Synopses & Reviews
Her maps of the ocean floor have been called "one of the most remarkable achievements in modern cartography", yet no one knows her name.
Soundings is the story of the enigmatic, unknown woman behind one of the greatest achievements of the 20th century. Before Marie Tharp, geologist and gifted draftsperson, the whole world, including most of the scientific community, thought the ocean floor was a vast expanse of nothingness. In 1948, at age 28, Marie walked into the newly formed geophysical lab at Columbia University and practically demanded a job. The scientists at the lab were all male; the women who worked there were relegated to secretary or assistant. Through sheer willpower and obstinacy, Marie was given the job of interpreting the soundings (records of sonar pings measuring the ocean's depths) brought back from the ocean-going expeditions of her male colleagues. The marriage of artistry and science behind her analysis of this dry data gave birth to a major work: the first comprehensive map of the ocean floor, which laid the groundwork for proving the then-controversial theory of continental drift.
When combined, Marie's scientific knowledge, her eye for detail and her skill as an artist revealed not a vast empty plane, but an entire world of mountains and volcanoes, ridges and rifts, and a gateway to the past that allowed scientists the means to imagine how the continents and the oceans had been created over time.
Just as Marie dedicated more than twenty years of her professional life to what became the Lamont Geological Observatory, engaged in the task of mapping every ocean on Earth, she dedicated her personal life to her great friendship with her co-worker, Bruce Heezen. Partners in work and in many ways, partners in life, Marie and Bruce were devoted to one another as they rose to greater and greater prominence in the scientific community, only to be envied and finally dismissed by their beloved institute. They went on together, refining and perfecting their work and contributing not only to humanitys vision of the ocean floor, but to the way subsequent generations would view the Earth as a whole.
With an imagination as intuitive as Marie's, brilliant young writer Hali Felt brings to vivid life the story of the pioneering scientist whose work became the basis for the work of others scientists for generations to come.
Review
"Felts biography reimagines [Tharp's] progression from a nomadic childhood through scientific breakthroughs with a vivid, poetic touch, revealing an idiosyncratic and determined woman whose 'vigorous creativity' advanced everyones career but her own."--Publishers Weekly "Felt's biography brings [Tharp's] contributions to life...readers interested in biographies will appreciate Tharp's remarkable scientific work. Recommended."--Library Journal "A complex, rich biography of a groundbreaking geologist who discovered “a rift valley running down the center of the Atlantic”...A well-researched, engaging account of an important scientific discovery that should also find a place on womens-studies shelves."--Kirkus
Review
“Felts enthusiasm for Tharp reaches the page, revealing Tharp, who died in 2006, to be a strong-willed woman living according to her own rules, defying the constraints of her time.”—
The Washington Post “This is a fascinating account of a woman working without much recognition who used recorded soundings to map the ocean floor and change the course of ocean science.”—
San Francisco Chronicle “Felt is a playful, wildly thoughtful writer, who can extrapolate meanings about our view of the past from outdated scientific terms…that illuminate the text with the kind of evocative details that make the story of real life so real.”—
Oprah.com “[
Soundings] provides a memorable account of oceanography during the 1940s to 1960s: a thrilling time when so much was being discovered. And it celebrates the extraordinary life of Tharp as a woman and a scientist.”—
Nature “[Tharp] is the woman who mapped the ocean floor, forever changing scientific understanding of the planet. Ignored and marginalized for much of her career, Tharp has at last come into her own.”—
Science News “Felt has been able to perform the sort of data-handling magic on these mountains of memorabilia that Tharp earlier performed on Heezens soundings—distilling a sharp and illuminating biography that reveals the profiles and contours of a life.”—
Natural History “Felt follows the traces of Tharps life by deftly balancing the scientific and the poetic.”—
Minneapolis Star Tribune “[Felt] wrestles complex research procedures and concepts into submission…In the same way researchers sound the floor of the ocean,
Soundings finds the depths in Tharp. Both the life and the biography are rich in accomplishment.”—
Cleveland Plain Dealer “Hali Felt poignantly imagines a private life the way her subject interpolated the unseen deep: hauntingly conjuring what cannot be known firsthand. Tharp [is] a fascinating character in the saga of oceanographic exploration and deserves this admiring biography.”—
Bust Magazine"Felts biography reimagines [Tharp's] progression from a nomadic childhood through scientific breakthroughs with a vivid, poetic touch, revealing an idiosyncratic and determined woman whose 'vigorous creativity' advanced everyones career but her own."—Publishers Weekly
"Felt's biography brings [Tharp's] contributions to life...readers interested in biographies will appreciate Tharp's remarkable scientific work. Recommended."—Library Journal
"A complex, rich biography of a groundbreaking geologist who discovered 'a rift valley running down the center of the Atlantic'...A well-researched, engaging account of an important scientific discovery that should also find a place on womens-studies shelves."—Kirkus “Delightful…[Soundings] is an artfully written biography about a rakish and headstrong woman in the sometimes antagonistic boys-club atmosphere of academia in the mid-twentieth century…This is an exceptional story told by an equally exceptional writer.”—Booklist, starred review
“Biography readers who love discovering stories of fascinating, historically important figures should rush to find a copy of Soundings…Felts mission is not to embroider or alter Tharps essence, but to discover it, and she succeeds in this powerful portrait of a woman so driven that society could not stop her from changing the world.”—Shelf Awareness "Felt has done an outstanding job bringing Marie Tharp to life as an eccentric and colorful character…its a fascinating human story that reads better than some fiction.”—Story Circle Book Reviews
