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PW Web Excusive Online reviews
"Science writer and author Breining ("Return of the Eagle") gives readers a solid introduction to modern volcanology in this look at 'super volcanoes' in general ... and the Yellowstone caldera ... Breining has done a public service by bringing these hazards to light with straight-forward writing and a well-organized text, clearly explaining complicated, violent geological processes without ignoring the awe-inspiring beauty of volcanic landscapes ... Bolstered by clearly laid-out maps, Breining's talent for elucidating complex phenomena makes this one of the best books on volcanoes a general reader can hope for."
"Choice, "March 2008
"Super Volcano" captures the essence, the excitement, and the deep and far-reaching influence of the world's greatest heat anomaly. Breining writes for the layperson with enthusiasm and informality, bringing the subjects to life...A rare read! Highly recommended."
"Science writer and author Breining ("Return of the Eagle") gives readers a solid introduction to modern volcanology in this look at 'super volcanoes' in general ... and the Yellowstone caldera ... Breining has done a public service by bringing these hazards to light with straight-forward writing and a well-organized text, clearly explaining complicated, violent geological processes without ignoring the awe-inspiring beauty of volcanic landscapes ... Bolstered by clearly laid-out maps, Breining's talent for elucidating complex phenomena makes this one of the best books on volcanoes a general reader can hope for."
"Choice, "March 2008
"Super Volcano" captures the essence, the excitement, and the deep and far-reaching influence of the world's greatest heat anomaly. Breining writes for the layperson with enthusiasm and informality, bringing the subjects to life...A rare read! Highly recommended."
Product Description
A 45-mile wide caldera is brewing under one of the world's most famous national parks. What will happen when it finally erupts? Greg Breining explores the shocking answer to this question and others in this book, full of scientific facts but written for any reader. When this erupts, the world will be hit hard, with massive earth tremors as far as Tierra del Feugo and the Arctic ice-caps, tonnes of poison gases, enough ash thrown up to dramatically alter the weather patterns of the world and cause a nuclear winter. Previous volcanic eruptions have claimed a huge death toll - Krakato killed 36, 000; Icke in Iceland killed over 9, 300 people in less than an hour by releasing fluorine gases; Mt Uzen caused 14, 300 deaths in Japan in 1792, and Mt Tambora killed over 92, 000 people in 1812 - but this one has the potential to alter not only one continent but the entire world.
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18 of 18 people found the following review helpful
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9 Aug 2010
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Super Volcano
The Ticking Bomb Beneath Yellowstone National Park
If you know nothing about volcanoes, plate tectonics, or geologic history, then this book is a reasonable, basic, and accessible introduction. The author leans toward verbosity and is a bit florid, but not excessively so. But if you are interested in the geology of Yellowstone Park then there are better places to look.
The sub-title is "The Ticking Time Bomb Beneath Yellowstone National Park". This is why I bought this book and why I was disappointed. Only one chapter (less than 25%) deals with the relevant geology and that at a very low level. One chapter concentrates on the human history of Yellowstone where the geology is incidental. There is an overlong chapter on the history of plate tectonics and the rest of the book, by far the majority, is simply a catalog of volcanic eruptions through history (and even at that he misses Novarupta, AK in 1912, the biggest of the 20th century and Mt. Etna, Sicily, in eruption since 2001). The volume of ash and magma, the number of casualties, and social affects are reported in great detail. This is not uninteresting in itself, but is hardly geology. The attitude throughout is rather 'Gee Whiz' than scientific. In fact there is very little science in the book at all. There is not a diagram of a typical volcano let alone a super volcano. There is little about the mechanism of geysers and even less on fumaroles. And, in fact, he uses a rather limited definition for 'caldera'. This makes for a nice campfire story but is not very enlightening.
On top of that the book loses a star for design. It has a plethora of the annoying insertions so prevalent in magazines; a sentence of two from the text is enclosed in a box and scattered at random throughout. These are even more distracting in a book than they are in a magazine article. They add nothing to the text, they breakup continuity and they take up space.
If you are after human history of volcanic activity then you will get it here, if a little redundant. If, like me, you are looking for a scientific explanation, or, at least, a description of Yellowstone geology it is not here.
I have no doubt that the author's travel writing is very good; he should stick to that.
The Ticking Bomb Beneath Yellowstone National Park
If you know nothing about volcanoes, plate tectonics, or geologic history, then this book is a reasonable, basic, and accessible introduction. The author leans toward verbosity and is a bit florid, but not excessively so. But if you are interested in the geology of Yellowstone Park then there are better places to look.
