strait of Gibraltar and lower the sea level in the Western Mediterranean 100 meters (328 feet) and in the eastern part 200 meters (656 feet) to gain a lot of new land and effectively merge Europe with Africa. This mega project was once known as Atlantropa (name of the "new" continent excluding Asia). Currently, I can't find any book written in English about that, but if you overstand German, you may check out "Atlantropa: Weltbauen am Mittelmeer - ein Architektentraum der Moderne" (literally: "Atlantropa: Worldbuilding at the Mediterranean - a Modern Age Architects' Dream"). You may have to swap to amazon.de for availability. Be aware that there's a revised edition of 2007, only this one including a DVD with a documentary on it. (Of course, be aware of the DVD's EU country code.)