Magnitude 8: Earthquakes and Life Along the San Andreas Fault

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"The tectonic history of any one part of the earth, like the life of a soldier, consists of long periods of boredom and short periods of terror." With this quotation from geologist Derek Ager, Pulitzer Prize-winning environmental journalist Philip Fradkin, "a literary geologist with a notebook in one hand and a hammer in the other," begins his trip along the San Andreas Fault. His persistent question is how "a culture could ignore this powerful natural agent while simultaneously being shaped by it." Fradkin himself lives near the fault, and he understands the human reluctance to remember the past and to prepare for the inevitable. He looks at the history and impact of the major California earthquakes of the past 150 years, from Fort Teijin in 1857 to Northridge in 1994. Throughout, he exposes the problems caused by human shortcomings: the amnesia of the general public, earthquake engineers' conflicts of interest, and the failures of science. His discussions of the politics of earthquake prediction and of the "arcane systems" used to measure earthquake magnitudes are the best in print. "I wanted others to be aware of the fault's physical presence and its awesome power," Fradkin writes. He may also succeed at raising Californians' awareness of how to prepare for earthquakes--and at shortening their feelings of boredom while lengthening their periods of prudent terror. --Mary Ellen Curtin

Book Description

The archetypal natural disaster defined on the verge of the millennium. To understand the cataclysmic earthquake that will tear California apart one day, Philip L. Fradkin has written a dramatic history of earthquakes and an eloquent guide to the San Andreas Fault, the world's best-known tectonic landscape. The author includes vivid stories of earthquakes elsewhere: in New England, the central Mississippi River Valley, New York City, Europe, and the Far East. Always, he combines human and natural drama to place the reader at the epicenter of the most instantaneous and unpredictable of all the Earth's phenomena. Following the San Andreas Fault from Cape Mecino to Mexico--canoeing the fault line in northern California and walking underground through the Hollywood fault--noted environmental historian Philip L. Fradkin reclaims the human dimensions of earthquakes from the science-dominated accounts.

Customer Reviews:

A 3.0 on the Richter Scale -- Barely Registers.......2007-05-30

The author-notes at the end of the book claim that the author once shared a Pulitzer Prize for journalism. He must have had one heck of an editor then, and he sure didn't have one for this book. Disorganized in the extreme, the prose can vary from scientific jargon to conspiracy theory to personal snarky-ness within a single paragraph.

You have a subject that should be inherently interesting -- the destruction of the state of California -- the true "Big One" that would make Katrina and New Orleans look puny by comparison. But work your way through chapter one, and you'll see why I found this one remaindered for 49 cents at Final Markdown!

An Important Work.......2000-10-23

This is an important work; well researched and well written. It should be required reading for all public officials in California. More illustrations would have been useful. Highly recommended.

Creates a personal visceral feel for powerful earth force.......1999-08-18

Yesterday, August 17, I was sitting in Point Reyes, CA., home of author Phil Fradkin, directly overhanging the San Andreas fault. I was on page 121 of Magnitude 8, when suddenly the house began to move. It swayed back and forth like a tree hut in a gale for about 15 seconds. Yes, it was a minor 5.0 magnitude quake centered in nearby Bolinas. Powerful Writing!

Great book by an author who has put his heart and soul into internalizing the meaning of these mysterious earth processes.

Enthralling, thoughtful, and sobering, but with a few warts.......1999-02-06

Fradkin travels the length of the San Andreas by car, by kayak, and on foot, describing its perils and its history. Into his story of the San Andreas he weaves parallel threads about earthquakes elsewhere, always playing up the public's denial of earthquake hazard.

As a seismologist, I found the book often irritating (right down to its title: there is no evidence that the San Andreas has ever suffered a magnitude 8 earthquake or that it ever will), and sometimes too dramatic, but in the end it left me with a feeling of chagrin. Fradkin put together a good, coherent story of the San Andreas' hazards, but to do so, he had to fight his way through arcane jargon. His comment that the scientists don't know how to communicate makes me squirm, but it is absolutely right.

Not only is this a must-read for anyone within 200 miles of the San Andreas, it should be required for all seismologists and emergency managers who ever have to talk to the public.

