The Blessings Of Disaster

Author : Michel Bruneau
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN 13 : 163388824X
Total Pages : 475 pages
Book Rating : 4.41/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book The Blessings of Disaster written by Michel Bruneau and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2022-11-08 with total page 475 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Are we doomed? As individuals, certainly, eventually, inevitably. But as a species? As a civilization? Leading catastrophe engineer Michel Bruneau thinks perhaps not. The Blessings of Disaster draws on knowledge from multiple disciplines to illustrate how our civilization’s future successes and failures in dealing with societal threats—be they pandemics, climate change, overpopulation, monetary collapse, and nuclear holocaust—can be predicted by observing how we currently cope with and react to natural and technological disasters. Maybe most importantly, this entertaining and often counter-intuitive book shows how we can think in better ways about disasters, to strengthen and extend our existence as both individuals and as a species. When it comes to rare extreme events, such as earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, tornados, volcanic eruptions, technological accidents, terrorist attacks, pandemics, and even existential threats, it is in our nature to set ourselves up for disasters because the gamble may be worth it. But only maybe. The Blessing of Disaster is the very real story of the relationship between humans and disasters – and it’s not a simple one. Bringing together his decades-long career spanning the globe as an earthquake and disaster engineer, detailed catastrophe case studies from extreme events like Japan’s Kobe earthquake and category 5 hurricanes in the American South, along with thoughtful and practical solutions, Bruneau provides a thorough examination of the structural challenges that face today’s (and tomorrow’s) world. How we cope with today’s threats is indicative of what the future holds. Contrary to popular forecasts, it is not all gloom and doom – but some of it definitely is.

Author : Christof Mauch
Publisher : Lexington Books
ISBN 13 : 0739134612
Total Pages : 395 pages
Book Rating : 4.10/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Natural Disasters, Cultural Responses written by Christof Mauch and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2009-03-16 with total page 395 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Catastrophes, it seems, are becoming more frequent in the twenty-first century. According to UN statistics, every year approximately two hundred million people are directly affected by natural disasters_seven times the number of people who are affected by war. Discussions about global warming and fatal disasters such as Katrina and the Tsunami of 2004 have heightened our awareness of natural disasters and of their impact on both local and global communities. Hollywood has also produced numerous disaster movies in recent years, some of which have become blockbusters. This volume demonstrates that natural catastrophes_earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, etc._have exercised a vast impact on humans throughout history and in almost every part of the world. It argues that human attitudes toward catastrophes have changed over time. Surprisingly, this has not necessarily led to a reduction of exposure or risk. The organization of the book resembles a journey around the globe_from Europe to North Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, and from the Pacific through South America and Mexico to the United States. While natural disasters appear everywhere on the globe, different cultures, societies, and nations have adopted specific styles for coping with disaster. Indeed, how humans deal with catastrophes depends largely on social and cultural patterns, values, religious belief systems, political institutions, and economic structures. The roles that catastrophes play in society and the meanings they are given vary from one region to the next; they differ_and this is one of the principal arguments of this book_from one cultural, political, and geographic space to the next. The essays collected here help us to understand not only how people in different times throughout history have learned to cope with disaster but also how humans in different parts of the world have developed specific cultural, social, and technological strategies for doing so.

Author : Amanda Ripley
Publisher : Harmony
ISBN 13 : 0307352900
Total Pages : 290 pages
Book Rating : 4.03/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book The Unthinkable written by Amanda Ripley and published by Harmony. This book was released on 2009-06-16 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Discover how human beings react to danger–and what makes the difference between life and death Today, nine out of ten Americans live in places at significant risk of earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, terrorism, or other disasters. Tomorrow, some of us will have to make split-second choices to save ourselves and our families. How will we react? What will it feel like? Will we be heroes or victims? In her quest to answer these questions, award-winning journalist Amanda Ripley traces human responses to some of recent history’s epic disasters, from the explosion of the Mont Blanc munitions ship in 1917–one of the biggest explosions before the invention of the atomic bomb–to the journeys of the 15,000 people who found their way out of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. To understand the science behind the stories, Ripley turns to leading brain scientists, trauma psychologists, and other disaster experts. She even has her own brain examined by military researchers and experiences, through realistic simulations, what it might be like to survive a plane crash into the ocean or to escape a raging fire. Ripley comes back with precious wisdom about the surprising humanity of crowds, the elegance of the brain’s fear circuits, and the stunning inadequacy of many of our evolutionary responses. Most unexpectedly, she discovers the brain’s ability to do much, much better–with just a little help.

