Author: Peter Tyson

In this book, Peter Tyson guides readers into “the planet’s most exotic frontier,” Madagascar. Readers will see for themselves why it’s been called “the naturalist’s promised land.” 

Part scientific exploration, part adventure saga, part cultural and historical narrative, “The Eighth Continent” follows Tyson’s journeys with four scientific experts.

Since the age of dinosaurs, Madagascar has thrived in isolation off the east coast of Africa. In this real-life “lost world,” hundreds of animal and plant species, most famously the lemurs, have evolved here and only here, while other creatures extinct elsewhere for tens of millions of years now vie with modern man for survival. 

It’s a land of striking geography, from soaring mountains to vast canyon lands, from tropical rain forests to spiny deserts. And its people are a conundrum unto themselves, their origins obscure, their language complex and distinct, and their beliefs fascinating.