Earth Shattering

Author : Bob Berman
Publisher : Little, Brown
ISBN 13 : 9780316511353
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.58/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Earth-Shattering written by Bob Berman and published by Little, Brown. This book was released on 2019-02-19 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A heart-pumping exploration of the biggest explosions in history, from the Big Bang to mysterious activity on Earth and everything in between The overwhelming majority of celestial space is inactive and will remain forever unruffled. Similarly, more than 90 percent of the universe's 70 billion trillion suns had non-attention-getting births and are burning through their nuclear fuel in steady, predictable fashion. But when cosmic violence does unfold, it changes the very fabric of the universe, with mega-explosions and ripple effects that reach the near limits of human comprehension. From colliding galaxies to solar storms, and gamma ray bursts to space-and-time-warping upheavals, these moments are rare yet powerful, often unseen but consequentially felt. Likewise, here on Earth, existence as we know it is fragile, always vulnerable to hazards both natural and manufactured. As we've learned from textbooks and witnessed in Hollywood blockbusters, existential threats such as biological disasters, asteroid impacts, and climate upheavals have the all-too-real power to instantaneously transform our routine-centered lives into total chaos, or much worse. While we might be helpless to stop these catastrophes-whether they originate on our own planet or in the farthest reaches of space-the science behind such cataclysmic forces is as fascinating as their results can be devastating. In Earth-Shattering, astronomy writer Bob Berman guides us through an epic, all-inclusive investigation into these instances of violence both mammoth and microscopic. From the sudden creation of dazzling "new stars" to the furiously explosive birth of our moon, from the uncomfortable truth about ultra-high-energy cosmic rays bombarding us to the incredible ways in which humanity has harnessed cataclysmic energy for its gain, Berman masterfully synthesizes some of our worst fears into an astonishing portrait of the universe that promises to transform the way we look at the world(s) around us. In the spirit of Neil deGrasse Tyson and Carlo Rovelli, what emerges is a rollicking, profound, and even humbling exploration of all the things that can go bump in the night.

Author : Anita Ganeri
Publisher : Scholastic UK
ISBN 13 : 1407198955
Total Pages : 210 pages
Book Rating : 4.58/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Horrible Geography: Earth-Shattering Earthquakes (Reloaded) written by Anita Ganeri and published by Scholastic UK. This book was released on 2019-08-01 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: CELEBRATING 20 YEARS OF HORRIBLE GEOGRAPHY! Discover what it takes to be an earthquake expert, learn how to survive when an earthquake hits, and discover how rats and snakes can predict tremors. Filled with hilarious illustrations by Mike Phillips, HORRIBLE GEOGRAPHY is the perfect escapism from miserable maps, rotten rock piles and dire diagrams. Hold tight!

Author : Andrew Robinson
Publisher : Thames & Hudson
ISBN 13 : 050077370X
Total Pages : 256 pages
Book Rating : 4.03/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Earth-Shattering Events: Earthquakes, Nations, and Civilization written by Andrew Robinson and published by Thames & Hudson. This book was released on 2016-10-11 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A truly welcome and refreshing study that puts earthquake impact on history into a proper perspective." --Amos Nur, Emeritus Professor of Geophysics, Stanford University, California, and author of Apocalypse: Earthquakes, Archaeology, and the Wrath of God Since antiquity, on every continent, human beings in search of attractive landscapes and economic prosperity have made a Faustian bargain with the risk of devastation by an earthquake. Today, around half of the world’s largest cities – as many as sixty – lie in areas of major seismic activity. Many, such as Lisbon, Naples, San Francisco, Teheran, and Tokyo, have been severely damaged or destroyed by earthquakes in the past. But throughout history, starting with ancient Jericho, Rome, and Sparta, cities have proved to be extraordinarily resilient: only one, Port Royal in the Caribbean, was abandoned after an earthquake. Earth-Shattering Events seeks to understand exactly how humans and earthquakes have interacted, not only in the short term but also in the long perspective of history. In some cases, physical devastation has been followed by decline. But in others, the political and economic reverberations of earthquake disasters have presented opportunities for renewal. After its wholesale destruction in 1906, San Francisco went on to flourish, eventually giving birth to the high-tech industrial area on the San Andreas fault known as Silicon Valley. An earthquake in Caracas in 1812 triggered the creation of new nations in the liberation of South America from Spanish rule. Another in Tangshan in 1976 catalysed the transformation of China into the world’s second largest economy. The growth of the scientific study of earthquakes is woven into this far-reaching history. It began with a series of earthquakes in England in 1750. Today, seismologists can monitor the vibration of the planet second by second and the movement of tectonic plates millimeter by millimeter. Yet, even in the 21st century, great earthquakes are still essentially "acts of God," striking with much less warning than volcanoes, floods, hurricanes, and even tornadoes and tsunamis.

Author : Cary Fowler
Publisher : University of Arizona Press
ISBN 13 : 9780816511815
Total Pages : 300 pages
Book Rating : 4.10/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Shattering written by Cary Fowler and published by University of Arizona Press. This book was released on 1990 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It was through control of the shattering of wild seeds that humans first domesticated plants. Now control over those very plants threatens to shatter the world's food supply, as loss of genetic diversity sets the stage for widespread hunger. Large-scale agriculture has come to favor uniformity in food crops. More than 7,000 U.S. apple varieties once grew in American orchards; 6,000 of them are no longer available. Every broccoli variety offered through seed catalogs in 1900 has now disappeared. As the international genetics supply industry absorbs seed companies—with nearly one thousand takeovers since 1970—this trend toward uniformity seems likely to continue; and as third world agriculture is brought in line with international business interests, the gene pools of humanity's most basic foods are threatened. The consequences are more than culinary. Without the genetic diversity from which farmers traditionally breed for resistance to diseases, crops are more susceptible to the spread of pestilence. Tragedies like the Irish Potato Famine may be thought of today as ancient history; yet the U.S. corn blight of 1970 shows that technologically based agribusiness is a breeding ground for disaster. Shattering reviews the development of genetic diversity over 10,000 years of human agriculture, then exposes its loss in our lifetime at the hands of political and economic forces. The possibility of crisis is real; this book shows that it may not be too late to avert it.

