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Island on Fire
Laki is Iceland’s largest 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 long months, the effects of the eruption lingered across the world for years. It caused the deaths of people as far away as the Nile and created catastrophic conditions throughout Europe.
Island on Fire is the story not only of a single eruption but the people whose lives it changed, the dawn of modern volcanology, as well as the history—and potential—of other super-volcanoes like Laki 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 look at what might transpire should Laki erupt again in our lifetime.
Island on Fire is the story not only of a single eruption but the people whose lives it changed, the dawn of modern volcanology, as well as the history—and potential—of other super-volcanoes like Laki 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 look at what might transpire should Laki erupt again in our lifetime.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2014
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July 23, 2022
Yosemite's turn is coming! Be patient!
The 1783 eruption of Laki in Iceland is one of the world’s great unsung natural disasters. With the aid of stratospheric weather and wind patterns over a period of eight months following Laki’s first eruption, a toxic cocktail of ash, fluorine, sulphur and other poisonous chemicals that had been propelled to the upper reaches of earth’s atmosphere, was spread over much of the northern hemisphere throughout the world. While the direct death toll in Iceland resulting from the eruption was only 9,300 poor souls, estimates of the number of fatalities world wide range as high as a staggering 6,000,000 deaths. The causes of these deaths ranged from famine and drought, hypothermia and heat stroke, bronchitis, asthma, emphysema, and other respiratory ailments to fluorine poisoning and even more bizarre maladies such as suffocation by carbon dioxide. In Egypt, for example, the monsoons failed and the critical resulting annual Nile flood failed to occur. It has been estimated that as much as one-sixth of Egypt’s population at the time expired during the resulting famine. As explosive power goes, Laki was a mere child compared to overgrown monsters such as Mt St Helens, Vesuvius, Tambora or Krakatau but, when it came to tallying the body count, Laki was most definitely world class and, arguably, a possible world champion. Island on Fire does a brilliant job of explaining the science behind how this disparity arose (On a lighter note, Witze and Kanipe observed that it could have been worse. Laki did not result in any pyroclastic flows, torrential landslides or mudflows, flash flooding due to glacial melting, significant earthquakes or tsunamis).
While Witze and Kanipe explore the lives of the people who lived through that event such as Jón Steingrímsson, the pastor who witnessed the events at close hand and did such a superb job recording them for posterity, the emphasis in Island on Fire is definitely the science of volcanoes – their distribution around the world, their development, their eruption and the promulgation of their effects locally and around the world. There is even a rather grotesque chapter on the almost bewildering variety of ways in which unsuspecting, unlucky bystanders can be killed by a volcano.
It is no mean feat for a writer to make popular science or history compulsively readable (think Dava Sobel, Simon Singh, Carl Sagan, Pierre Berton, Simon Winchester or Martin Dugard, for example). Witze and Kanipe made Island on Fire eminently readable, interesting and lushly informative. But, for me, they just missed clearing that final hurdle to make the book a compelling page-turner. That said, I’ll withhold one star out of five but happily recommend it with both thumbs up to any potential reader who wants to increase their knowledge of the earth, where it’s been and where we might be headed. If we’re here when Yosemite blows, at least we’ll die happily knowing that we understand what’s going on!
Paul Weiss
The 1783 eruption of Laki in Iceland is one of the world’s great unsung natural disasters. With the aid of stratospheric weather and wind patterns over a period of eight months following Laki’s first eruption, a toxic cocktail of ash, fluorine, sulphur and other poisonous chemicals that had been propelled to the upper reaches of earth’s atmosphere, was spread over much of the northern hemisphere throughout the world. While the direct death toll in Iceland resulting from the eruption was only 9,300 poor souls, estimates of the number of fatalities world wide range as high as a staggering 6,000,000 deaths. The causes of these deaths ranged from famine and drought, hypothermia and heat stroke, bronchitis, asthma, emphysema, and other respiratory ailments to fluorine poisoning and even more bizarre maladies such as suffocation by carbon dioxide. In Egypt, for example, the monsoons failed and the critical resulting annual Nile flood failed to occur. It has been estimated that as much as one-sixth of Egypt’s population at the time expired during the resulting famine. As explosive power goes, Laki was a mere child compared to overgrown monsters such as Mt St Helens, Vesuvius, Tambora or Krakatau but, when it came to tallying the body count, Laki was most definitely world class and, arguably, a possible world champion. Island on Fire does a brilliant job of explaining the science behind how this disparity arose (On a lighter note, Witze and Kanipe observed that it could have been worse. Laki did not result in any pyroclastic flows, torrential landslides or mudflows, flash flooding due to glacial melting, significant earthquakes or tsunamis).
