Showing titles in Natural Disasters

Most people think of mass extinction as a single bad day involving an asteroid and a T-Rex, but the reality is far more volatile. The history of Earth is a violent saga where life has been nearly extinguished not once, but repeatedly by forces far more terrifying than a rock from space. This book peels back the layers of deep time to reveal the true scale of the catastrophes that have shaped our planet. From the suffocating oceans of the Great Dying to the volcanic winters that froze the globe, you will witness the specific mechanisms that dismantled entire ecosystems. We explore how ...

On December 26, 2004, the seafloor off Sumatra tore apart along 1,300 kilometers of fault line, triggering one of the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded and sending walls of water racing across the Indian Ocean at 800 kilometers per hour. Within seven hours, approximately 230,000 people would be dead across fourteen countries, from Indonesian fishing villages erased in minutes to East African shores struck by waves that had crossed an entire ocean. The tourists on Thai beaches had two hours of warning time that went completely unused because no system existed to tell them what was ...

Gunflint Burning is a comprehensive account of the dramatic events around the Ham Lake fire of 2007, one of the largest wildfires in Minnesota history. In sharp detail, Cary J. Griffith describes the key events of the fire as they unfold, transporting listeners to the front lines of an epic struggle that was at times heroic, tragic, and sublime.

The bestselling author of The Professor and the Madman and The Map That Changed the World examines the enduring and world-changing effects of the catastrophic eruption off the coast of Java of the earth's most dangerous volcano -- Krakatoa. The legendary annihilation in 1883 of the...

Narrated by the author: Experience the Southern California wildfires through Jacob Soboroff’s eyes—and voice. New York Times Bestseller and #1 Los Angeles Times Bestseller A "gripping, unshakeable firsthand account" (San Francisco Chronicle) of the firestorm that consumed Los Angeles, from...

In October 2012, a replica of the famous HMS Bounty, an eighteenth-century tall sailing ship, was on a collision course with a storm that would become the largest hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic - a clash that would prove dramatic, tragic, perplexing, and ultimately one of the most unforgettable stories of Superstorm Sandy. Crewed by an eclectic team of seafarers, the Bounty was led by Robin Walbridge, their highly respected captain with decades at the helm, whose actions - sometimes questionable - decided the fate of his ship and crew.

THE EARTH WON’T STOP BREAKING… The West Coast collapsed. The Mississippi split in two. Now, the final reckoning has come. Six months after the first disaster, Reed Walker, Chloe Cooper, and the Clark kids are holding on in the North Carolina mountains, clinging to hope inside a fortified compound on Black Mountain. They’ve survived the impossible. They’ve rebuilt. They’re finally catching their breath. Until the third megaquake strikes. On Halloween night, the East Coast is torn open. Tsunamis surge inland. Cities fall. Mountains shudder and crack. And this time, even higher ...

A comprehensive catalog of the most devastating and deadly events-natural or man-made-in human history. If you follow the news it can seem like injury, sickness, and death are now constant, inescapable occurrences that threaten us every second of every day. But such catastrophic events - as terrible and frightening as they are - have been happening for as long as mankind has walked the Earth.... and even before. From ancient volcanoes and floods to epidemics of cholera and smallpox to Hitler's mass killings in the 20th century, humanity's continued existence has always seemed perilous.

Man’s struggle against the sea is a theme that has created some of the world’s most exciting stories. Now, in the tradition of Moby Dick comes a New York Times best seller destined to become a modern classic. Written by journalist Sebastian Junger, The Perfect Storm combines an intimate portrait of a small fishing crew with fascinating scientific data about boats and weather systems.

In this clear and straight new guide from the author of Grammar 101 and Weather 101, get a crash course in understanding the science behind weather and weather prediction. Weather is everywhere, and while it’s typically not thought about most of the time, it can get everyone’s attention in...

2023 revealed the stark reality: the threat of nuclear war is not just possible, it's imminent. "Nuclear War Survival Skills 2024" is your essential guide to not just survive but thrive in the face of this looming danger.

In late April 1902, Mount Pelee, a volcano on the Caribbean island Martinique, began to wake up. It emitted clouds of ash and smoke for two weeks until violently erupting on May 8. Over 30,000 residents of St. Pierre were killed; they burned to death under rivers of hot lava and suffocated under pounds of hot ash. Only three people managed to survive: a prisoner trapped in a dungeon-like jail cell, a man on the outskirts of town, and a young girl found floating unconscious in a boat days later.

In a riveting investigation of the science and ecology of wildfires, journalist M.R. O'Connor ventures into some of the oldest, most beautiful, and remote forests in North America to explore the powerful and ancient relationship between trees, fires, and humans. Along the way, she describes revelatory research in the fields of paleobotany and climate science to show how the world's forests have been shaped by fire for hundreds of millions of years.

When a massive wildfire surrounded Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, five monks risked their lives to save it. A gripping narrative as well as a portrait of the Zen path and the ways of wildfire, Fire Monks reveals what it means to meet a crisis with full presence of mind.

The Wreckage Trilogy Three megaquakes. One collapsing planet. Zero chance to stand still. From the Pacific to the Atlantic, this explosive trilogy follows one unstoppable family through the ultimate fight for survival. Packed with nonstop action, unforgettable characters, and jaw-dropping realism, Wreckage Road is perfect for fans of The Day After Tomorrow, San Andreas, and The 5th Wave. Buy now and ride the fault lines—before the Earth takes its final breath. Book 1: Wreckage Road When the Cascadia Subduction Zone rips open, the West Coast collapses—cities vanish beneath tsunamis, and ...

Laki is Iceland's largest volcano - and its most fearsome. Its eruption in 1783 is one of history's great untold natural disasters. Spewing out sun-blocking ash and then a poisonous fog for eight long months, the effects of the eruption lingered across the world for years. It caused the deaths of people as far away as the Nile and created catastrophic conditions throughout Europe.

Kendra Atleework grew up in Swall Meadows, in the Owens Valley of the Eastern Sierra Nevada, where annual rainfall averages five inches and in drought years measures closer to zero. Kendra's family raised their children to thrive in this harsh landscape, forever at the mercy of wildfires, blizzards, and gale-force winds. Most of all, the Atleework children were raised on unconditional love and delight in the natural world. But it came at a price.

PROJECT HYPERCANE: GALVESTON When the ocean boils, the storms become unstoppable… A series of violent underwater volcanic eruptions in the Atlantic triggers a nightmare scenario: rising ocean temperatures fuel hurricanes into unstoppable hypercane-class storms—massive, sustained tempests capable of destroying entire coastlines. Stopping them will take more than science. The key lies in an extraordinarily rare mineral—one that can only be identified during surges of catastrophic energy, and collected by traveling through a fold in time and space. Get ready for a heart-pounding, edge-of...

A gripping narrative history of the 1889 Johnstown Flood—the deadliest flood in US history—from New York Times bestselling author, NBC Host, and legendary weather authority Al Roker. May 1889: After a deluge of rainfall—nearly a foot in less than twenty-four hours—swelled the Little...

In early May of 2005, Captain Tom Tighe and first mate, Loch Reidy, of the sailboat Almeisan welcomed three new crew members, two men and a woman, for a five-day voyage from Connecticut to Bermuda. While Tighe and Reidy had made the journey countless times, the rest of the crew were paying passengers learning about offshore sailing—and looking for adventure. Four days into their voyage, they got adventure but nothing that they had expected or had any training to handle.