Magnitude 8: Earthquakes and Life Along the San Andreas Fault [Hardcover]

Philip L. Fradkin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 14, 1998

The archetypal natural disaster defined on the verge of the millennium. To understand the cataclysmic earthquake that will tear California apart one day, Philip L. Fradkin has written a dramatic history of earthquakes and an eloquent guide to the San Andreas Fault, the world's best-known tectonic landscape. The author includes vivid stories of earthquakes elsewhere: in New England, the central Mississippi River Valley, New York City, Europe, and the Far East. Always, he combines human and natural drama to place the reader at the epicenter of the most instantaneous and unpredictable of all the Earth's phenomena. Following the San Andreas Fault from Cape Mecino to Mexico--canoeing the fault line in northern California and walking underground through the Hollywood fault--noted environmental historian Philip L. Fradkin reclaims the human dimensions of earthquakes from the science-dominated accounts.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

"The tectonic history of any one part of the earth, like the life of a soldier, consists of long periods of boredom and short periods of terror." With this quotation from geologist Derek Ager, Pulitzer Prize-winning environmental journalist Philip Fradkin, "a literary geologist with a notebook in one hand and a hammer in the other," begins his trip along the San Andreas Fault. His persistent question is how "a culture could ignore this powerful natural agent while simultaneously being shaped by it." Fradkin himself lives near the fault, and he understands the human reluctance to remember the past and to prepare for the inevitable. He looks at the history and impact of the major California earthquakes of the past 150 years, from Fort Teijin in 1857 to Northridge in 1994. Throughout, he exposes the problems caused by human shortcomings: the amnesia of the general public, earthquake engineers' conflicts of interest, and the failures of science. His discussions of the politics of earthquake prediction and of the "arcane systems" used to measure earthquake magnitudes are the best in print. "I wanted others to be aware of the fault's physical presence and its awesome power," Fradkin writes. He may also succeed at raising Californians' awareness of how to prepare for earthquakes--and at shortening their feelings of boredom while lengthening their periods of prudent terror. --Mary Ellen Curtin

From Publishers Weekly

The history of California and Californians is inextricably intertwined with earthquakesAas is made abundantly clear in Fradkin's new book (after The Seven States of California), an expansive seismological trek along the San Andreas Fault line. Fradkin covers California's quakes from early theories to state-of-the-art science, from the 1857 Fort Tejon quake to the 1994 Northridge quake. There is much hard science here, detailing everything from standard theories on quakes past and present to debates within the seismological community. Some of the most fascinating sections of the book deal not with geology or seismology, however, but with human reactions, both personal and civil, to the destructive potential of quakes. Fradkin reports that during the rebuilding of San Francisco following the 1906 quake, building codes were relaxed to hasten reconstruction of the city and references to the quake were deleted in subsequent writings, focusing instead on the ensuing fire. There is also excellent coverage of quakes as media events, including the Loma Prieta quake in 1989, which interrupted the World Series. Fradkin tackles his topic expertly and with a keen sense that earthquakes are social as well as geological events that have shaped not only the landscape of the state but also the attitudes of those who live there. Agent, Brandt & Brandt.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 480 pages
• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.; 1st edition (October 14, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805046968
• ISBN-13: 978-0805046960
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,949,543 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Enthralling, thoughtful, and sobering, but with a few warts, February 5, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Magnitude 8: Earthquakes and Life Along the San Andreas Fault (Hardcover)

Fradkin travels the length of the San Andreas by car, by kayak, and on foot, describing its perils and its history. Into his story of the San Andreas he weaves parallel threads about earthquakes elsewhere, always playing up the public's denial of earthquake hazard.

As a seismologist, I found the book often irritating (right down to its title: there is no evidence that the San Andreas has ever suffered a magnitude 8 earthquake or that it ever will), and sometimes too dramatic, but in the end it left me with a feeling of chagrin. Fradkin put together a good, coherent story of the San Andreas' hazards, but to do so, he had to fight his way through arcane jargon. His comment that the scientists don't know how to communicate makes me squirm, but it is absolutely right.

Not only is this a must-read for anyone within 200 miles of the San Andreas, it should be required for all seismologists and emergency managers who ever have to talk to the public.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Facinating blend of narative and science, January 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Magnitude 8: Earthquakes and Life Along the San Andreas Fault (Hardcover)

This book tells the story of California and it's geology in way that connects it with real life. It brings home how we conspire to ignore the earthquake threat. A must for CA residents.

2.0 out of 5 stars A 3.0 on the Richter Scale -- Barely Registers, May 29, 2007

By 

David K. Taggart (Calhoun, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Magnitude 8: Earthquakes and Life along the San Andreas Fault (Paperback)

The author-notes at the end of the book claim that the author once shared a Pulitzer Prize for journalism. He must have had one heck of an editor then, and he sure didn't have one for this book. Disorganized in the extreme, the prose can vary from scientific jargon to conspiracy theory to personal snarky-ness within a single paragraph.

You have a subject that should be inherently interesting -- the destruction of the state of California -- the true "Big One" that would make Katrina and New Orleans look puny by comparison. But work your way through chapter one, and you'll see why I found this one remaindered for 49 cents at Final Markdown!