When not climbing in the Alps, searching for rare plants in the desert, or mountain biking through some jungle, John Hessler is the curator of the Jay I. Kislak Collection of the Archaeology and History of the Early Americas at the Library of Congress, and a lecturer at the Rare Book School, at the University of Virginia, teaching the linguistics of the Mesoamerican Codex.
He is the author of more than one hundred articles and books on archaeology and exploration, including the New York Times bestseller, MAP: Exploring the World, and his work has been featured in many media outlets including the New York Times, Washington Post, the BBC, CBS News and NPR’s All Things Considered. His most recent book, Collecting for a New World, examines the history of the archaeological collections at the Library of Congress, where he also writes the Excavating Archaeology Series for the blog, Worlds Revealed.