Facinating blend of narative and science.......1999-01-09

This book tells the story of California and it's geology in way that connects it with real life. It brings home how we conspire to ignore the earthquake threat. A must for CA residents.

Book Description

Defense mechanisms against fungi in bark, xylem, roots, and foliage of woody angiosperms and gymnosperms are addressed in this newest addition to the SPRINGER SERIES IN WOOD SCIENCE. The topic is approached from an anatomical and physiological perspective with emphasis on the relationships between plant structure and function and their role in defensive reactions and wound repair. Contributions on the biochemistry of defensive reactions, in-depth treatises on specific diseases such as Dutch elm disease, Hypoxylon canker of aspen, and Fusiform rust of pines, as well as chapters on wound reactions in bark tissues, microenvironmental aspects of xylem decay, the role of mycorrhizzal fungi in defense, physiological responses of trees to fungal symbionts of insects, and the application of tissue culture and immunocytochemistry to the study of defense mechanisms in trees are included. One of the most significant features of the book is the large complement of photographic plates which serves to bring together a plethora of histopathological data.

Book Description

Frommer's is the name you can trust for great travel bargains. Our acclaimed $-a-Day series is not for backpackers who want to rough it, but for travelers with taste, who've outgrown their student lifestyle and demand comfortable accommodations and good, authentic meals at a reasonable price. Each guide is loaded with detailed listings for mom-and-pop motels, B&Bs, comfortable guesthouses, good-value bistros, and ethnic restaurants. You'll find a bargain-hunter's shopping guide, affordable fun after dark, and complete sightseeing coverage, including the best things to do for free (or almost).

Our expert authors have already gone everywhere you might go--they've done the legwork for you, and they're not afraid to tell it like it is, saving you time and money. Every Frommer's $-a-Day Guide is up-to-date, with dozens of color maps and exact prices for every single expense, so you can accurately plan each day's budget. Frommer's knows that affordable travel doesn't have to mean making sacrifices. It's about having fun and getting a great deal!

London may be just about the most expensive city in the world right now, but that doesn't mean it's out of reach for travelers without bottomless wallets. Thoroughly updated every year (unlike most of the competition), Frommer's London from $85 a Day has everything you need for an unforgettable and affordable trip. Our expert author, who's lived in London all her life, has scoured the city in search of its best bargains, and she'll share them with you, in this detailed and irreverent guide.

Inside you'll find inviting places to stay, from charming B&Bs located steps away from major attractions to cozy rooms in trendy Notting Hill--for as little as $35 per person a night! We'll help you find great dining at unbelievably low prices, from a $10 feast at a traditional Indian restaurant to a $16 dinner at one of Soho's hottest new-wave pubs.

You'll rely on Frommer's for a complete budget guide to all the city's sights. We'll show you where to shop for collectibles and fashion you can afford, and take you to the best sales and street markets. And we'll help you land the hottest theater tickets at a discount, find a memorable pub, and take exciting side trips to Windsor, Bath, Stratford, Oxford, and Cambridge. You'll even get a free color fold-out map and an online directory that makes trip-planning a snap!

Customer Reviews:

great resource!.......2000-09-22

i used the 1998 version of this book when i went to london and i have no doubt but that this one is just as good. it gave us the scoop on where to stay, how to negotiate a good bed and breakfast rate, and where to get good food at reasonable prices. it also lays out manageable itineraries, gives you the dish on when to go to which sights, and which ones are best left unseen. really, really well done!

Customer Reviews:

How History Is Invented, Indeed........2001-03-06

The subtitle is appropriate to this latest in a long list of of young readers books about Easter Island. While not as bad as most, i.e. The Blind Guards of Easter Island, it is not up to the standard set by Peggy Mann's Easter Island, Land of Mysteries in 1976.

The photographs are nice and the format is well suited for the age group targeted (9-12). Ms.Pelta gets the gist of the history right, but its the details that she doesn't have a good handle on. In describing the kidnapping incident of the Nancy she talks of several Easter Island girls who were thrown overboard in the harbor, only to swim safely ashore. The facts are that 12 men and 10 women were kidnapped after a "bloody combat with the natives." Three days out from the island they were allowed on deck and promptly jumped overboard to escape, and of course were never heard from again.(Metreaux,1940)

This type of mistake is inexcusable, as this particular incident helped to establish a deep mistrust of outsiders that persists to the present day. There are other examples but my space is limited so I end with ... not terrible ,but certainly not great.

