Jon Turk is a chemist, professional geoscience writer, and adventurer. He received his PhD in 1971, and later that year he co-authored the first environmental science college textbook in the country. In the 32 years since then, Turk has continued his career as a science writer, publishing 23 environmental and geoscience texts. His love of unspoiled environments and fascination for the wild places of this planet have also led to a distinguished career as an adventurer. He has kayaked around Cape Horn as well as the 3,000 miles between Japan and Alaska, crossed the western Gobi of Mongolia, unsupported, on a mountain bike, and was the first to ascend Lamo-she Peak (6,070 meters) in the… eastern Himalayas with co-author Gray Thompson. He has written numerous magazine articles about his expeditions as well as adventure/travel books, including In the Wake of the Jomon: Stone Age Mariners and a Voyage Across the Pacific (McGraw Hill, 2005).