How do high mountain ranges form on the face of the Earth? This question has intrigued some of the greatest philosophers & scientists, going back as far as the ancient Greeks. Devil in the Mountain is the story of one scientist, author Simon Lamb, & his quest for the key to this great geological mystery. Lamb & a small team of geologists have spent much of the last decade exploring the rugged Bolivian Andes, the second highest mountain range on Earth
- a region rocked by earthquakes & violent volcanic eruptions. The author's account is both travelogue & detective story, describing how he & his colleagues have pursued a trail of clues in the mountains, hidden beneath the rocky landscape. Here, the local silver miners strive to appease the spirit they call Tio
- the devil in the mountain. Traveling through Bolivia's back roads, the team has to cope with the extremes of the environment, & survive in a country on the verge of civil war. But the backdrop to all these adventures is the bigger story of the Earth & how geologists have gone about uncovering its secrets. We follow the tracks of the dinosaurs, who never saw the Andes but left their mark on the shores of a vast inland sea that covered this part of South America more than sixty-five million years ago, long before the mountains existed. & we learn how to find long lost rivers that once flowed through the landscape, how continents are twisted & torn apart, & where volcanoes come from. By the end of their journey, Lamb & his team turn up extraordinary evidence pointing not only to the fundamental instability of the Earth's surface, but also to unexpected & profound links in the workings of our planet.