Review
“Felt is a playful, wildly thoughtful writer, who can extrapolate meanings about our view of the past from outdated scientific terms…that illuminate the text with the kind of evocative details that make the story of real life so real.”—
Oprah.com“Felts enthusiasm for Tharp reaches the page, revealing Tharp, who died in 2006, to be a strong-willed woman living according to her own rules, defying the constraints of her time.”—The Washington Post “This is a fascinating account of a woman working without much recognition who used recorded soundings to map the ocean floor and change the course of ocean science.”—San Francisco Chronicle
“[Soundings] provides a memorable account of oceanography during the 1940s to 1960s: a thrilling time when so much was being discovered. And it celebrates the extraordinary life of Tharp as a woman and a scientist.”—Nature “[Tharp] is the woman who mapped the ocean floor, forever changing scientific understanding of the planet. Ignored and marginalized for much of her career, Tharp has at last come into her own.”—Science News “Felt has been able to perform the sort of data-handling magic on these mountains of memorabilia that Tharp earlier performed on Heezens soundings—distilling a sharp and illuminating biography that reveals the profiles and contours of a life.”—Natural History “Felt follows the traces of Tharps life by deftly balancing the scientific and the poetic.”—Minneapolis Star Tribune “[Felt] wrestles complex research procedures and concepts into submission…In the same way researchers sound the floor of the ocean, Soundings finds the depths in Tharp. Both the life and the biography are rich in accomplishment.”—Cleveland Plain Dealer “Hali Felt poignantly imagines a private life the way her subject interpolated the unseen deep: hauntingly conjuring what cannot be known firsthand. Tharp [is] a fascinating character in the saga of oceanographic exploration and deserves this admiring biography.”—Bust Magazine
"Felts biography reimagines [Tharp's] progression from a nomadic childhood through scientific breakthroughs with a vivid, poetic touch, revealing an idiosyncratic and determined woman whose 'vigorous creativity' advanced everyones career but her own."—Publishers Weekly
"Felt's biography brings [Tharp's] contributions to life...readers interested in biographies will appreciate Tharp's remarkable scientific work. Recommended."—Library Journal
"A complex, rich biography of a groundbreaking geologist who discovered 'a rift valley running down the center of the Atlantic'...A well-researched, engaging account of an important scientific discovery that should also find a place on womens-studies shelves."—Kirkus “Delightful…[Soundings] is an artfully written biography about a rakish and headstrong woman in the sometimes antagonistic boys-club atmosphere of academia in the mid-twentieth century…This is an exceptional story told by an equally exceptional writer.”—Booklist, starred review
“Biography readers who love discovering stories of fascinating, historically important figures should rush to find a copy of Soundings…Felts mission is not to embroider or alter Tharps essence, but to discover it, and she succeeds in this powerful portrait of a woman so driven that society could not stop her from changing the world.”—Shelf Awareness "Felt has done an outstanding job bringing Marie Tharp to life as an eccentric and colorful character…its a fascinating human story that reads better than some fiction.”—Story Circle Book Reviews
Synopsis
A compelling portrait of one of the most interesting "forgotten" women of the twentieth century, the scientist who mapped, for the first time, the ocean floorUntil Marie Tharp's groundbreaking work in the 1950s, the floor of the ocean was a mystery—then, as now, we knew less about the ocean than we did about outer space. In a time when women in the scientific community were routinely dismissed, Tharp's work changed our understanding of the earth's geologic evolution. While her partner, Bruce Heezen, went on expeditions to collect soundings (records of sonar pings measuring the ocean's depth across its entire expanse), Tharp turned this data into beautiful and controversial maps that laid the groundwork for proving the theory of continental drift. Tharp's maps showed for the first time that the continents were moving and had always been moving, and that what had happened over eons under the sea was as "visible" now as looking at the same phenomenon on land. Her maps have been called some of "the most remarkable achievements in modern cartography" and yet no one knows her name. The brilliant young writer Hali Felt captures the romance of scientific discovery and brings to vivid life this pioneering scientist who changed the way we view the earth.
Synopsis
“Deftly balances the scientific and poetic.”—Minneapolis Star Tribune“Soundings is an eloquent testament both to Tharps importance and to Felts powers of imagination.”—The New York Times Book Review
Before Marie Tharps groundbreaking work in the 1950s, the ocean floor was a mystery—then, as now, we knew less about the bottom of the sea than we did about outer space. In a time when women were held back by the casually sexist atmosphere of mid-twentieth-century academia—a time when trained geologists and scientists like Tharp were routinely relegated to the role of secretary or assistant—Tharps work would completely change the worlds understanding of our planets evolution. By transforming dry data into beautifully detailed maps that laid the groundwork for proving the then controversial theory of continental drift, Tharp, along with her lifelong partner in science, Bruce Heezen, upended scientific consensus and ushered in a new era in geology and oceanography. "A playful, wildly thoughtful writer" (Oprah.com), Hali Felt vividly captures the romance of scientific discovery and brings to life this "strong-willed woman living according to her own rules, defying the constraints of her time" (The Washington Post).
About the Author
HALI FELT teaches writing at the University of Pittsburgh. She received her MFA from the University of Iowa and has completed residencies at the MacDowell Colony, the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology, and Portland Writers in the Schools. In the past, she has reported for the Columbia Journalism Review and the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. She lives in Pittsburgh.