Book Description

Behind today's most lurid headlines. A timely look at the fascinating realm of high-tech sleuthing Beyond the Crime Lab The New Science of Investigation Revised Edition The science of criminal investigation is evolving at an astonishing rate. Gone are the days of merely dusting for fingerprints and checking for lipstick traces. Today's forensics experts use DNA typing, computer and physical anthropologic reconstructions, and other highly sophisticated techniques-techniques that some critics believe have dire implications for every citizen's right to privacy and individual freedom. Completely updated to address the latest trends and developments in the field, this revised edition of Beyond the Crime Lab takes you on an entertaining and sometimes alarming journey through the incredible and perpetually advancing world of criminal investigation.

Customer Reviews:

Has Both Good and Bad Points!.......2007-07-10

I don't know much about forensics even though I read a lot about true crime. The author tries to break the information down like fingerprinting, DNA, etc. It's not an entirely bad book. At first, he begins explaining the crimes of murdered and disappeared women. Helle Crafts' murder by her own husband, Richard, was probably the most horrifying and the after descrecation of her body was ghastly to say the least. The author tries to bring the forensics in this book to possible students of forensics. Ever since CSI and forensics testimony in the O.J. Simpson trial, the audiences are fascinated by the whole science of forensics. Of course, Forensics is a science that needs to be studied closely. You're not going to get more than a crash course in this book which lays down the basics. Of course, the writings get more technical at times which might turn some people off. The science of forensics is very technical and there are no surprise that formulas are needed. If you want to be a forensics scientist, you have to know the basics and gain experience in the field. The field is gruesome because murder scenes are often gruesome and bloody. This book might disuade some students from going into the forensics field but it might get the hardcore forensics students interested in it even more.

"A Journalist's Overview/Commentary on Forensics".......2002-07-06

"Beyond The Crime Lab: The New Science of Investigation" by Jon Zonderman, - Rev. ed. ISBN 0-471-25466-5 (Cloth) John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 1999 is a 254 page publication by an aspiring journalist-turned-author who updated his 1990 book of the same title in an apparent treble sort of writing mode which suggests the old, the new and the somewhat alien.

He provides 10 chapters, the first 5 of which are devoted to the crime scene and trace evidence. In this they are adequate but be wont to dispute the book's title as misleading since this is straight-forward criminalistics or forensics - but the style is not particularly notable for exposition or grammatical clarity. Chapter 6, "The Mind and Brain of the Violent Criminal" is poorly documented, fragmented and leaves some posed construals unanswered. Chapters 7-10 appears to be more in focus with the writer's expertise but carry a cautionary askance if not candidly apprehensive warnings on criminology and the justice system whilst discussing data collection, electronic surveillance, controlling of criminals, computers, and "Liberty, Justice and Science" in Chapter 10. In many ways these personal trepidations of the author may be true. This reader, however, believes this is not the proper forum in which to express personal views and it detracts from its use as a viable reference textbook. Chapter 7, "Electronic Surveillance..." is well-written; well-encompasses the subject, and was especially informative.

The author is to be commended for his concluding "Author's Note" indicating his book has been used as "supplemental reading...(forensic science) mostly at the high school level," and this is in keeping with the forward by the well-known Henry C. Lee who wrote it "bridges a gap between the basic and the advanced...." It makes make for easy reading and for that reason alone can be recommended as an introduction to forensics with commentary.

A disappointment.......2000-03-14

I am a member of the forensics community, and thought this book might help me learn more about the other areas I am not familiar with, but it didn't. The material did not flow within the chapters, and I found several mistakes/misinformations. Also, the chapter on DNA technology was mostly negative. There are many positive aspects to DNA testing, but Mr. Zonderman didn't seem to want to address them. All in all, the book was a disappointment.

