The Big One: The Earthquake That Rocked Early America and Helped Create a Science (Hardcover)

by Jake Page (Author), Charles Officer (Author) "A TREMENDOUS ROAR, the ground writhed in convulsions..." (more)
Key Phrases: New Madrid, United States, Geological Survey (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
The three largest earthquakes ever to strike the continental United States occurred in December 1811 and January 1812 near New Madrid, Mo.; the third quake is estimated to have reached magnitude 8.3. (The 1906 San Francisco quake, by comparison, was a magnitude 7.6.) Journalist Page and Dartmouth geologist Officer (who also coauthored Tales of the Earth) use the 1811–1812 events to provide a brief history of the science of seismology and a basic primer on the current state of geological knowledge. Although the writing is uneven, the authors do a credible job of describing the horrors of a cataclysm that occurred almost two centuries ago. They conclude that earthquakes of the New Madrid sort, which occur in the middle of a continental plate rather than at the confluence of two plates, such as those along the San Andreas Fault, are much less well understood and thus more difficult to predict. Moving further afield, they describe failed attempts to predict earthquakes, focusing in large part on the gullibility of the press to "false prophets" of doom. Given that a repeat of the events of 1811–1812 would likely kill thousands and wreak havoc in such cities as St. Louis, Cincinnati and Memphis, this light volume is worth perusing.
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From School Library Journal
Adult/High School–This book transforms historical descriptions of the massive earthquakes associated with the New Madrid fault zone in the Mississippi valley in 1811-1812 into an informative, well-written investigation of the development of the science of seismology. The authors describe how scientists, engineers, and others tried to understand what caused buildings and other structures to be destroyed by earthquakes and how corrective and protective measures could save lives and ensure increased margins of security. Students of the history of science and engineering will be intrigued to read about the critical influence of Scottish engineers working with Japanese colleagues to develop new methods for measuring these upheavals, and how that work led to new codes of building practice. The development of the Richter scale is discussed, along with recent advances in ways to describe the severity of earthquakes, and the ways that new studies have generated more precise estimates of the strength of historical earthquakes. Line drawings of historically important seismograph measuring devices as well as maps showing the New Madrid fault zone and other areas of earthquake activity around the world are included. This readable title will appeal to those interested in the causes of earthquakes, their effects on man-made structures, and the impact of natural processes on human society.–Ted Woodcock, George Mason University, Arlington, VA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (June 17, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0618341501
• ISBN-13: 978-0618341504
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,081,405 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Hard to give it a number., July 10, 2004

By	Atheen M. Wilson "Atheen" (Mpls, MN United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

I don't quite know what to say about this book. The Big One is a difficult book to put a number rating on really. For one thing I'm not quite sure for whom it was written. It strikes me as a "publish-or-perish" kind of production. I enjoyed the book, but only because I enjoy anything on geology. This said, I will point out the merits of the book from the point of various populations of readers.

The average adult with only the very meagerest background, if any, in geology and natural sciences might well enjoy the book-certainly the title and the cover blurb are designed to hook in such a reader-but he/she might be better served by spending the money on a more general title, the focus of which is learning the basics of these sciences. Certainly there are a wide number of such books out there, many of them textbooks for survey courses at the general college level. Just searching Amazon's own list, I turned up thousands of them.

The authors' stated goal was to describe the New Madrid earthquakes of 1811 and 1812, and the first few chapters do an admirable job of it. Unfortunately they tend to get off the track with their discussion of basic geology and don't return to their main topic until the end of the book where they speculate on the effects of a similar event in the future. I had the distinct feeling that they had only a slender amount to say about New Madrid and padded the volume out with a discussion of basic geology for the beginner. I certainly can't imagine a professional geologist reading the book when most of the information contained in it can be found with more precision and detail in professional journals.

Of their aim to demonstrate that the New Madrid quakes provided the impetus to the development of seismology and geology as disciplines, I'm not certain they achieved their goal.
While many people were interested in this event and a number of witnesses attempted to quantify as well as describe it, I'm not certain that this qualifies as any more than a minor branch root of these fields, an interesting aside. Again, if one has an interest in the history of geology, one can find other books that will give a broader and more connected narrative of the personalities and development of this field.

The primary population to whom I'd wholeheartedly recommend The Big One is to libraries that provide books on scientific topics for young people. For advanced students of middle/junior high or interested senior high, the book would be a splendid introduction to the topics of seismology and the geosciences as professions through the intriguing narrative these specific earthquakes and their effects on the people in the area. The book is especially good because it also discusses quackery in earthquake prediction and describes specifically what can and cannot be known about seismic events. It also defines geological terms that have come into the more ill-defined vernacular of journalism and tend to mislead. Furthermore, it describes how such irresponsible journalism can produce public panic that can needlessly cost millions of dollars, while debate about the expense of building codes illustrates how government and science work to protect affected regions. Young people trained to look beyond the headlines for solid information and who pay attention to the particulars of debates over codes, etc. are more likely to be sensible and responsible citizens.

For THOSE WRITING PAPERS on geology, seismology, history, journalism, political science, and urban planning. One might look at how the mythology of the New Madrid quakes grew from the actual events. What human needs were met by this mythology? What kind of distortion do you think may have occurred and why? One might look at how interpretation of published accounts has allowed geologists to fine tune their evaluation of the New Madrid earthquakes and how they fit into plate tectonics. Why did some earlier researchers feel some of the accounts were due to hysteria, while even later researchers believed them to be true. What kinds of things were each looking at? What data did each use to evaluate the narratives? One might look at how governments like that of Peru got almost unavoidably carried away by the quake quackery. Were the responses of these foreign governments any different from the responses of local governments in the US as described by the book? What human issues underline the similarities and differences in these responses? What suggestions, if any, would you make to avoid panic? To what extent is journalism responsible for promoting this type of panic? How might it be held accountable? Can it be held accountable? One might look at the issues of building codes in earthquake prone areas. Do you think that California and the New Madrid area should have similar codes? Why? If not, how should they differ?

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A nice book, December 27, 2005

By	L. M Pistor "grandpa_mike" (Longwood, FL United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is easy to read. However it jumps from topic to topic without much transistion. It really is more about seismology than about the New Madrid earthquake. It updated my knowledge of the field. It has been 15 to 20 years since I read about plate techtonics in Scientific American. The science has come a long way.

7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Who knows when or where?, November 28, 2004

By	J. Guild (Toronto,Canada) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This book is a nice,safe,summary of the subject of earthquakes.What this book does is show that the knowledge of earthquakes is still in it's infancy;despite the fact that earthquakes have been around since the beginning of time;and studied,documented,and written about for almost as long.
It seems that each new quake tends to weaken any prediction theory built on the past.As a matter of faith,we all expect big ones to occur,but no idea of when or where.
The track record on earthquake prediction is to predict them in broad terms and far enough into the future that people forget about that prediction and occupy themselves with the latest guesses.On top of that,it always seems that after an earthquake occurs,all kinds of stuff comes out of the woodwokk that claim occurrences were taking place,and if only heeded,would have forewarned us of the quake;but invariably after the fact.
On the back of this book is a statement:
"The earthquake that rocked Early America and helped create a science." I suggest that it may have helped create an industry;the science still remains to be developed.
Another book I recently read was "A Dangerous Place" by Marc Reisner,see my review of Sept 26,2004.He contemplates the inevitable consequences of a major quake occurring near Oakland,Calif. on the Hayward Fault.It's quite good.
It seems that the answer to the big one is still to be found.