The Big Ones: How Natural Disasters Have Shaped Us (and What We Can Do About Them)

by Lucy Jones Narrated by Lucy Jones

Overview

By the world-renowned seismologist, a riveting history of natural disasters, their impact on our culture, and new ways of thinking about the ones to come

Earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, hurricanes, volcanoes--they stem from the same forces that give our planet life. Earthquakes give us natural springs; volcanoes produce fertile soil. It is only when these forces exceed our ability to withstand them that they become disasters. Together they have shaped our cities and their architecture; elevated leaders and toppled governments; influenced the way we think, feel, fight, unite, and pray. The history of natural disasters is a history of ourselves.

In The Big Ones, leading seismologist Dr. Lucy Jones offers a bracing look at some of the world's greatest natural disasters, whose reverberations we continue to feel today. At Pompeii, Jones explores how a volcanic eruption in the first century AD challenged prevailing views of religion. She examines the California floods of 1862 and the limits of human memory. And she probes more recent events--such as the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004 and the American hurricanes of 2017--to illustrate the potential for globalization to humanize and heal.

With population in hazardous regions growing and temperatures around the world rising, the impacts of natural disasters are greater than ever before. The Big Ones is more than just a work of history or science; it is a call to action. Natural hazards are inevitable; human catastrophes are not. With this energizing and exhaustively researched book, Dr. Jones offers a look at our past, readying us to face down the Big Ones in our future.

Editorial Reviews

APRIL 2018 - AudioFile

Dr. Lucy Jones, who advises on risk reduction for the U.S. Geological Survey, lives in Southern California. Her arguments for retrofitting buildings in Los Angeles are effective, and she brings that persuasiveness to her narration. She discusses disasters around the world—from ancient Pompeii's volcanic eruption to Hurricane Katrina—covering the world's worst floods, earthquakes, and volcanoes. She shows listeners examples of successful disaster prevention and management, while examining what went wrong elsewhere. Jones introduces geological concepts with clarity to back up points and consistently calls for readiness and empathy. She makes listeners familiar with the psychology of disaster and ends her book with steps listeners can take to improve their own readiness. J.A.S. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

Publishers Weekly

03/05/2018
Jones, a seismologist for the U.S. Geological Survey for 30 years, surveys 11 natural disasters in this bracing examination of past responses to disaster and possible future courses of action. She doesn’t hesitate to portray how human prejudices, superstitions, pride, and other weaknesses have exacerbated the suffering caused by naturally occurring events, making clear that the interaction between the event and the human response usually dictates the magnitude of the damage, whether it results from earthquakes in Japan and China, an 18th-century Icelandic volcano eruption, or floods in the American South. She makes clear that “we need to accept that the timing of a disaster’s occurrence is unambiguously random—we may never be able to anticipate the when of our big ones.” Jones gives readers hope, though, describing what has been learned from each cataclysmic event and, in her final chapter, outlining ways that future catastrophes can be mitigated. This work could prove beneficial to all who live in an area prone to natural disasters, which is just about everyone. (Apr.)

From the Publisher

*An Amazon Best Science Book of 2018*

“In The Big Ones, Jones presents the history of natural disasters as the history of ourselves; looking back as a way to look forward.”
—Los Angeles Times

“This incredible book by leading seismologist Dr. Lucy Jones shows just how influential natural disasters are on life as we know it.”
—Chicago Review of Books (The Best Nature Writing of 2018 So Far)

“[A] bracing examination…This work could prove beneficial to all who live in an area prone to natural disasters, which is just about everyone.”
—Publishers Weekly

“For all her impressive expertise, Jones delivers a very accessible book—without sacrificing the scientific content, the text is sprinkled with relatable analogies to help readers better understand some of the more technical geological processes...Touching on environmental science, history, sustainability, plate tectonics, engineering, and design, this book is sure to have broad appeal.”
—Library Journal

“Lively and provocative.”
—Los Angeles Review of Books  

“Jones is a gifted storyteller, making complex geologic concepts accessible and having fun along the way . . . And she provides hope that, when disaster strikes, communities will persevere.”
—Shelf Awareness

“Jones’ fascinating book takes a long view at natural events in order to help us understand our environment and to prepare for and survive natural disasters.”
—BookPage
 
“Seismologist Lucy Jones deploys arresting details to brilliant effect throughout The Big Ones.”
—Maclean’s

"The Big Ones is a timely and essential remembrance of how natural disasters have changed the world in dramatic ways. Lucy Jones is a first-rate storyteller and fine researcher."
—Douglas Brinkley, New York Times bestselling author of Rightful Heritage and The Great Deluge

“Nobody does a better job of explaining the science of disasters and the psychology of humans than Lucy Jones. This book is priceless—both as a history and a prophecy.”
—Amanda Ripley, New York Times bestselling author of The Smartest Kids in the World and The Unthinkable

APRIL 2018 - AudioFile

Dr. Lucy Jones, who advises on risk reduction for the U.S. Geological Survey, lives in Southern California. Her arguments for retrofitting buildings in Los Angeles are effective, and she brings that persuasiveness to her narration. She discusses disasters around the world—from ancient Pompeii's volcanic eruption to Hurricane Katrina—covering the world's worst floods, earthquakes, and volcanoes. She shows listeners examples of successful disaster prevention and management, while examining what went wrong elsewhere. Jones introduces geological concepts with clarity to back up points and consistently calls for readiness and empathy. She makes listeners familiar with the psychology of disaster and ends her book with steps listeners can take to improve their own readiness. J.A.S. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews

2018-02-20
U.S. Geological Survey seismologist Jones turns in a glancing tour of natural calamities through time.The "big one" of the title" is the earthquake that will someday level Southern California, one that will rattle seven times or more as long as the Northridge quake of 1994 and cause significant damage. In the ShakeOut exercise that the author led in 2007-2008, the model she employed presumed the destruction of 1,500 buildings and the loss of 1,800 lives, with another 53,000 or so injured. "Life will not return to any semblance of normality for quite some time for the residents of Southern California," she writes. There's a good book waiting to be written entirely on such a scenario, something along the lines of Alan Weisman's The World Without Us (2007), but Jones moves on to less fruitful ground in examining the effects of other "big ones" on human civilization. Her take on Pompeii, for instance, is a little thin, and her speculation that natural disaster divides the blame-the-gods attitude of the Romans from the blame-the-humans attitude of the Jews again needs a book all its own. Much better is the author's account of the catastrophic effect of the devastating Tangshan earthquake of 1976. According to the author, that quake played a major role in the deflation of the image of Mao Zedong as infallible and brought about the defeat of the leftists at the close of the Cultural Revolution. Inarguably, big disasters produce big political consequences, as witness another of Jones' cases in point, Hurricane Katrina. The author gets points for her projection of how we will respond when the Big Onethe big one finally hits, with a mixture of conspiracy theory (the scientists knew but didn't say) and blame, whether of FEMA or the government or "the sinners of the hedonistic La-La Land" for living there in the first place.Uneven, but of interest to readers with a bent for natural disaster—and to those keen on surviving it.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940171850548
Publisher:	Penguin Random House
Publication date:	04/17/2018
Edition description:	Unabridged

Read an Excerpt

Chapter One
(Continues…)

---

Excerpted from "The Big Ones"
by .
Copyright © 2018 Lucy Jones.
Excerpted by permission of Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

---

Videos