Author : Glenn Meade
Publisher : Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN 13 : 9781481026437
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.37/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Seconds To Disaster written by Glenn Meade and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2012-11-16 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Are You At Risk? Is There A Race To The Bottom? Get Informed. "Everyone Who Flies, Or Loves Someone Who Flies Should Read This" Captain 'Sully' Sullenberger, Miracle On The Hudson 'Meade's research is so extensive yet unobtrusive...' THE WASHINGTON POST Written in a non technical manner by industry professionals. As with the Air France Flight 447 tragedy, much of the time air crashes are a confluence of events; a cascade of bad luck, bad decisions, inappropriate airline company policy, the failure of aviation regulators, and sometimes insufficient training, or various combinations of all five. But why? Seconds to Disaster will demonstrate that part of that bad luck is often aided by the airline industry's own endless and aggressive pursuit of bottom-line profit. It contributes to a creeping erosion of safety standards and puts both passenger and crew lives at serious risk. Seconds to Disaster will not only pose and answer questions as to why accidents happen, but also offer solutions as to how they can be further prevented. And it will explore a highly contentious issue: what parts do both the airline industry and the worldwide watchdog authorities responsible for governing that industry contribute in playing dice with passenger lives, through negligence and collusion. Glenn Meade is a bestselling author with over 12 million books sold. He has worked as a specialist in the field of pilot training--having had a life-long interest in aviation--and has also been a journalist for the Irish Times and the Independent. Ray Ronan, a Captain on the A320 series, now flying the A330, is a novelist and non-fiction writer. Information is power, be informed, scroll up and get a copy of Seconds To Disaster now.

Author : John Canning
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780831739874
Total Pages : 126 pages
Book Rating : 4.78/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Great Disasters written by John Canning and published by . This book was released on 1976 with total page 126 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Author : Lauraine Snelling
Publisher : Bethany House
ISBN 13 : 0764206117
Total Pages : 368 pages
Book Rating : 4.15/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book A Heart for Home written by Lauraine Snelling and published by Bethany House. This book was released on 2011-03 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Astrid and Joshua discover God's plans for them through difficult circumstances in the conclusion to this bestselling prairie romance series set in South Dakota.

Author : Marlena Graves
Publisher : Brazos Press
ISBN 13 : 1441246452
Total Pages : 214 pages
Book Rating : 4.55/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book A Beautiful Disaster written by Marlena Graves and published by Brazos Press. This book was released on 2014-06-10 with total page 214 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Interweaving biblical insights and personal narratives, this eloquently written book shows how God often uses suffering and desert experiences to form us into Christ's image. Marlena Graves shares her experiences of growing up poor in a house plagued by mental illness as a means to explore the forces God uses to shape us into beautiful people in the midst of brokenness. This book offers a window into suffering through the motif of desert spirituality, revealing how God can use our painful experiences to show himself faithful. While no one welcomes suffering, God often uses desert experiences--those we initially despise and wouldn't wish on anyone--to transform us into beautiful souls who better resemble Jesus. Graves shows how God can bring life out of circumstances reeking of death and destruction, whether those circumstances are crises or daily doses of quiet desperation. Readers who have experienced suffering and question God's purpose for it will benefit from this book, as will counselors, pastors, professors, and mentors. It includes a foreword by John Ortberg and Laura Ortberg Turner.

