Volcanoes - Reviews - Book Review

Contemporary Review, Nov, 2002

Volcanoes. Philippe Bourseiller and Jacques Durieux. David Baker, translator. Harry N. Abrams. [pounds sterling]34.00.413 pages. ISBN 0-8109-1699-1. The world's 1500 volcanoes have always fascinated and terrified mankind in more or less equal measure. While the stunning photographs in this lavishly illustrated book (170 colour photographs) cannot but fail to arrest one's attention, the book is a serious study of volcanoes by two of France's leading volcanologists.

They discuss the beliefs and legends surrounding volcanoes, the ceremonies associated with them, the birth of volcanology, the work of surveying volcanoes and predicting the risks connected with them, the lives that people live near volcanoes, specific eruptions in Iceland, the French island of Reunion, Vanuatu and Ecuador and, finally, the scientific explanation for volcanoes. The size and the weight of this volume make strong arms and a sturdy table essential but the effort will be worth it. (T.B.)