The sub-title is "The Ticking Time Bomb Beneath Yellowstone National Park". This is why I bought this book and why I was disappointed. Only one chapter (less than 25%) deals with the relevant geology and that at a very low level. One chapter concentrates on the human history of Yellowstone where the geology is incidental. There is an overlong chapter on the history of plate tectonics and the rest of the book, by far the majority, is simply a catalog of volcanic eruptions through history (and even at that he misses Novarupta, AK in 1912, the biggest of the 20th century and Mt. Etna, Sicily, in eruption since 2001). The volume of ash and magma, the number of casualties, and social affects are reported in great detail. This is not uninteresting in itself, but is hardly geology. The attitude throughout is rather 'Gee Whiz' than scientific. In fact there is very little science in the book at all. There is not a diagram of a typical volcano let alone a super volcano. There is little about the mechanism of geysers and even less on fumaroles. And, in fact, he uses a rather limited definition for 'caldera'. This makes for a nice campfire story but is not very enlightening.
On top of that the book loses a star for design. It has a plethora of the annoying insertions so prevalent in magazines; a sentence of two from the text is enclosed in a box and scattered at random throughout. These are even more distracting in a book than they are in a magazine article. They add nothing to the text, they breakup continuity and they take up space.
If you are after human history of volcanic activity then you will get it here, if a little redundant. If, like me, you are looking for a scientific explanation, or, at least, a description of Yellowstone geology it is not here.
I have no doubt that the author's travel writing is very good; he should stick to that.
22 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Good explanations of complex phenomena
25 Nov 2007
Format:Hardcover
Review by Rik Lantz, R.G. on Ann Logue's Amazon account: This was a very interesting book and a nice, thorough discussion of hot spot volcanism. The book gave me a good appreciation that the hot spot that created the Snake River Basalt flows and Yellowstone is still down there cooking away and could cause another major volcanic event with profound consequences for the area, North America, and the world.
Mr. Breining does a nice job of describing some complex phenomena in plain English and making them accessible to the layman. I thought he did a very good job of describing what happens during an eruption and the hazards of ash falls and climate alteration in addition to the more immediately obvious effects of pyroclastic eruptions and lava flows. I felt that he didn't do as good a job of describing why these hot spots would remain stationary in the mantle, which by all accounts is moving around as much as the crust, but perhaps that's because it's not very well understood in the first place. Explanations of other phenomena were direct, concise, and understandable, but the discussion of hot spots stood out to me because it was not very cogent or convincing in comparison. I would have liked to see him explore the link between volcanism and climate more thoroughly.
I enjoyed his description of the Ashfall Fossil Beds in Nebraska, and how they demonstrate that volcanic events can have far-reaching consequences for animals half a continent away. The description of how fine ash affects a faunal assemblage and helps explain the sequence in which they die, and thus which ones are on top, was fascinating. I'm going to have to stop and check the place out next time I drive through Nebraska.
In summary, this a very readable overview of volcanism in general and how it relates to the geology of Yellowstone in particular, with a lot of good information about the significant eruptions during recorded history thrown in for good measure. The title ("ticking time bob"!) is a bit alarmist, but it's a good read and sober assessment of the risks of future volcanism at Yellowstone.
Mr. Breining does a nice job of describing some complex phenomena in plain English and making them accessible to the layman. I thought he did a very good job of describing what happens during an eruption and the hazards of ash falls and climate alteration in addition to the more immediately obvious effects of pyroclastic eruptions and lava flows. I felt that he didn't do as good a job of describing why these hot spots would remain stationary in the mantle, which by all accounts is moving around as much as the crust, but perhaps that's because it's not very well understood in the first place. Explanations of other phenomena were direct, concise, and understandable, but the discussion of hot spots stood out to me because it was not very cogent or convincing in comparison. I would have liked to see him explore the link between volcanism and climate more thoroughly.
I enjoyed his description of the Ashfall Fossil Beds in Nebraska, and how they demonstrate that volcanic events can have far-reaching consequences for animals half a continent away. The description of how fine ash affects a faunal assemblage and helps explain the sequence in which they die, and thus which ones are on top, was fascinating. I'm going to have to stop and check the place out next time I drive through Nebraska.
In summary, this a very readable overview of volcanism in general and how it relates to the geology of Yellowstone in particular, with a lot of good information about the significant eruptions during recorded history thrown in for good measure. The title ("ticking time bob"!) is a bit alarmist, but it's a good read and sober assessment of the risks of future volcanism at Yellowstone.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Well researched and well written
11 Oct 2008
Format:Hardcover
If you don't know anything about geology or volcanos, fear not. This book, written by a respected Twin Cities travel author, is very well researched and written in concise, entertaining, plain talk. I am a geologist with a fascination for such things as Yellowstone, but I truely despise authors who publish papers so calcified with 25-cent words that it looks as though they consulted William F. Buckley for an editor. Thankfully, such is not the case here. Breining does all the work and you reap all the rewards easily.
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