NONFICTION MONDAY: Eruption by Elizabeth Rusch
ABOUT THE BOOK
“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.
ABOUT THE AUTHORELIZABETH RUSCH is an award-winning children's book author and magazine writer. She writes both fiction and nonfiction in the areas of science, art, sports, waves, jokes, crayons, and mud — anything that catches her fancy.
REVIEW
Scientists in the Field is a science-based series that focuses on the work scientists do out in the world rather than in a lab. Usually this work is focused on helping people, animals, and/or both. Eruption looks at the work that volcanologists do to predict volcanic eruptions and help people get out of the way. With fascinating accounts of these scientists studying past eruptions as well as trying to predict coming eruptions, the book provides a fabulous look at the important work that these scientists do. The reader gets a look at the equipment and expertise required to do the job as well as the risks that go with studying volcanoes. Accounts full of tragedy and triumph make the book a compelling read. The author details the eruptions of Nevado del Ruiz in 1985 that resulted in the deaths of 23,000 people, Mt. St. Helen's in 1980, and Mount Pinatubo in 1991. Each account gives the reader a look into the challenges of predicting something so innately unpredictable. The photographs, sidenotes, and graphs all help in relating the realities of studying volcanoes. Highly recommended for both casual and educational reading.
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