Encyclopedia of Earthquakes and Volcanoes

Provides information on the earthquake and volcanic activity in various regions of the world, major quakes and eruptions throughout history, and geologic and scientific terms

YA-An excellent resource for students seeking information on the terms, regions, people, and episodes in the fields of seismology and volcanology. Ritchie discusses the most famous and the most unusual volcanic eruptions and earthquakes in an easy-to-read style, and describes the Earth's structure at that point and after each event. Primary-source material on four major disasters appears in an appendix. A chronology of earthquakes and eruptions gives dates, locations, and estimates of deaths or damage. The black-and-white photographs are a bit dark, but the excellent diagrams and maps are extremely clear.
Claudia Moore, W.T. Woodson High School, Fairfax, VA
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Ritchie is a science writer who has authored numerous articles for newspapers and magazines. He has also written several books on earthquakes, outer space, and computers. This new book is intended for the layperson. Its 632 alphabetically arranged entries vary from one sentence to several pages in length. There are appropriately placed maps, diagrams, and about 85 black-and-white photographs interspersed throughout the text.

The volume covers most significant volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and faults plus pertinent geological terms (seismology) and concepts and a few short biographies of prominent scientists. There are entries describing seismic activity in all 50 states, many countries, and even a few planets. Within an entry, highlighted terms direct readers to related articles. There are no pronunciation keys for scientific and foreign terms. Some of the scientific entries have rather technical definitions that would only be understood by the educated layperson, e.g., heat flow. A typical entry provides information on dates and place of the disaster, estimates of casualties, areas damaged, and, where available, Richter scale measurements.

Rounding out the book are several appendixes, an excellent bibliography, and a fairly detailed index. Appendix A is "Chronology of Earthquakes and Eruptions from 1470 B.C. to December 10, 1992." Appendix B reprints four articles recounting famous eyewitness accounts of eruptions and earthquakes from history, e.g., Pliny on the eruption of Vesuvius and Darwin on the earthquake in Concepcion, Chile. The bibliography has 91 entries, both periodicals and monographs. Copyright dates range from 1902 to 1989, with most from the 1970s and 1980s.

There are numerous reference books that detail natural disasters. However, The Encyclopedia of Earthquakes and Volcanos also covers the geology of these phenomena. With the recent events in California and the Philippines, there is sure to be interest in this book in middle-school, high-school, public, and academic libraries.