Ghosts of Vesuvius: A New Look at the Last Days of Pompeii, How Towers Fall, and Other Strange Connections - Softcover

Pellegrino, Charles R

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0060751002 ISBN 13: 9780060751005

Publisher: Harper Perennial, 2005

Synopsis

A fascinating look at Pompeii, Herculaneum and the Vesuvius eruption in comparison with other historically significant volcanic eruptions, including the World Trade Center disaster.

The eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79, which obliterated the Roman towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum, was a disaster that resounds to this day. Now palaeontologist Charles Pellegrino presents a wealth of new knowledge about the doomed towns – and brings to vivid life the people, their last moments, and the aftermath.

The lessons learned from modern scrutiny of that ancient eruption produce disturbing echoes in the present. Dr Pellegrino, who worked at Ground Zero in the aftermath of the 9/11 attack, shares his unique knowledge of the strange physics of volcanic 'downblast' and 'collapse column', drawing a direct link from past to present, and providing readers with a poignant glimpse into the last moments of the 'American Vesuvius'.

About this title

About the Author:

Charles Pellegrino has been known to work simultaneously in entomology, forensic physics, paleo-genetics, preliminary design of advanced rocket systems, astrobiology, and marine archaeology. The author of eighteen books of fiction and nonfiction, including Unearthing Atlantis, Dust, Ghosts of the Titanic, and the New York Times bestseller Her Name, Titanic, he is the scientist whose dinosaur-cloning recipe inspired Michael Crichton's bestselling novel Jurassic Park. Dr. Pellegrino lives in New York City.

From Booklist:

*Starred Review* The Victorian readers who once thrilled to Bulwer-Lytton's The Last Days of Pompeii would marvel at the secrets today's geologists and archaeologists are wresting from Vesuvius' long-cold cinders. With the same impetuous curiosity and vigorous style that he brought to his earlier investigations of the Titanic and Atlantis, Pellegrino probes Vesuvius' mysteries in an expository narrative of unmatched range and color. Weaving together accounts of ancient authorities with groundbreaking research by forensic archaeologists, Pellegrino captures the nightmarish final hours of Pompeii and Herculaneum, from the first ominous appearance of an "umbrella pine" eruption column above the mountain through the final lethal series of surge clouds and pyroclastic avalanches. But in the flash-fossilized remains of victims, Pellegrino sees powerful reminders of the abiding human hope to understand a brutal universe. Those hopes live still both in the science Pellegrino uses to interpret historic volcanic explosions as the distant consequence of the Big Bang and in the startling connections he makes between the two cities buried by Vesuvius in 79 CE and the Twin Towers destroyed by terrorists in 2001. These grim parallels between the deadly physics of volcanoes-- collapse columns, surge clouds, gravity bombs, shock cocoons--and the horrors of 9/11 are seen by Pellegrino as a valuable resource for these seeking life-saving strategies to deal with future calamities. A compelling fusion of pioneering science and poignant reflection. Bryce Christensen
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About this edition

• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0060751002
• ISBN 13: 9780060751005
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 496