Here are 70 books that Volcano fans have personally recommended if you like
Volcano.
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The ocean has always been a sacred place to me, full of wondrous adventures and knowledge. I grew up in the Hawaiian islands with many hours frolicking in the waves, and swinging from the vines of nearshore banyan trees. One of my favorite books as a child was Treasure Island, anchored by the quest for Flint’s treasure map. Ironically, the details of that map are never revealed in the book. But I grew up to become a mapper of the ocean, making with my colleagues at Esri, a host of digital maps that reveal treasures of scientific insight. May the books on my list become treasures for you, too.
Even as an oceanographer myself, I was transfixed and transported by this book. And I loved hearing about the author’s own explorations to the deep. I love the pieces of deepsea exploration history that are in this book; that blew me away, even as someone who has contributed to exploration myself!
I loved the plotlines better than any movie or TV drama, for sure! And not only is the prose thrilling, ethereal, and beautiful, but it has helped me to renew my strength, as a foot soldier in the environmental call to action that is a huge part of this story.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From bestselling author Susan Casey, an awe-inspiring portrait of the mysterious world beneath the waves, and the men and women who seek to uncover its secrets
“An irresistible mix of splendid scholarship, heart-stopping adventure writing, and vivid, visceral prose." —Sy Montgomery, New York Times best-selling author of The Soul of an Octopus
For all of human history, the deep ocean has been a source of wonder and terror, an unknown realm that evoked a singular, compelling question: What’s down there? Unable to answer this for centuries, people believed the deep was a sinister realm of…
When I turned 13, I decided to become an oceanographer. To prepare for my future career, I majored in geology and biology in college. I mapped ancient volcanic outcrops around Boston, explored a deep mine and dug for minerals on a geology tour of the southeastern United States, and sampled sand from a tropical beach on a tiny island in the Bahamas. I discovered that geologists have fun! A geology field trip to Kilauea in Hawaii inspired me to examine how volcanoes, on land and beneath the sea, impact our oceans. After that, a week in Iceland, the Land of Fire and Ice, further cemented my love of rocks and volcanoes.
Sometimes, it’s the supporting characters in a book that steal the show. In this case, it was Alvin. Alvin was a pioneer in the field of deep ocean exploration. I was introduced to him at a rare open house at the legendary Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. I gazed at concept plans for Alvin displayed on a bulletin board.
Alvin was one of the first deep-sea submersibles to carry scientists down to the otherworldly (literally) hydrothermal vents in the cracks in the earth’s crust. Alvin was named for oceanographer Allyn Vine, who helped develop a national program for manned undersea vehicles.
Scientists have mapped less than 10 percent of the ridge of underwater mountains in the middle of the Atlantic ocean. It is here that 95 percent of the volcanic activity on earth occurs. And it is also where the scientist Rich Lutz has tracked the remarkable evolution of bizarre creatures that spawn in hydrothermal vent fluids that are poisonous to most other forms of life. How can life exist in this world of utter darkness?
For Rich Lutz, a pioneer in marine biology, each dive to the frontier of the deep holds the possibility of discovering more clues that might…
When I turned 13, I decided to become an oceanographer. To prepare for my future career, I majored in geology and biology in college. I mapped ancient volcanic outcrops around Boston, explored a deep mine and dug for minerals on a geology tour of the southeastern United States, and sampled sand from a tropical beach on a tiny island in the Bahamas. I discovered that geologists have fun! A geology field trip to Kilauea in Hawaii inspired me to examine how volcanoes, on land and beneath the sea, impact our oceans. After that, a week in Iceland, the Land of Fire and Ice, further cemented my love of rocks and volcanoes.
So many volcanoes! So how would you choose among the 1400+ active volcanoes on the earth’s surface (not to mention that three-quarters of all volcanoes on Earth are on the ocean floor.)
Apparently, the volcanologists duo, Donna O’Meara and her husband Steven, have been trying to hit them all. They are always on call for the next eruption, not just to capture amazing photographs and death-defying experiences but also to try to improve volcano eruption prediction.
I was intrigued by their adventures and photos, but even more, I admired that they spent weeks camping alongside temperamental volcanoes to assess how/if the moon influences volcanic eruptions. Their theory that the moon’s phases and closeness to the Earth could affect volcanic activity could someday help save lives.
