Preview
  • The Last Volcano

  • A Man, a Romance, and the Quest to Understand Nature's Most Magnificent Fury
  • By: John Dvorak
  • Narrated by: Tom Perkins
  • Length: 10 hrs and 39 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (28 ratings)

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The Last Volcano

By: John Dvorak
Narrated by: Tom Perkins
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Publisher's summary

Volcanoes have fascinated - and terrified - people for ages. They have destroyed cities and ended civilizations. In this book, John Dvorak, the acclaimed author of Earthquake Storms, looks into the early years of volcanology and its "father", Thomas Jaggar.

Jaggar was the youngest of five scientists to investigate the explosion of Mount Pelee in Martinique, which leveled the entire city of St. Pierre and killed its entire population in two minutes. This explosion changed science forever, and Jaggar became obsessed with understanding the force of nature that could do this.

Falling in love with a widowed schoolteacher who shared his passion, Jaggar devoted his life to studying volcanic activity and the mysteries beneath the earth's surface. From their precarious perch, this dynamic husband and wife duo would discover a way to predict volcanic eruptions and tsunamis, promote geothermal energy, and theorize new ways to study the ocean bottom.

©2015 John Dvorak (P)2015 Tantor
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Critic reviews

"Reads like a good sci-fi, with colorful characters making startling discoveries." ( The Honolulu Star)

What listeners say about The Last Volcano

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Solid recounting of a pivotal volcanologist

Overall, I enjoyed this book very much. I knew some of Dr. Jaggers accomplishments and background, but this book filled out and amplified that knowledge. It would have been helpful to know the age of Dr. Jagger at some of the key points of time discussed in the book. Highly recommended!

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

More Sluggish than Hawaiian Lava

Disappointing to say the least. HOW THE MOUNTAINS GREW is such a beautiful work of geology, deep time and storytelling, I was expecting a similar volume on volcanoes! Though Dvorak’s research, eye for detail and prose are exceptional, the focus of this book left a lot to be desired. I expected a yarn about the Earth, volcanoes, paleogeography, disaster science and seismology. I would have settled for a history of early geology and its smart, important and ruthless characters. What I got was the biography of a forgotten geologist whose life was delivered by Dvorak with all the passion of a tedious 19th-20th century packing list, and I like Dvorak as an author!!

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