In this exciting adventure mixed with amazing scientific discovery, a young, exuberant explorer and geoscientist journeys deep into the Amazon—where rivers boil and legends come to life.
When Andrés Ruzo was just a small boy in Peru, his grandfather told him the story of a mysterious legend: there is a river, deep in the Amazon, which boils as if a fire burns below it. It was a story that would haunt Ruzo his entire childhood. Twenty years later, Ruzo—now a geoscientist—hears his aunt mention that she herself had visited this strange river.
Determined to prove the river must be merely legend, Ruzo sets out on a journey deep into the Amazon. But what he finds astounds him: in this long, wide, and winding river, the waters run so hot that locals brew tea in them; small animals that fall in are instantly cooked. Over the next few years, Ruzo returns again and again, trying to uncover the secret. As he studies alongside the locals, including a shaman that acts as his mentor, Ruzo faces challenges more complex than he had ever imagined. The tangle of competing interests—locals, illegal cattle farmers, logging and oil companies, and government interests—all have a stake in this land where the waters run so hot.
The Boiling River follows this young explorer as he navigates scientific, political, and personal obstacles. This true account reads like a modern-day adventure, complete with extraordinary characters, stunning vistas, captivating plot twists, and jaw-dropping details—including stunning photographs and never-before-published research about this incredible natural wonder. Ultimately, though, The Boiling River is about a man trying to understand his moral obligation to protect a sacred site from misuse, neglect, and even from his own discovery.
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“A brief debut book about a young, Peruvian-born geologist’s adventures in the Amazon. Ruzo begins with an interesting premise: his grandfather had filled him with boyhood tales of an Amazonian river so hot that it boils. Now, decades and degrees later, he sets out to find it…Against the thought of a river with such turbulent properties, the author found numerous forces arrayed against him, not least establishment science…Earnest and well-intended.”
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Kirkus Reviews