Volcano Cowboys: The Rocky Evolution of a Dangerous Science

Description

.com Review Vulcanology is not the sexiest of sciences, despite Hollywood movies in which clenched-jawed heroes tame ferocious floods of lava that are busily swallowing up some crowded metropolis or another, racing against the clock to save humankind from the elements. It turns out that those movies aren't really so far-fetched, though, and in the pages of Volcano Cowboys the world's small corps of magma hunters acquire well-deserved élan. The study of volcanoes, Time magazine writer Dick Thompson notes, is largely an observational and not theoretical science; where the vital memory of a molecular biologist "generally drops off after a decade," a vulcanologist will carry reams of data about the behavior of the earth gleaned from reports stretching back to the time of Plato and Pliny the Elder, those amateur volcano-watchers of antiquity. They've had plenty more to do in recent years, though, than to quote the ancients. Thompson's vigorous narrative begins with the eruption of Mount St. Helens on May 18, 1980, an event that U.S. Geological Survey scientists had been able to predict with some accuracy. They lacked, however, a coordinated means to effect an evacuation of the area, and 57 people died. Battling institutional inertia and struggling for funding, teams of these scientists, the "volcano cowboys" of Thompson's title, set about trying to develop methods to predict more accurately dangerous volcanic events and to trim the body count when such events took place. His story recounts their eventual victory when, in 1991, the Philippine volcano Pinatubo exploded--but, thanks to the work of these dedicated field scientists, "less than one quarter of one percent of those at risk had died during the eruption." Tens of millions of people around the world live within the reach of volcanoes. Thompson's narrative reveals that the "volcano cowboys" have made their lives safer--and it's much better than the movies. --Gregory McNamee Read more From Publishers Weekly The day before Mt. St. Helens erupted in 1980, releasing "the largest landslide in human history," U.S. Geological Survey scientists had no inkling that the volcano was close to blowing outAeven though a network of high-tech instruments girdled the mountain, monitoring its vital signs. The heated debate among survey scientists over what the volcano would do next after the first rumblings was kept hidden from the public, as Time staff writer Thompson reveals. Fifty-seven people were killed, and the cataclysm devastated a 230-square-mile area. Unlike other volcano books, this engrossing field report offers an unusually candid look at the learning curve men and women travel as they practice the messy, ego-driven, error-riddled pursuit called science. Happily, reports Thompson, volcanology made significant strides between the Mt. St. Helens disaster and the 1991 explosion of Mt. Pinatubo in the Philippines. Although Pinatubo killed more than 200 people (mostly from roof collapses), 80,000 lives were saved thanks to an evacuation. Volcanology is a tricky science because volcanoes blow their stacks infrequently, and one volcano may erupt in a style completely different from a neighboring volcano. Figuring out these molten dynamicsAin cataclysms from Indonesia to ColombiaAare daredevil scientists whom Thompson dubs "volcano cowboys." They perch their outdoor labs on smoldering peaks, often risking their lives to get gas samples from fuming vents. Among the cowboys are Harry Glicken, an eccentric itinerant volcano-landslide expert killed in a Japanese eruption in 1991, and seismologist/ex-Vietnam marine Dave Harlow, the "Indiana Jones of volcanology." Decked out with remarkable photographs, this solid report captures the human drama of a dangerous science. Agent, Kris Dahl. (Aug.) Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. Read more See all Editorial Reviews