In a helicopter with no doors, she hovers over a lava lake the size of two football fields --- then lands! She runs through clouds of scalding steam, dodging lava bombs, to photograph glowing hot lava as it pours into the sea. She sets up camp on the edge of a volcano's cone, only to be hit with hurricane-force winds, poisonous gases and acidic ash.Witness a typical day in the life of Donna O'Meara --- volcano researcher, writer and photographer. Donna's photographs and accounts of treacherous journeys get readers up close and personal with some of the world's most dangerous…
When I turned 13, I decided to become an oceanographer. To prepare for my future career, I majored in geology and biology in college. I mapped ancient volcanic outcrops around Boston, explored a deep mine and dug for minerals on a geology tour of the southeastern United States, and sampled sand from a tropical beach on a tiny island in the Bahamas. I discovered that geologists have fun! A geology field trip to Kilauea in Hawaii inspired me to examine how volcanoes, on land and beneath the sea, impact our oceans. After that, a week in Iceland, the Land of Fire and Ice, further cemented my love of rocks and volcanoes.
If you could choose, would you want to view a gently erupting volcano where you could outwalk the lava flowing to the sea? Or would you go for an earth-shaking explosion that releases boiling lava, choking ash, and burning gases?
In this book, you can take your pick! I loved the variety of volcanoes she explored, as well as the mission of many scientists to better predict eruptions to protect those who live near volcanoes.
“At 11:35 p.m., as Radio Armero played cheerful music, a towering wave of mud and rocks bulldozed through the village, roaring like a squadron of fighter jets.” Twenty-three thousand people died in the 1985 eruption of Colombia’s Nevado del Ruiz. Today, more than one billion people worldwide live in volcanic danger zones. In this riveting nonfiction book—filled with spectacular photographs and sidebars—Rusch reveals the perilous, adrenaline-fueled, life-saving work of an international volcano crisis team (VDAP) and the sleeping giants they study, from Colombia to the Philippines, from Chile to Indonesia.
I love the quirky, restless Pacific Northwest, also known as Cascadia, my home bioregion. Nonfiction is my jam, but I enjoy stories both unreal and real (stealing and tweaking Oregon author Ursula Le Guin’s use of the terms). I’m also an avid hiker. I’ve often wondered how I could provide folks heading here to hike the 400-mile Oregon Coast Trail (another passion of mine) with my personal book list introducing them to this landscape and its history, human and natural. Here is a start.
Pyle is a leading butterfly expert and a brilliant natural history writer. And he happens to be bigfoot-curious. As am I. The past few years have seen Sasquatch—at least images of the mythical-or-not-mythical beast—cropping up widely in this region, usually to try to sell something. Pyle takes it more seriously, without being boring or sensationalist. In this telling, Pyle packs his rig with camping gear (and plenty of IPA) and—with his expansive knowledge of nature, his keen skills of observation (of all species, us included), and his humor—heads into southwest Washington’s Dark Divide to try to clear up what, exactly, he heard decades earlier on a camping trip in this remote corner of Cascadia. As to what he finds, you be the judge.
The inspiration for the film The Dark Divide starring David Cross and Debra Messing, one of America’s most esteemed natural history writers takes to the hills in search of Bigfoot―and finds the wildness within ourselves.
Awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship to investigate the legends of Sasquatch, Yale-trained ecologist Dr. Robert Pyle treks into the unprotected wilderness of the Dark Divide near Mount St. Helens, where he discovers both a giant fossil footprint and recent tracks. On the trail of what he thought was legend, he searches out Indians who tell him of an outcast tribe, the Seeahtiks, who had not fully…
Since my earliest memories, I have been fascinated with rocks, landscapes, and the movement of time. It was perhaps only fitting then, that I should have landed in the bottom of the Grand Canyon in the 1970s working as a backcountry ranger where I discovered GEOLOGY! Since then, my world view has been shaped by the record of earth history that is held in sedimentary rocks, mountain belts, and the colorful and varied landscapes of the Desert Southwest and Colorado Plateau. I am in love with these landscapes and know them well. This love affair causes me to visit other landscapes around the world and ponder their development.
Who knew there were volcanoes in northern Arizona? Wendell Duffield takes readers on a visual and literary tour de force of this amazing region. The San Francisco Volcanic Field contains over 600 vents and cones with one large stratovolcano, a half a dozen or more silicic dome volcanoes, and hundreds of basalt cinder cones. All are explained in clear, concise prose. And who knew the Grand Canyon had volcanoes too, some of which spilled cascading lava flows into the canyon, damming the river at least 17 times. It’s all here in this little book that has a big impact.
This book provides a popular look at the fiery origin of Northern Arizona’s landscape. With magnificent aerial photographs, original geologic illustrations, and detailed road logs to many of the key features, this book is an indispensable tool for the traveler, the educator, and all who are interested in the remarkable landscape of northern Arizona.
I am a senior geologist emeritus (retired in 2020) whose research focused on volcanic features on Mars, Venus, and the Moon, particularly very long lava flows. I enjoy studying features on Earth in order to improve our understanding of similar features on other planets (also including the study of sand dunes). I worked for more than 32 years at the National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., which allowed me to do scientific research while also presenting the wonder of planetary geology to public audiences throughout the U.S. and in several countries across the world.
