The Big One

By the world-renowned seismologist, a riveting history of natural disasters, their impact on our culture, and new ways of thinking about the ones to come Earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, hurricanes, volcanoes--they stem from the same forces that give our planet life. Earthquakes give us natural springs; volcanoes produce fertile soil. It is only when these forces exceed our ability to withstand them that they become disasters. Together they have shaped our cities and their architecture; elevated leaders and toppled governments; influenced the way we think, feel, fight, unite, and pray. The history of natural disasters is a history of ourselves. In The Big Ones, leading seismologist Dr. Lucy Jones offers a bracing look at some of the world's greatest natural disasters, whose reverberations we continue to feel today. At Pompeii, Jones explores how a volcanic eruption in the first century AD challenged prevailing views of religion. She examines the California floods of 1862 and the limits of human memory. And she probes more recent events--such as the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004 and the American hurricanes of 2017--to illustrate the potential for globalization to humanize and heal. With population in hazardous regions growing and temperatures around the world rising, the impacts of natural disasters are greater than ever before. The Big Ones is more than just a work of history or science; it is a call to action. Natural hazards are inevitable; human catastrophes are not. With this energizing and exhaustively researched book, Dr. Jones offers a look at our past, readying us to face down the Big Ones in our future.

“The Big One is to competitive fishing what Friday Night Lights was to high school football.” —News & Record (Greensboro) A Forbes Best Sports Book of the Year Published to rave reviews in hardcover and purchased by DreamWorks in a major film deal, The Big One is a spellbinding and richly atmospheric work by a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist. Here is the story of a community—Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts—and a sporting event—the island’s legendary Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby—that is rendered with the same depth, color, and emotional power of the best fiction. Among the characters, we meet: Dick Hathaway, a crotchety legend who once caught a bluefish from a helicopter and was ultimately banned for cheating; Janet Messineo, a recovering alcoholic who says that striped bass saved her life; Buddy Vanderhoop, a boastful Native American charter captain who guides celebrity anglers like Keith Richards and Spike Lee; and Wyatt Jenkinson, a nine-year-old fishing fanatic whose mother is battling brain cancer. At the center of it all is five-time winner Lev Wlodyka, a cagey local whose next fish will spark a storm of controversy and throw the tournament into turmoil. “The Big One is a rollicking true story of a grand American obsession. You don’t have to be a fisherman to relish David Kinney’s marvelous account of the annual striper madness on Martha’s Vineyard, or his unforgettable portraits of the possessed. It’s a fine piece of journalism, rich with color and suspense.” —Carl Hiaasen, New York Times–bestselling author

With natural disasters and nuclear war threatening their small town, two twin brothers find themselves enraptured by mysterious music that could change the course of their lives. Everyone in Clade City knows their days are numbered. The Great Cascadia Earthquake will destroy their hometown and reshape the entire West Coast—if they survive long enough to see it. Nuclear war is increasingly likely. Wildfires. Or another pandemic. To Griff, the daily forecast feels partly cloudy with a chance of apocalyptic horsemen. Griff’s brother, Leo, and the Lost Coast Preppers claim to be ready. They’ve got a radio station. Luminous underwater monitors. A sweet bunker, and an unsettling plan for “disaster-ready rodents.” But Griff’s more concerned about what he can do before the end times. He’d like to play in a band, for one. Hopefully with Charity Simms. Her singing could make the whole world stop. When Griff, Leo, and Charity stumble upon a mysterious late-night broadcast, one song changes everything. It’s the best band they’ve ever heard—on a radio signal even the Preppers can’t trace. They vow to find the music, but aren’t prepared for where their search will take them. Or for what they’ll risk, when survival means finding the one thing you cannot live without.

Scientists have identified Seattle, Portland, and Vancouver as the urban centers of what will be the biggest earthquake—the Really Big One—in the continental United States. A quake will happen--in fact it's actually overdue. The Cascadia subduction zone is 750 miles long, running along the Pacific coast from Northern California up to southern British Columbia. In this fascinating book, The Seattle Times science reporter Sandi Doughton introduces readers to the scientists who are dedicated to understanding the way the earth moves and describes what patterns can be identified and how prepared (or not) people are. With a 100% chance of a mega-quake hitting the Pacific Northwest, this fascinating book reports on the scientists who are trying to understand when, where, and just how big THE BIG ONE will be. From the Trade Paperback edition.

A puzzling tsunami entered Japanese history in January 1700. Samurai, merchants, and villagers wrote of minor flooding and damage. Some noted having felt no earthquake; they wondered what had set off the waves but had no way of knowing that the tsunami was spawned during an earthquake along the coast of northwestern North America. This orphan tsunami would not be linked to its parent earthquake until the mid-twentieth century, through an extraordinary series of discoveries in both North America and Japan. The Orphan Tsunami of 1700, now in its second edition, tells this scientific detective story through its North American and Japanese clues. The story underpins many of today�s precautions against earthquake and tsunami hazards in the Cascadia region of northwestern North America. The Japanese tsunami of March 2011 called attention to these hazards as a mirror image of the transpacific waves of January 1700. Hear Brian Atwater on NPR with Renee Montagne http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4629401

No one ever thought the Pacific Northwest was due for an earthquake, let alone a catastrophic one. But geologists are transforming our understanding of the grave dangers the population in the region of Cascadia face—will there be a big one? And what can be done to save lives? America's Pacific Northwest has relatively few earthquakes—only a handful each year that cause even moderately noticeable shaking. But a couple decades ago, scientists discovered a geological feature running along the coast that in other parts of the world regularly triggers massive earthquakes of 8.0 magnitude and higher. Were there once massive earthquakes in this part of the world? Geologists think there were. Now a small group of scientists are studying things that you might not think have anything to do with earthquakes—marsh soil, ocean sediments, landslide debris, and ghost forests—and they have reason to believe that the Pacific Northwest is likely not as idyllic as it was once assumed. The population is likely in grave danger of a massive earthquake at some point. What can be done? The big one can't be stopped, but scientists are working tirelessly to learn as much as they can to prepare.

Charley Maplewood has never been one for parties? that would require friends, which he doesn?t have. But now that he?s turning ten?the big oneoh? he decides to throw a birthday party for himself. Of course things don?t work out as he plans. In trying to make friends, he ends up inviting the class bully, and that?s before he ruins the cake and sets the garage on fire. Will Charley be able to pull it together before the big one-oh . . . becomes the big OH-NO?

A book about earthquakes--how, when, and where the next big one may strike.