About this item
Highlights
- Volcanoes have fascinated--and terrified--us for ages.
- Author(s): John Dvorak
- 344 Pages
- Science, Earth Sciences
Description
About the Book
Documents the fifty-year career of Thomas Jaggar, the Harvard-educated volcano science pioneer who founded the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, to share insights into his findings about massive volcanoes in such regions as Yellowstone, Alaska, and Hawaii--Book Synopsis
Volcanoes have fascinated--and terrified--us for ages. They have destroyed cities and ended civilizations. This exemplary new book explores the early scientific study of volcanoes, as well as the life of Thomas Jaggar, the man who pioneered the field.
Educated at Harvard, Jaggar went to the Caribbean after Mount Pelée exploded in 1902, killing more than 26,000 people. Witnessing the destruction and learning about the horrible deaths these people had suffered, Jaggar vowed to dedicate himself to the study of volcanoes. In 1912, he built a small science station at the edge of a lake of molten lava at Kilauea volcano in the Hawaiian Islands, with the goal of solving the mystery of why volcanoes erupt and how they could be predicted. Jaggar found something else at Kilauea, too: true love.
She was Isabel Maydwell, a widowed school teacher who came to Kilauea to restart her life. Maydwell would quickly become one of the world's most astute observers of volcanic activity.
Mixed with tales of myths and rituals, as well as the author's own experiences and insight into volcanic activity, The Last Volcano reveals the lure and romance of confronting nature in its most magnificent form.
Review Quotes
"Riveting. It leaves readers wanting to know more about how volcanology has advanced since Jaggar's day."--The American Scholar
"For Dvorak, Kilauea is the last volcano. Fueled by a fire hose of molten rock from deep within the Earth, the volcano will continue to bubble and spurt and flame. And that's just how Thomas Jaggar would have wanted it."--The Dallas Morning News
"A vividly written exploration of Jaggar's life and work. Dvorak brings him to life in a richly researched narrative as thrilling as his topic, creating the sort of popular science history that flies off the shelves."--Booklist (starred review)
"Bubbling and sloughing under the surface of John Dvorak's terrific new book is the quietly terrifying reminder that we somehow manage to live on a tectonically active planet. A remarkable story."--The Christian Science Monitor