Author : Tevi Troy
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN 13 : 1493024655
Total Pages : 264 pages
Book Rating : 4.50/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Shall We Wake the President? written by Tevi Troy and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2016-09-01 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The history of presidential dealings with disasters shows that whatever their ideology, presidents need to be prepared to deal with unexpected crises. In recent years, the expectations have grown as the disasters seem to appear to be coming more frequently. Since 2001, numerous unpredictable crises, including terror attacks, massive storms, and an economic collapse, have shaken Americans to their core. It seems as if technology, for all of its beneficences, also provides mankind with increasingly powerful ways to wreak destruction, including nuclear explosions, bioterror attacks, and cyber-attacks. In addition, instantaneous and incessant communications technologies send us word of disasters taking place anywhere in the nation far more rapidly, giving disasters an immediacy that some may have lacked in the past. In 21st century America, the eyes of the American people look to the president to lead the response to whatever disasters happen to strike. President Obama and his team learned this and were taken aback by the sheer number of crises that a president needed to deal with, including swine flu, BP’s Macondo oil spill, and the Somali pirates who attacked an American ship. Many of these did not quite reach disaster status, but Obama’s reaction to the constant stream of crises was both revealing and unnerving: “Who thought we were going to have to deal with pirates?” In Shall We Wake the President?, Tevi Troy, a presidential historian and former senior White House aide and deputy secretary of the Department of Health & Human Services, looks at the evolving role of the president in dealing with disasters, and looks at how our presidents have handled disasters throughout our history. He also looks at the likelihood of similar disasters befalling modern America, and details how smart policies today can help us avoid future crises, or can best react to them should they occur. In addition, he provides information on what individuals can do to prepare for disasters. This book includes sections on how American presidents have dealt with a variety of disasters, including health crises, terror attacks, economic upheaval, bioterror and cyber-attacks, natural disasters, and civil breakdown. In doing so, Shall We Wake the President? will provide lessons from presidents of the past that will inform policy strategies for presidents of the future.

Author : Allan Lokos
Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 0698170954
Total Pages : 297 pages
Book Rating : 4.57/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Through the Flames written by Allan Lokos and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2015-02-05 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After miraculously surviving a plane crash in Myanmar, Allan Lokos shares what his long and painful recovery process is teaching him about humanity’s ability to survive—and even thrive—in the face of suffering. In Through the Flames, Allan Lokos tells the terrifying story of being on board a plane on Christmas Day with his wife, Susanna, when it crashed and exploded in flames. Lokos was severely burned in the accident, and in the days and weeks following the crash, Susanna was told by the many doctors who examined Lokos that he would not survive. As founder and guiding teacher of the Community Meditation Center in New York City, Lokos had spent decades cultivating compassion and non-attachment. Since the plane crash, his Buddhist practice has been mightily tested. In this inspiring account of his against-all-odds recovery, Lokos uses his experience as a window through which to examine the challenge of human suffering in general and addresses the question of how we can thrive in the midst of pain and uncertainty.

Author : Kevin Rozario
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 022623021X
Total Pages : 324 pages
Book Rating : 4.14/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book The Culture of Calamity written by Kevin Rozario and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2019-05-23 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Turn on the news and it looks as if we live in a time and place unusually consumed by the specter of disaster. The events of 9/11 and the promise of future attacks, Hurricane Katrina and the destruction of New Orleans, and the inevitable consequences of environmental devastation all contribute to an atmosphere of imminent doom. But reading an account of the San Francisco earthquake of 1906, with its vivid evocation of buildings “crumbling as one might crush a biscuit,” we see that calamities—whether natural or man-made—have long had an impact on the American consciousness. Uncovering the history of Americans’ responses to disaster from their colonial past up to the present, Kevin Rozario reveals the vital role that calamity—and our abiding fascination with it—has played in the development of this nation. Beginning with the Puritan view of disaster as God’s instrument of correction, Rozario explores how catastrophic events frequently inspired positive reactions. He argues that they have shaped American life by providing an opportunity to take stock of our values and social institutions. Destruction leads naturally to rebuilding, and here we learn that disasters have been a boon to capitalism, and, paradoxically, indispensable to the construction of dominant American ideas of progress. As Rozario turns to the present, he finds that the impulse to respond creatively to disasters is mitigated by a mania for security. Terror alerts and duct tape represent the cynical politician’s attitude about 9/11, but Rozario focuses on how the attacks registered in the popular imagination—how responses to genuine calamity were mediated by the hyperreal thrills of movies; how apocalyptic literature, like the best-selling Left Behind series, recycles Puritan religious outlooks while adopting Hollywood’s style; and how the convergence of these two ways of imagining disaster points to a new postmodern culture of calamity. The Culture of Calamity will stand as the definitive diagnosis of the peculiarly American addiction to the spectacle of destruction.