Think of this book as the ultimate tourist guide for someone who wants to visit and "experience" volcanoes.
Lopes is a knowledgeable volcanologist and planetary scientist who brings first-person authority to her writing. The first chapters provide the basics needed to choose which volcanoes one would like to visit, followed by well-written descriptions of 28 volcanoes or volcanic regions from around the world.
Each account provides the reader with an understanding of why the volcano is where it is, plus practical information that could help make a visit to that volcano more enjoyable.
The Volcano Adventure Guide is the first book of its type. It contains vital information for anyone wishing to visit, explore, and photograph active volcanoes safely and enjoyably. Following an introduction that discusses eruption styles of different types of volcanoes, how to prepare for a volcano trip, and how to avoid volcanic dangers, the book presents guides to visiting 42 different volcanoes around the world. This section is packed full of practical information including tour itineraries, maps, transportation details, and warnings of possible non-volcanic dangers. Three appendices at the end of the book direct the reader to a wealth of…
Apocalyptic novels have always been a favorite genre of mine. It’s interesting seeing the lengths that people will go through to survive when all factors are stacked against them. The list of novels below is some of the many great reads that opened my eyes to this genre. The characters in these novels are oftentimes faced with challenges that seem impossible to the reader but are left feeling so fulfilled after seeing a character complete the difficult tasks. I hope you enjoy the books on this list as much as I have!
This is one of the novels I read in high school that stuck with me. Mike Mullin’s Ashfall is a story about a supervolcano that erupts and causes unimaginable terror and chaos for a vast amount of the population. The unfortunate event that takes place in this novel opened my eyes to the power of Mother Nature. My own novel centers around an apocalyptic rain event; Ashfall is comparable to my own book in a way that shows how quickly Mother Nature can become deadly when angered.
Many visitors to Yellowstone National Park don't realize that the boiling hot springs and spraying geysers are caused by an underlying supervolcano, so large that the caldera can only be seen by plane or satellite. And by some scientific measurements, it could be overdue for an eruption. For Alex, being left alone for the weekend means having the freedom to play computer games and hang out with his friends without hassle from his mother. Then the Yellowstone supervolcano erupts, plunging his hometown into a nightmare of darkness, ash, and violence. Alex begins a harrowing trek to seach for his family…
I love Aotearoa New Zealand books! Our writers are brave, feisty, original - and living in ‘the land of the long white cloud’ at the bottom of the globe gives us a unique take on the world that permeates through everything we write. But we struggle to get our voices heard internationally, so far from the rest of you! This is your chance to push out your boundaries and explore stories that derive from a culture very different from your own, while sharing the same human emotions that bring us all together. As one of these writers, I challenge you to check us out – you won’t be disappointed!
This book for younger YA’s has some of
the creepiest villains you’ll ever meet and knuckle-biting tension as the
heroes are chased by the evil Wilberforces, slug-like shapeshifters who live
under Auckland’s extinct volcanoes. Their goal is the destruction
of the world and only red-haired twins Rachel and Theo Matheson can stop them,
with the help of the strange Mr. Jones, who helps the twins unleash their
supernatural power.
Beneath the extinct volcanoes surrounding the city, giant creatures are waking from a spellbound sleep that has lasted thousands of years. Their goal is the destruction of the world. Rachel and Theo Matheson are twins. Apart from having red hair, there is nothing remarkable about them - or so they think. They are horrified to discover that they have a strange and awesome destiny. Only the Matheson twins can save the world from the terror of what is under the mountain. Also available as an eBook
I am a senior geologist emeritus (retired in 2020) whose research focused on volcanic features on Mars, Venus, and the Moon, particularly very long lava flows. I enjoy studying features on Earth in order to improve our understanding of similar features on other planets (also including the study of sand dunes). I worked for more than 32 years at the National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., which allowed me to do scientific research while also presenting the wonder of planetary geology to public audiences throughout the U.S. and in several countries across the world.
This is where I would start for an introduction to the geologic story behind some of the best-known volcanoes in the USA. It is a very readable, well-written text describing volcanoes within several national parks and monuments.
I particularly enjoy the many photos (most taken by the authors) plus the maps that are included within each chapter. The opening chapters provide essential background information for the reader to appreciate the geologic stories that follow. A "must read" for anyone who likes volcanoes.
Erupting volcanoes like Kilauea in Hawaii, and sleeping volcanoes like Mount Rainier in Washington State are the core features of 31 of the National Parks and Monuments in the United States. In addition, ancient fires that once fed a chain of volcanoes al
