Island on Fire

by Alexandra Witze

Overview

Laki is Iceland’s largest and potentially most dangerous volcano. Its eruption in 1783 is one of history’s great untold natural disasters. Spewing out sun-blocking ash and then a poisonous fog for eight months, the effects of the eruption lingered across the world for years, causing the death of people as far away as the Nile and creating catastrophic conditions throughout Europe, including extreme weather and crop failures that may have triggered the French Revolution. Island on Fire is the story not only of a volcano but also of the people whose lives it changed, such as the pastor Jon Steingrimsson, who witnessed and recorded the events. It is the story, too, of the dawn of modern volcanology and the history and potential of supervolcanoes around the world. And perhaps most pertinently, in the wake of the eruption of another Icelandic volcano, Eyjafjallajökull, which closed European air space in 2010, acclaimed science writers Witze and Kanipe looks at how events might transpire should Laki erupt again in our own time.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781605986746
Publisher:	Pegasus Books
Publication date:	01/15/2015
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.80(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Alexandra Witze is an award-winning science journalist and correspondent for the journal Nature. Her reporting has taken her from the North Pole (to report on climate change) to the jungles of Guatemala (to cover Maya archaeology) to China's quake-ravaged Sichuan province. Island on Fire is her first book and she lives in Boulder, CO.

Table of Contents

Foreword to the American Edition 3

Preface: Heimaey, 1973 7

1 Laki Erupts: June 1783 15

2 Land of Ice and Fire: The volcanoes of Iceland 35

3 Supervolcanoes: The world's hotspots 61

4 Fire, Famine and Death: The poisoning of Iceland 86

5 Horrible Phenomena: Europe's 'year of wonders' 107

6 The Big Chill: Laki's global fallout 125

7 Laki Today: Life in the mountain's shadow 146

8 Death by Volcano: The many ways eruptions can kill 163

9 The Next Big Bang: How worried should we be? 185

Epilogue: Return to Heimaey 203

Endnotes 205

Photo Credits 214

Acknowledgements 217

Index 219

Editorial Reviews

11/03/2014
In March 2010, Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull erupted, spewing lava “from a fissure on the mountain’s side.” By volcanic standards, say coauthors Witze and Kanipe (Chasing Hubble’s Shadows), “it looked fairly unthreatening,” though ash from the eruption soon drifted south and east across Europe, closing airspace, grounding flights across the continent, and “cost businesses as much as five billion euros.” In their revealing new volume, the two science writers use this modern event to examine another Icelandic volcano, Laki, which erupted in June 1783. Witze and Kanipe look at the magnitude of that eruption and its tremendous consequences, examining journals kept by locals and piecing together substantial time lines to detail events as a thick cloud of ash “shut out the sun and drove everyone indoors” before a “thick haze rolled across the countryside, accompanied by a devilish stink.” As the contemporary accounts relate, “Pastoral Iceland, once full of lush grassy meadows, became a grey and poisonous place.” Chapters on geology and the short- and long-term effects of volcanic eruptions add depth to Witze and Kanipe’s discussion, rounding out a work that serves as a valuable reminder of just how much we remain at Mother Nature’s mercy. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

Were it just a story of one volcano, that would be engrossing enough: by including assessments and natural histories of others, this wide-ranging book holds the potential to appeal to a wide audience.

Midwest Book Review

This book, written for a nontechnical audience, does a very good job of describing the Laki eruption and its aftermath, relying heavily on historic firsthand observations. The endnotes will guide interested readers to the more technical literature on the subject.

Choice

In 1783 the Icelandic volcano Laki erupted, with catastrophic consequences. The ash it pumped into the atmosphere blanketed of the Northern Hemisphere in a sun-blocking fog, causing one of the most severe winters for hundreds of years. Many across Europe froze to death, and crops withered, leading to mass famine. In Africa, the monsoons failed to come, and the Nile dud not flood as usual, causing one sixth of Egypt's population to starve or leave the country. The official death tally in Iceland from Laki was around 9,000, but some experts suggest the global toll was much higher. Journalists Witze and Kanipe tell the scientific and human story of Laki and predict that because a Laki-scale eruption happens on average every 200 to 500 years in Iceland, a similar event is not unlikely.

Scientific American

A story for the ages. But beneath the barrage of devastation lies an even more profound story: why do we forget these dangers?

Dr. Lindy Elkins-Tanton

Brilliant.

Pacific Standard

Deftly interweaving information compiled by naturalists and astronomers of the day (and even Benjamin Franklin, who was in Paris during the eruption) with interviews with modern-day, scientists and historians, the authors provide a captivating overview of the eruption.

Science News

A volcanic tour de force: terrific story-telling that reveals our vulnerability to nature's most destructive forces.

Nick Crane

For those with an interest in history and/or geology.

The Birdbooker Report/Nature.com

A terrific, disturbing book. In their fast-paced, enjoyable text the authors show how vulnerable we remain to the most unpredictable of natural disasters.

Gillian Darley

A brilliant book. While Iceland’s volcanology became front-page news in 2010 when Eyjafjallajökull grounded flights across Europe for almost a week, Kanipe and Witze situate that recent eruption in the country’s tragic volcanic history and volatile geology.

Casey N. Cep - Pacific Standard

Witze and Kanipe have written a compelling and engrossing story of Laki and its worldwide impact. As the best book authors do, they have also ferreted out facts and examples that make their specific story one with implications for modern readers. It is a book that will surely make you want to go to Iceland, or at least pay careful heed to the next time one if its many volcanoes erupt.

The Seattle Times