Alexandra Witze

Plenty pop science writing about volcanoes falls into the trap of "here is the worst case scenario to worry about", and this is no exception, although to a much lesser extent. Additionally, many things written about Lakagígar tends to focus heavily on the effects on mainland Europe and speculative global effects, while barely mentioning the local devastation, and I'm glad that this books avoided that, as it included information I previously only found in Icelandic or on obscure volcanologist blogs. I had a good time, although I wish the authors would have skipped the almost obligatory "how can we apply this knowledge to the present" section.… (more)

The chapters of this book that are about the eruption of Laki, the effects on Iceland and continental Europe, and so forth--basically, the chapters that reflect the subtitle of the book--were good.

But too many chapters were volcanic history. Past eruptions and their effects on the planet and people. Possible past eruptions and possible future eruptions and possible effects.

Too much high school science class volcano info. Too much conjecture. But the core of the book is interesting.… (more)