Didn't See That Coming - Roger James Kuhns

As a geologist working in mineral exploration for one of the largest mining companies in the world, Roger Kuhns traveled the rocky terrains of the earth, seeking precious metals and diamonds, a journey that began with a passion for the natural environment but became one of self-discovery. He soon realized that navigating the corporate world could be far more treacherous than the deepest mines in South Africa or the most remote drill rig in Venezuela. 

This collection of stories—part memoir, part monologue—begins in the rainforests of French Guyana, where, amid giant spiders, deadly snakes and contentious local factions, Kuhns must negotiate the development of a gold mine, struggling with the larger question of how to take from nature while preserving it. He goes on to East Africa, narrowly avoiding being attacked by lions, while wrestling with larger contradictions between faith and tradition, wondering how does one save oneself—even as he is mistaken for Jesus at a Tanzanian bar. His work takes him north to a former Siberian gulag, where Kuhns must deal with the black mafia and navigate the corrupt policies of the newly post-Soviet Russia, and far south into the desolate Australian Outback, rich with minerals and the ghosts of the continent’s dark colonial past. 

Didn’t See That Coming is an honest look into the hearts and minds of people who seek better lives in a world that is not always fair, not often kind, but always personal. We glimpse the world through the eyes of an explorer; a man and humanitarian, who is driven to understand what lies beneath the earth, but not at the expense of those who inhabit it. This is a story of a geologist seeking answers to our greatest questions - and finding them.