The Great Waves

I liked this book, and would highly recommend it to anyone living on an ocean coast or a few miles inland. Tsunamis (tidal waves), are, of course, not tides, but merely large ripples occasioned by a powerful oceanic event, such as an earthquake, landslide, volcanic eruption, or extraterrestrial body striking Earth. Because the book ignores the last option, and only lightly touches upon the second, I cannot give it five stars.In fairness, causes one and three are the most common, and the author devotes his attention accordingly. His narrative of the series of tsunamis that erased Arica, Chile from the face of the Earth in 1870 should be read by every coast-dweller. It CAN happen to you. The book is packed with facts, and useful information, and the text is easily read and understood. It is a good introductory volume for the uninitiated, but the informed citizen should be aware of the megatsunami problem posed by large volcanic islands sliding into the ocean, and by impacts. For that reason, after this book is completed, the video by the Dicovery Channel group on this topic should be obtained.

The amount of information in this book is astounding. As I found the subject extremely interesting, I read this book in about two days, and still marvel at the interesting facts about tsunami and seismography. The examples are well-written and I don't think you would find another book on this subject as riviting. I wish I had a copy, but it is out of print :(