Author : Donald R. Prothero
Publisher : JHU Press
ISBN 13 : 1421401479
Total Pages : 358 pages
Book Rating : 4.78/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Catastrophes! written by Donald R. Prothero and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2011-04-01 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Devastating natural disasters have profoundly shaped human history, leaving us with a respect for the mighty power of the earth—and a humbling view of our future. Paleontologist and geologist Donald R. Prothero tells the harrowing human stories behind these catastrophic events. Prothero describes in gripping detail some of the most important natural disasters in history: • the New Madrid, Missouri, earthquakes of 1811–1812 that caused church bells to ring in Boston • the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that killed more than 230,000 people • the massive volcanic eruptions of Krakatau, Mount Tambora, Mount Vesuvius, Mount St. Helens, and Nevado del Ruiz His clear and straightforward explanations of the forces that caused these disasters accompany gut-wrenching accounts of terrifying human experiences and a staggering loss of human life. Floods that wash out whole regions, earthquakes that level a single country, hurricanes that destroy everything in their path—all are here to remind us of how little control we have over the natural world. Dramatic photographs and eyewitness accounts recall the devastation wrought by these events, and the people—both heroes and fools—that are caught up in the earth's relentless forces. Eerie, fascinating, and often moving, these tales of geologic history and human fortitude and folly will stay with you long after you put the book down.

Author : Neil Astley
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 270 pages
Book Rating : 4.93/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Earth Shattering written by Neil Astley and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Earth Shattering' lines up a chorus of over 200 poems addressing environmental destruction.

Author : Arthur C. Clarke
Publisher : RosettaBooks
ISBN 13 : 0795324979
Total Pages : 261 pages
Book Rating : 4.70/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Childhood's End written by Arthur C. Clarke and published by RosettaBooks. This book was released on 2012-11-30 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the Retro Hugo Award–nominated novel that inspired the Syfy miniseries, alien invaders bring peace to Earth—at a grave price: “A first-rate tour de force” (The New York Times). In the near future, enormous silver spaceships appear without warning over mankind’s largest cities. They belong to the Overlords, an alien race far superior to humanity in technological development. Their purpose is to dominate Earth. Their demands, however, are surprisingly benevolent: end war, poverty, and cruelty. Their presence, rather than signaling the end of humanity, ushers in a golden age . . . or so it seems. Without conflict, human culture and progress stagnate. As the years pass, it becomes clear that the Overlords have a hidden agenda for the evolution of the human race that may not be as benevolent as it seems. “Frighteningly logical, believable, and grimly prophetic . . . Clarke is a master.” —Los Angeles Times

Author : Crystal Woodman Miller
Publisher : Th1nk Books
ISBN 13 : 9781576839362
Total Pages : 180 pages
Book Rating : 4.62/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Marked for Life written by Crystal Woodman Miller and published by Th1nk Books. This book was released on 2006 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Miller shares her remarkable story of hope and faith. After surviving the Columbine shootings, Miller dedicated her life to offer support in the midst of tragedy. (Practical Life)

Author : Liz Rosenberg
Publisher : Macmillan
ISBN 13 : 9780805048216
Total Pages : 154 pages
Book Rating : 4.19/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Earth-Shattering Poems written by Liz Rosenberg and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 1998-01-15 with total page 154 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A collection of poems that capture intense experiences and emotions by such authors as Sappho, John Keats, Emily Dickinson, Pablo Neruda, Sharon Olds, and J. E. Wei.

Author : Luis Perez-Breva
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 0262536129
Total Pages : 424 pages
Book Rating : 4.27/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Innovating written by Luis Perez-Breva and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2018-08-28 with total page 424 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Discover the MIT-developed, “doer’s approach” to innovation with this guide that reveals you don’t need an earth-shattering idea to create a standout product, service, or business—just a hunch that you can scale up to impact. Innovation is the subject of countless books and courses, but there’s very little out there about how you actually innovate. Innovation and entrepreneurship are not one and the same, although aspiring innovators often think of them that way. They are told to get an idea and a team and to build a show-and-tell for potential investors. In Innovating, Luis Perez-Breva describes another approach—a doer’s approach developed over a decade at MIT and internationally in workshops, classes, and companies. He shows that innovating doesn’t require an earth-shattering idea; all it takes is a hunch. Anyone can do it. By prototyping a problem and learning by being wrong, innovating can be scaled up to make an impact. As Perez-Breva demonstrates, “nothing is new” at the outset of what we only later celebrate as innovation. In Innovating, the process—illustrated by unique and dynamic artwork—is shown to be empirical, experimental, nonlinear, and incremental. You give your hunch the structure of a problem. Anything can be a part. Your innovating accrues other people’s knowledge and skills. Perez-Breva describes how to create a kit for innovating, and outlines questions that will help you think in new ways. Finally, he shows how to systematize what you’ve learned: to advocate, communicate, scale up, manage innovating continuously, and document—“you need a notebook to converse with yourself,” he advises. Everyone interested in innovating also needs to read this book.