What do you think?
Land of the Lost Mammoths: A Science Adventure
While working with a famous scientist in Greenland, four teenage scientists stumble upon a mysterious find that transports them to the Valley of the Runes where they encounter marooned Vikings, Arctic hurricanes, and other dangerous adventures.
- GenresScience FictionFantasy
174 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 2004
About the author
Mike Davis
229 books717 followersMike Davis was a titan of radical scholarship, a "Marxist-Environmentalist" whose work redefined urban theory and California history. Born in Fontana and raised in the working-class community of Bostonia, Davis was shaped by the rugged landscape of San Diego’s East County and the visceral realities of class struggle. His "burning bush" moment occurred in 1962 during a CORE demonstration, propelling him into a life of activism. He became a key organizer for Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), coordinating anti-Apartheid sit-ins and draft resistance while befriending lifelong mentors like Levi Kingston.
Before entering academia, Davis lived a quintessentially proletarian life as a meat cutter and long-haul truck driver. This "on-the-ground" perspective fueled his most influential work, City of Quartz (1990), which stripped away the sun-drenched myths of Los Angeles to reveal a fortress-like city defined by surveillance, police brutality, and spatial apartheid. He followed this with Late Victorian Holocausts, a harrowing examination of how colonial policy and El Niño weather patterns collaborated to create famines that killed millions, framing these "natural" disasters as products of global capitalism.
Davis was a master of prose, blending rigorous historical research with an apocalyptic sensibility that critics sometimes labeled "masculinist" or "overly bleak." Despite controversies regarding his journalistic "scene-setting," his insights into "the ecology of fear" and the "monster" of global pandemics proved prescient. A MacArthur "Genius" Fellow and Distinguished Professor at UC Riverside, he remained a defiant socialist until his death from esophageal cancer. He spent his final months "extraordinarily furious," regretting only that he could not die on a barricade. He is remembered as the primary cartographer of the "American Dream’s" dark underbelly.
Before entering academia, Davis lived a quintessentially proletarian life as a meat cutter and long-haul truck driver. This "on-the-ground" perspective fueled his most influential work, City of Quartz (1990), which stripped away the sun-drenched myths of Los Angeles to reveal a fortress-like city defined by surveillance, police brutality, and spatial apartheid. He followed this with Late Victorian Holocausts, a harrowing examination of how colonial policy and El Niño weather patterns collaborated to create famines that killed millions, framing these "natural" disasters as products of global capitalism.
Davis was a master of prose, blending rigorous historical research with an apocalyptic sensibility that critics sometimes labeled "masculinist" or "overly bleak." Despite controversies regarding his journalistic "scene-setting," his insights into "the ecology of fear" and the "monster" of global pandemics proved prescient. A MacArthur "Genius" Fellow and Distinguished Professor at UC Riverside, he remained a defiant socialist until his death from esophageal cancer. He spent his final months "extraordinarily furious," regretting only that he could not die on a barricade. He is remembered as the primary cartographer of the "American Dream’s" dark underbelly.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 14, 2026
A charming read, much like if Jules Verne committed to writing specifically for children, Land of the Lost Mammoths splices fiction and science in a way that recalls 20,000 Leagues or Journey to the Centre of the Earth. In fact, it references the latter. The book is also beautiful. Gorgeous artwork, magnificent binding, and an easy typeset. More than enough to recommend it to the science-obsessed among younger readers.
Where it falls down is dialogue. The child characters are absurdly precocious, this might be overlooked, but they and the adults speak in total absurdities. Exposition in the extreme. The trouble with this is that assumes the stupidity to the reader in a way that borders on patronizing. There is nothing more fantastical to be found here than the way these characters talk. It's also where the academia falls down. Surely a book devoted to scientific minds would take a moment to get the radio etiquette of a mayday right, or at least forgo the silly "over and out" signal.
Ideal for very young, advanced readers. Buy your copy direct from Perceval Press.
Where it falls down is dialogue. The child characters are absurdly precocious, this might be overlooked, but they and the adults speak in total absurdities. Exposition in the extreme. The trouble with this is that assumes the stupidity to the reader in a way that borders on patronizing. There is nothing more fantastical to be found here than the way these characters talk. It's also where the academia falls down. Surely a book devoted to scientific minds would take a moment to get the radio etiquette of a mayday right, or at least forgo the silly "over and out" signal.
Ideal for very young, advanced readers. Buy your copy direct from Perceval Press.
May 14, 2017
An overlooked book that combines several genres: fantasy, science, adventure, maybe even a smudge of magic. A group of genius teens are awarded the privilege of spending their summer at a science camp with an esteemed scientist. They discover his true reason for selecting them is they each possess a talent that will help unravel the mystery of lost mammoths.
Lots of adventure contained in a well-crafted book. BtW--Perceval Press was founded by Viggo Mortenson, who is said to oversee each of the twelve books that the company publishes each year.
Lots of adventure contained in a well-crafted book. BtW--Perceval Press was founded by Viggo Mortenson, who is said to oversee each of the twelve books that the company publishes each year.
July 9, 2021
The beginning of the book was a bit slow for me. I was starting to feel like it was dragging. I kept going and was glad I did. The book picked up and I really enjoyed it. I enjoyed the mixture of fact and fiction in the story.
May 23, 2015
It is an amazing book that doesn't get the attention it deserves. I would recommend it to anyone likes adventure stories. It's a book that I recommend to even librarians and some of my teachers. It's an amazing book.
June 7, 2016
This is one of my favorite books I have ever read and I'm so happy that I bought this book and I can reread it whenever I want to. I have and will continue to tell my friends to read this book.
September 2, 2012
Not a well known book, but a great science fiction read.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews