An eloquent journey through the fantastic world of volcanoes and volcano lore.
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In order to get a sense of what life is like in the aura of a volcano, a presence at once magnificent (even divine) and threatening (even malevolent), essayist and nature writer Calderazzo travels to Italy's Mount Etna; Hawaii's Kilauea; Paricutin, Mexico, where in 1943 a volcano suddenly erupted in a cornfield; the small volcano-dominated Caribbean island of Montserrat; and California's Mount Shasta, a magnet for the mystically inclined. A boon companion, Calderazzo writes with a seemingly casual directness that belies the in-depth research, reflection, and distillation involved in his quest. His musings on how volcanoes have shaped humankind's sense of the sacred and his profiles of various volcano fanatics, especially the Mexican artist Gerado Murillo, known as Dr. Alt, mentor to Jose Orozco and Diego Rivera, are just as riveting as his dramatic accounts of volcanic eruptions. From the practice of human sacrifice to appease the gods of the underworld to scientific breakthroughs to the cosmic sense of awe and impermanence volcanoes inspire, all are addressed with acumen and eloquence in Calderazzo's compelling disquisition. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
From the Back Cover
Nearly one in ten people live in the shadow of a volcano. These people live every day with the possibility of unimaginable disaster looming over them. Following a lifelong passion for volcanoes, author John Calderazzo visits many of the grandest peaks in the world and profiles the local people. Part history, part travelogue, Rising Fire recounts famous eruptions, such as that of Indonesia’s Mount Tambora, which plunged the world into the “Year Without a Summer” and inspired Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.
Calderazzo visits volcanic islands in the Caribbean and scientists working at the edge of disaster in Alaska. He tells the story of Maurice and Katia Krafft, who had filmed more than five hundred active volcanoes, and died with thirty-six other journalists on live television, covering the explosion of Mount Unzen in Japan in 1991. He describes the plight of the island of Monserrat, radically altered in 1997 by the explosion of its volcano, which is still erupting and evolving.
As Calderazzo points out, volcanoes can cause complete destruction in the blink of an eye, but they simultaneously give birth to the newest earth on the planet. He argues that volcanoes can be sources of optimism, places where the world truly begins again. This fiery tribute to one of the planet’s most impressive natural wonders promises to inspire and intrigue readers.
Calderazzo visits volcanic islands in the Caribbean and scientists working at the edge of disaster in Alaska. He tells the story of Maurice and Katia Krafft, who had filmed more than five hundred active volcanoes, and died with thirty-six other journalists on live television, covering the explosion of Mount Unzen in Japan in 1991. He describes the plight of the island of Monserrat, radically altered in 1997 by the explosion of its volcano, which is still erupting and evolving.
As Calderazzo points out, volcanoes can cause complete destruction in the blink of an eye, but they simultaneously give birth to the newest earth on the planet. He argues that volcanoes can be sources of optimism, places where the world truly begins again. This fiery tribute to one of the planet’s most impressive natural wonders promises to inspire and intrigue readers.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Human Fascination with Volcanoes,
By
This review is from: Rising Fire: Volcanoes and Our Inner Lives (Hardcover)
John Calderazzo has written a book in "Rising Fires: Volcanoes and Our Inner Lives" that is not a scientific treatise on geology, but a personal account of the human relationship to these fire-breathing phenomena. The result is a charming series of vignettes on smoking mountains old and new from Vesuvius and Etna to Paricutin, Popocateptl, Pelee and Shasta. I have lived in the vicinity of inactive volcanoes for much of my life and in 1999 I flew over Popocateptl while it was smoking, the clouds just lifting enough to show the nearly perfect and almost snow-free cone of Popo and the blade-like (and snow-covered) summit of Iztaccihuatl. It was a very awe-inspiring sight! Earlier aerial views of Mt. Shasta, Mt. Hood, Mt. St. Helens and the rest of the chain of Cascade volcanoes were also quite impressive, although none of them were erupting at the time.
Calderazzo has captured the human connection with these impossible to stop forces of nature. Lava flows and explosive eruptions do not stop for any of our puny wishes that they would. A volcano is a truly irresistible force, destroying with ease, yet leaving fertile soil that is very tempting for cultivators. A vast amount of stories and folklore has build up about them and this book takes us on a personal tour of some of the most interesting "live" and "dead" mountains of fire. The author has an interesting style, holding the reader spell- bound with his descriptions of geological processes and the human response to them. I did find a few irritating typos, but generally the book reads well and I cannot imagine anyone being disappointed in it. If you are at all interested in our earth and how humans relate to it, this is a very good book to read.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful book,
This review is from: Rising Fire: Volcanoes and Our Inner Lives (Hardcover)
"More and more often, when I sit at home in simple meditation, just following my breath, I sense the enormity of so much that I miss, the subtle physical relationships that swirl around me all the time." Caderazzo writes this - and it reminds me how I often feel the same - which reminds me why I read in general - and why I like this book in particular. This is terrific - you'll like it if you have some sort of interest in volcanoes, but also, if you're just interested in an exploration into the human heart and the natural world and some of the things we all miss - those things that we look to others to point out to us, and that once seen, make us more alive.
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