A friend gave me a copy of The Last Days of St. Pierre, so I figured I'd at least read the first chapter or so, even though disasters aren't usually my thing. WOW! WHAT A SURPRISE! I had a hard time putting this book down!

The first chapter begins with the personal journal of a sailor who passed some fifty miles from the volcano on the day of the disaster in 1902, then docked on another island to find the burned out hull of a large steamer that had escaped the eruption while 18 other ships sank. Then the scene shifts to Washington, New York, Philadelphia, and Paris, where the first sketchy reports of the disaster are arriving by telegraph. Then the preparations of the scientist and journalists who head off to Martinique to unravel the mysteries about what happened there. No reader can possibly stop here; you have to go on the Chapter 2.

Even though you think you know what's going to happen next, there is one surprise after another. And I found myself really caring about the many of the characters, trying to guess who will die and who will escape in time.

This true story is what I call a "MUST READ!"

perhaps the debate "is zebrowski's book a scientific account or a novel?" is best understood when we look at a simple fact: it has a human side. no writing can be strictly an "account" if it takes on the brutal task of touching on not just the facts but the sociological effects of such a disaster, as zebrowski's story does. and the humanization of a scientific fact of life is not a fault.

a novel or an account... why can't it be both? after all, what is a great story if not a wonderful descripton of a point in time, with characters and dialogue-and truth, at that.

and spelling geographical terms in a different way than we are used to is not a "liberty," it is a choice.

this is a truly phenomenal book. dr. zebrowski is clearly a scientist-and a writer.

This book is that rarity - a page turner about geological phenomena. I had no previous interest in or knowledge about volcanoes, but The Last Days of St. Pierre was hard to put down. The tragic history of Mount Pelee, its fatal eruption and horrific aftermath, come alive in the words of contemporary witnesses (and many who did not survive). I could see how Zebrowski must have identified with the adventurer-geologists who investigated the volcano after its initial eruption, for he describes their travels (and travails) vividly.

But this is not just a book for earth scientists. It deserves a wide general readership.

Ernest Zebrowski, Jr. is both a teacher and a story-teller in "Perils of a Restless Planet." I picked the book up to review it and found myself reading it from cover to cover all over again.

Stylistically, the author will begin with the story of, say, the San Francisco earthquake (1906). He then compares it to the Messina earthquake (1908), and asks why there were so many more casualties in the Messina quake (only a 33% - 45% survival rate as compared to San Francisco's 99.8% survival rate). This question leads to a discussion of the strengths of materials---how well they perform when deformed by tension, compression, shear, and torsion. In San Francisco, the houses were built of wood, which will bend and twist and allow its occupants time to escape during a quake. The houses in Messina were built of stone. "It is this plastic behavior of wood (versus stone) that explains the dramatic difference in survival rates in the San Francisco and Messina earthquakes of 1906 and 1908."

There's lots of physics (and some biology, archeology, and sociology) in 'Perils' but it is all very clear and palatable. In fact, this book would make a good overview of science for high school students. It's got stories of volcanoes, plagues, earthquakes, tsunamis, tornadoes, asteroids, and poisonous lakes to hold the students' interest. The clear physical explanations of, for example, why some boats will float during a tsunami and others will turn turtle, are an excellent foundation for further explorations into the worlds of science. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in how we've managed to survive and even thrive on the surface of such a restless planet. It is an excellent summary of the science necessary to understand many of the Earth's natural catastrophes.

I picked up this book while in Cambridge, strolling through one of the bookstores in town. Thumbing through the pages, it looked like a collection of stories about natural disasters - something I thought would be interesting reading in the evening, after poking around old cathedrals, castles, and local pubs. Anyway, it was father's day and my wife offered to get it as a present - I gladly accepted and began reading it right away.

It wasn't the book I expected. Sure, it has lots of stories about notable natural disasters, but it's much more than just sensational accounts. It's actually a well-thought-out science book with some excellent material about the nature of science in general, complete with basic tutorials on such things as strengths of materials, wave propagation, the weather, and chaos.

The book begins with an account of the 1755 disaster that virtually destroyed Lisbon. The catastrophe consisted of an offshore earthquake that leveled much of the city (especially the un-reinforced buildings of stone masonry) followed by a tsunami and fires that basically destroyed what was left. This chapter also tells the story of the destruction of Thera (today called Santorin or Santorini) in the Aegean Sea. This island volcano erupted catastrophically, destroying most of it approximately 1600 B.C. An interesting part of this story is the conjecture that the catastrophe led to the eventual downfall of the civilization on Crete, not far away.

