First off, many, many thanks to National Geographic for sending me a complimentary copy of this book as part of the First Reads/Goodreads Giveaway program.

I love all the questions this brings to mind for me about cultural and environmental impact of scientific exploration, and the funding of scientific exploration, and the role of the entertainment industry in funding and in raising awareness. The minimum-impact camper in me screams at the idea of traveling with all those porters. But the minimum-impact camper in me has never tried to spend weeks living among gorillas or climb cliffs few people have climbed. Pink Boots and a Machete is the story of Mireya Mayor, a "girly-girl" and yet also a "tom-boy" who was raised by three Cuban women in Miami. She was just as interested in things like fashion and make-up as she was chasing animals and collecting bugs and wading through creeks. The story is essentially an autobiography written in a very casual "bloggy" sort of way, with an often subtle dose of good humor. She invites the reader along for the ride as we follow her metamorphosis from from Cuban girl in Miami to National Geographic Explorer, with a stops along the way as an NFL cheerleader for the Miami Dolphins and a TV star. She presents herself as both an expert and as a "regular person," something that is very hard to do. There's no jargon here, and no pretense.

OOPS!

In the cheerleading world exists a rule: if you throw someone in the air, make sure to catch them. When you look at this picture, you realize three of the four girls followed the rule and did their part but the fourth cheerleader probably lost her focus. This picture tells us what happens when cheerleaders lose their focus and things go wrong. We told you, cheerleading isn’t as easy as it looks. What a Crappy Day The Dallas Cowboys cheerleading squad is one of the oldest as well as one of the most popular in the world. The squad debuted in 1960 and has appeared on several TV shows since then. In this picture, the Dallas Cowboys cheerleader in the frame looks both surprised as well as happy — she is certainly enjoying the attention she is getting but she shouldn’t be so happy considering the team she is cheerleading for has just had a mishap. This picture also proves that cheerleading is not always a fun sport, sometimes it can turn dangerous too. Thankfully, this cheerleader here is okay but her reaction is certainly funny. Great Abs but That Cheerleading Face Needs Some Work

We just can’t take our eyes off this beautiful cheerleader’s abs — we can’t even imagine having abs as great as hers. While this lady here has certainly worked her on her body, she hasn’t given much thought to her cheerleading face. This one closed eye and tongue out face is certainly not working in her favour. The One with Too Much Teeth Dr. Taylor then asked me about my "other" life as a cheerleader, which had obviously intrigued or puzzled her for some time. As it turned out, Doc, as she soon let me call her, was a huge Dolphins fan. Despite her stern exterior, we shared another couple of interests: shopping and shoes. And so began our lifelong friendship. I soon found myself hanging out less with friends, opting instead to spend hours in her office. In an age of tell-alls and TMZ, Mayor shows remarkable restraint in what she chooses to reveal about her personal life. I loved that, too. I loved the simple and limited way she describes meeting and falling in love with her husband (as well as what she tells, which isn't much, about the circumstances of their meeting and their romance). She went on her first expedition, funded by National Geographic, shortly after that, and started graduate school in anthropology. Since then, she's been nominated for Emmy Awards (twice), become a National Geographic Emerging Explorer, starred in two TV shows ("Wild Nights with Mireya Mayor," and History Channel’s "Expedition Africa: Stanley & Livingstone"), and become a Fulbright Scholar and a National Science Foundation Fellow. Along the way, she's conducted and published a ton of peer-reviewed research, and discovered and formally described the smallest primate species currently known, the mouse lemur Microcebus mittermeieri.

Mireya is the kind of role model for me and for women & girls across the world. She is not your stereotypical explorer and she's not ashamed that she loves "girlie" things. She's always loved animals and dreamed of exploring in the jungle one day. She becomes an NFL cheerleader (which will always be brought up in regards to her career) and later goes on to get an anthropology degree, explore across the world, become a National Geographic host, and to earn her Ph.D.

While I was in college, I was an NFL cheerleader for the Miami Dolphins," Mireya Mayor says. "I took this anthropology class really by accident, because I had to take a science requirement. I was on a very different path to becoming a lawyer." As a result of her credentials and her enthusiasm, there's a pretty good (and important) story in this book. This, I suspect, is why Jane Goodall wrote the forward. Mayor has a theory about gorilla social hierarchy that is somewhat unorthodox, based on past scientific observation: "... the prevailing thought has been that female gorillas are, without question, the weaker sex, forced to play by the rules. At least, that is what researchers had been reporting for decades, However, most of those researchers were male." Mayor posits that perhaps it is the females who actually have the power. Why would this not have merit? After all, how many researchers have defaulted to a male perspective without noticing, even the women? (I am referring here to the stereotypical male perspective, as I believe gender to be more of a spectrum.)Being a male cheerleader isn’t easy. To start with, male cheerleaders do not enjoy the same kind of popularity as their female counterparts. However, more importantly, male cheerleaders often have to lift their fellow squad members and perform moves and step which require a lot of physical strength. For instance, the guy in this picture is certainly trying very hard but he clearly does not have the strength for it. Elsewhere on Scientific American: Darlene Cavalier interviewed Mireya Mayor, and Bora reviewed the book Getting through this novel was tedious at times simply due to how annoying the author was, but her explorations and adventures somewhat speak for themselves.