This was the most informative and interesting read........1999-09-17

This book filled me in on some of the aspects of forensic science that I was unaware of. It was just the information I was looking for. I am now considering going into the Forensic Science field. I am just trying to find out what I need to do next.

A hugely helpful addition to the forensic reference library.......1999-07-14

Zonderman cleverly weaves historical and technical facts into his discussion of several important and often recent case studies. His ten chapters deal with material that is easily understood by the lay person. I found his style and depth of research extremely helpful to me as I am preparing to start a new course at the high school level called "Forensics Science" and will not be using a required textbook!

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Exploring Chemistry Laboratory Experiments in General, Organic and Biological Chemistry, Second Edition
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Manufacturer: Prentice Hall
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Unique source of data.......2000-06-06

This book is the only place to find lots of theorems on exceptional Lie algebras (and therefore also on exceptional algebraic groups). For example, it is the only place I know of where it is proven that two 27-dimensional exceptional Jordan algebras are isotopic if and only if their norm forms are similar. As Wallach said, this book also explains the description of the roots systems for the exceptional algebras found in Jacobson's other book "Lie algebras".

Book Description

The book contains a comprehensive account of the structure and classification of Lie groups and finite-dimensional Lie algebras (including semisimple, solvable, and of general type). In particular, a modern approach to the description of automorphisms and gradings of semisimple Lie algebras is given. A special chapter is devoted to models of the exceptional Lie algebras. The book contains many tables and will serve as a reference. At the same time many results are accompanied by short proofs. Onishchik and Vinberg are internationally known specialists in their field and well-known for their monograph "Lie Groups and Algebraic Groups" (Springer-Verlag 1990). This Encyclopaedia volume will be immensely useful to graduate students in differential geometry, algebra and theoretical physics.

Reductive Subgroups of Exceptional Algebraic Groups (Memoirs of the American Mathematical Society)

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The theory of simple algebraic groups is important in many areas of mathematics. The authors of this book investigate the subgroups of certain types of simple algebraic groups and obtain a complete description of all those subgroups which are themselves simple. This description is particularly useful in understanding centralizers of subgroups and restrictions of representations.

Lectures on Exceptional Lie Groups (Chicago Lectures in Mathematics)

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On March 16, 1978 Aldo Moro, a former Prime Minister of Italy, was ambushed in Rome. Within three minutes the gang killed his escort and bundled Moro into one of three getaway cars. An hour later the terrorist group the Red Brigades announced that Moro was in their hands; on March 18 they said he would be tried in a "people's court of justice." Seven weeks later Moro's body was discovered in the trunk of a car parked in the crowded center of Rome.

The Moro Affair presents a chilling picture of how a secretive government and a ruthless terrorist faction help to keep each other in business.

Also included in this book is "The Mystery of Majorana," Sciascia's fascinating investigation of the disappearance of a major Italian physicist during Mussolini's regime.

Customer Reviews:

Give it a Bye.......2005-08-05

The NYRB deserves credit for retrieving several wonderful works by the Sicilian writer-politician Leonardo Sciascia: "Day of the Owl" surely; "Equal Danger" and "To Each His Own," probably. "Italian Hours" is a lesser work, but still good fun.

By contrast, "The Moro Affair" is (or ought to be) an embarrassment, to Sciascia and to the publisher as well. At the most forgiving, we can call it a nonce work, interesting as an exemplar of the kind of bitchiness and personalism that passes for journalism in Italy. But for the ordinary reader today, if it is to succeed at all, it needs a comprehensive introduction. But Peter Robb (who has written well about Sicily elsewhere) apparently wasn't willing to put in the time or the effort.

Some will say that the likely reader already knows about the Moro episode. Probably in outline, yes, but if he knows it in the kind of detail necessary to appreciate this work, he has probably read Sciascia's account long ago--and, chances are, in Italian.

On the other hand, if you really do want a decent overview of the Moro affair, there is a good one available, ironically, through the New York Review of Books. It's a review, by Adrian Lyttelton available (albeit as paid content) in the archives at the NYRB website. If you really need to master Sciascia on Morrow, Lyttelton is probably a ticket. But unless you are a fairly serious specialist, you can probably give it a bye.

The Moro Affair / The Mystery of Majorana

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