A Man, a Romance, and the Quest to Understand Nature's Most Magnificent Fury
by John Dvorak
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Published Dec 2015
356 pages
Genre: Biography/Memoir
Publication Information
Ranging from Yellowstone in Wyoming to Mount Pelee in the Caribbean, from Bogoslof and Pavlov in Alaska, to Sakurajima in Japan, and, finally, to the massive volcanoes of Kilauea and Mauna Loa in Hawaii? The Last Volcano reveals the incredible journey of a man on a mission to understand the awesome power of volcanic eruptions.
Volcanoes have fascinated - and terrified - people for ages. They have destroyed cities and ended civilizations. John Dvorak, the acclaimed author of Earthquake Storms, looks into the early scientific study of volcanoes and the life of the man who pioneered the field, Thomas Jaggar.
Educated at Harvard, Jaggar went to the Caribbean after Mount Pelee 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 a study of volcanoes. What followed was fifty years of global travel to eruptions in Italy, Alaska, Central America, Japan and the Pacific.
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: true love.
She was Isabel Maydwell, a widowed school teacher who came to Kilauea to restart her life. For more than twenty ears, she and Jaggar ran the science station, living in a small house at the edge of a high cliff that overlooked the lava lake. Maydwell would quickly becoming 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?the edge of a volcanic eruption.
"Starred Review. First-rate reporting and erudition underlie this successful effort to re-establish the reputation of an indispensable scientist." - Kirkus
"It's not just Californians who should pay attention to Dvorak. Plenty of other parts of the country are vulnerable, including the Northwest, the Midwest, the South, and - yes - even the Big Apple." - Christian Science Monitor
"Reads like a good sci-fi, with colorful characters making startling discoveries." - The Honolulu Star
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
John Dvorak, PhD, has studied volcanoes and earthquakes around the world for the United States Geological Survey. He has written cover stories for Scientific American, Astronomy and Physics Today. Dvorak lives in Hawaii, where he operates the telescope at Mauna Kea.
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