The book then switches modes, temporarily, with a very nice expose on the evolution of science, and what science is. I especially appreciated Zebrowski's illustration of the basic assumptions in science, and how the philosophy and methods of science have evolved since Aristotle.

Have you ever wondered at the differences in casualties between different cities? Well, you should. Zebrowski compares two remarkable catastrophes to make a point. One was the earthquake that struck San Francisco in 1906, and the other was an earthquake that hit Messina in 1908. Both earthquakes were of roughly the same magnitude, but the death toll was far greater n Messina than in San Francisco. The difference? Construction. In Messina the buildings were made primarily of un-reinforced stone masonry, while in San Francisco they were mostly made of wood. This serves as the introduction to a chapter that illustrates many important and basic ideas about the strengths of materials, and how the proper selection of such materials can make tremendous differences in how buildings survive earthquakes. If you live in earthquake country this chapter will be particularly relevant.

One of the things I liked best about this book is how it takes the reader through so many different topics. There are examples of deep lakes with dissolved carbon dioxide. When disturbed by something like a landslide, this deep water can be rolled to the surface, and with the pressure released, belches large quantities of carbon dioxide across the countryside. The carbon dioxide hugs the ground, displacing oxygen and causing death by suffocation.

Zebrowski has one of the best basic descriptions of exponential population growth that I've seen, and he follows it up with a real-life example of what happens when human population growth goes unchecked, with the example of Easter Island. The basic lesson here is that, with rapid doubling times, by the time you realize you have a problem it's probably already out of control. Quite possibly the greatest threat facing the human race today is our unchecked population growth. And by the time everyone realizes - or is finally forced to admit - that it's a problem, it could be too late to do much about it. Every government and religious leader needs to be familiar with the arguments that Zebrowski puts forward in this chapter.

There are too many other examples to go into much detail. Zebrowski discusses things like evolution, and how natural disasters affect the evolution (and extinction) of species. Other topics include the bubonic plagues, epidemics, discussions about tsunamis (including some good stuff on wave motion and tides), earthquakes, different scales for measuring the energy released in earthquakes, volcanoes, and asteroid impacts. In all these cases the author makes a point of illustrating the effect of these catastrophes by recounting historical examples. But what I liked best was the way he delves into the science behind each type of natural catastrophe.

The last chapter on natural disasters deals with hurricanes and tornadoes. This leads naturally to the book's closing topics of irreproducible phenomena and chaos. There are better books on chaos, but this was not Zebrowski's primary topic. His chapter makes a nice introduction to the subject. The point of his closing remarks is that the science of natural disasters is intermingled with the unpredictability of chaos, and that some fundamentally new science is needed to make additional significant progress in dealing with predictions of things like earthquakes and hurricanes. Some of the material in this last chapter might be a bit difficult to understand if you haven't had some prior exposure to the subject (it tends to be a little abbreviated).

Overall, this is a wonderful book. It's informative, well written, nicely illustrated, heavily referenced, has a complete index, and (most importantly) the practical information within it might even save your life. It's well worth reading, in my opinion, if you like science and are a little bit curious about our restless planet.

"Perils" is a lucid and riveting exegesis on natural disasters. I especially enjoyed the analyses of historical events in light of modern theories and technologies and was particularly impressed by the fact that Zebrowski could make chaos theory so darned accessible! If his teaching style is as absorbing as his writing his students should count themselves fortunate. You should read this.

An interesting read which could have benefited from the
attention of a diligent editor. Sadly, historical details
are often muddled and in the later chapters the author
indulges in some freewheeling speculation regarding high
energy physics while quoting undergraduate level journals
as sources.
Nevertheless, all of the subject matter and most of the
text is well worth a look.

The first chapter BREIFLY addresses pi, so this not a good source for those of you that may have drawn the same conclusions about the title that I did. However, if you've ever wondered why there are 360 degrees in a circle and how that relates to time or other interesting trivia, this is a great source. I do recomend it to anyone with an intrest in the basic concepts of Physics which somehow work themseves in everywhere. The title would be more acurate if it removed "A History of the Circle" and just left it with "Mathmatical Reasoning and the Physical Universe" because it lacks far to much of the first subject.

This is not a text book, but an fun read that discusses
interesting topics from physics and math.
It explains things so well that I wish I had Zebrowski as a professor or could find textbooks written by him.
I think the lengthy first review below as well as examples from the other reviews give a good idea of the contents of this book.
It's a joy to read, and to use when explaining things correctly to others.