Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good, but don't expect McPhee, July 13, 1999
Sieh is an extremely good and well-respected geologist, and a fairly good writer as well. He is made better with the help of Levay. As a trained geologist, I have read a few of Sieh's papers, which are, naturally, written for scientists. The potential problem with this book is that it reads a little too much like a scientific paper.This is not a problem if you are keenly interested in the subject, or have at least a minimal background in geology. There are several gripping accounts of various natural disasters as they occurred. However, don't expect this book to keep you on your toes with an abundance of engaging drama and wit. Sieh and Levay have not deigned to dumb down the material. Expect a lot of facts and supporting data. To get the full benefit from this book, you will be forced to follow logical arguments and, at times, intricate lines of reasoning. This is not a coffee table book with just a lot of pretty pictures (although there are several color plates). This book occupies a space on my bookshelf that I reserve for my favorite science books, and I'm happy to have read it.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Book with Strong Focus on Southern California, April 22, 2002
One of the things that makes this book stand out is that its geology is up-to-date and detailed. I was a geology major back in the late 70s and while I decided not to go on in the field, I've kept up reasonably well. I learned a great deal of new info from this book, including the only coherent explanation I've ever read of the "hot spots" responsible for volcanoes like those in Hawaii.The basic format of the book is of a west-to-east journey through the U.S., although Southern California (where co-author Sieh lives and works) gets by far the most detailed coverage. We get some vivid anecdotal accounts of earthquakes and eruptions, but the overall focus is more "what we think we know and why we think we know it." As another reviewer said, you must be interested enough in the subject to follow some reasonably complex logical arguments. The color photos in the book are a valuable addition -- among other things, they made me realize that the oddly ramp-like block just south of Sunset Boulevard in LA is actually the scarp of the fault that has raised the Hollywood Hills. The writing style is clear and approachable. All in all a very enjoyable read for folks with a serious interest in Earth Science.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent survey of volcanic & seismic hazards in the US, March 3, 1999
By A Customer
This book looks at ten or so regions in the USA that suffer major earthquake and seismic hazards in a very readable fashion. Some of these are the familar ones in the news such as Mt. St. Helens and California, Others are not so well known like New York City and Tennesee, because they haven't been active in a while, but could potentially be as deadly.It is written in a Scientific America-like journalistic style: a readable introduction for high school students as well as meaty detail for a seasoned geologist. It contains a number of up-to-date maps and photgraphs illustrating the destruction and how the geology works. It conveniently assembles into a single volume a number of case histories previously scattered among different scientific journals, government reports and popular science articles. It crosses the sub-fields of geology, seismology, volcanology and civil engineering- topics often seperated in other works. The main author, Sieh, is a CalTech geologist who is one of the leading figures in geological seismology, and studied several of the areas described in the book. Geological seismology looks at disturbed soil layers, rocks, and old trees to estimate seismic activity over the past several thousand years, before there were seismic instruments. The second author, LeVay, is a former LaJolla neuroscientist and presently a science journalist. He probably contributed heavily to making the volume readable. Some of the chapters are personal reports of scientific investigations in manner of Sullivan or McPhee. The book is not intended to be comprehensive textbook of geology, seismology, volcanology, etc., although there are introductions to such woven into the text and appendices. Also the book doesn't cover every major hazardous area in the US, but many of the significant ones, and ignores the rest of the world. I recommend the book as enjoyable science reading with deep details even geologists would learn from. I will use this book as a reference when talking about seismic hazards in the future.
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