While Witze and Kanipe explore the lives of the people who lived through that event such as Jón Steingrímsson, the pastor who witnessed the events at close hand and did such a superb job recording them for posterity, the emphasis in Island on Fire is definitely the science of volcanoes – their distribution around the world, their development, their eruption and the promulgation of their effects locally and around the world. There is even a rather grotesque chapter on the almost bewildering variety of ways in which unsuspecting, unlucky bystanders can be killed by a volcano.
It is no mean feat for a writer to make popular science or history compulsively readable (think Dava Sobel, Simon Singh, Carl Sagan, Pierre Berton, Simon Winchester or Martin Dugard, for example). Witze and Kanipe made Island on Fire eminently readable, interesting and lushly informative. But, for me, they just missed clearing that final hurdle to make the book a compelling page-turner. That said, I’ll withhold one star out of five but happily recommend it with both thumbs up to any potential reader who wants to increase their knowledge of the earth, where it’s been and where we might be headed. If we’re here when Yosemite blows, at least we’ll die happily knowing that we understand what’s going on!
Paul Weiss
December 17, 2022
This is an OK book about Icelandic volcanoes, and specifically about the 1783-84 eruption of Laki, which killed about 50% of the island's livestock, and then about 25% of the humans. The animals were mostly poisoned by excess fluoride in the volcanic gases, and the humans then died of starvation. This is a well-remembered catastrophe in Iceland, but not much remarked upon elsewhere, except among volcanologists and Nordic historians.
You can satisfy your curiosity at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laki -- which is what I would recommend for most readers. The authors struggled to make this a good popular science book, but (mostly) failed. The book reminded me of old whoozit's maxim: What was good was not original, and what was original, not good. Harsh, but not far off the mark.
I struggled through about 3/4 of the book and enjoyed about 1/3 of that. I was looking forward to learning about Laki, a famous volcano among geologists, but didn't, really. But it was an excellent sleep aid! Oh, well. 2.6 stars.
For a good pop-volcanology book, try Simon Winchester's "Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded".
You can satisfy your curiosity at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laki -- which is what I would recommend for most readers. The authors struggled to make this a good popular science book, but (mostly) failed. The book reminded me of old whoozit's maxim: What was good was not original, and what was original, not good. Harsh, but not far off the mark.
I struggled through about 3/4 of the book and enjoyed about 1/3 of that. I was looking forward to learning about Laki, a famous volcano among geologists, but didn't, really. But it was an excellent sleep aid! Oh, well. 2.6 stars.
For a good pop-volcanology book, try Simon Winchester's "Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded".
January 2, 2016
We're all strapped to a giant bomb. That's the inevitable bottom-line conclusion of reading anything at all about volcanoes. Witze and her co-author Kanipe are ostensibly writing a book about Iceland's Laki volcano, which blew up in 1783 and caused misery and death around the world (maybe--jury's not totally in.) But there's only so much to say about that, so several of their chapters stray into topics like:
* Volcanoes: big, bigger, really big, OMG DEATH BLAST END OF THE WORLD (see under: Yellowstone)
* Volcanoes: many ways they can kill you (lava, pyroklastic flow, snowmelt flood, ash suffocation, fluorine poisoning, sulfate poisoning, covering the entire world with nuclear-winter-ash-cloud)
* Volcanoes: are they just big geological zits? where does the hot stuff come from? etc.
They also touch on further interesting points such as: did J.W. Turner and Edward Munch paint red skylines because there was so much volcanic particulate in the air at those times? How do you divert a bajillion tons of angry lava away from your tiny Icelandic fishing village, both in the 18th century and in 1973? Ancient Danish/Icelandic warrior kings with weird bone structure--early victims of fluorine poisoning?
If you're already a volcano afficionada/o, you may already know most of what's here. And while Witze and Kanipe do a reasonable job of dramatizing their story, they don't yet have the narrative touch of some of our top popular nonfiction authors, like Erik Larson and Mary Karr. The book straddles a line between "of interest to Iceland/volcano geeks" and "trying to be of interest to everyone."
I finished it feeling newly reminded that if Yellowstone goes, it's game over for everybody, so I might as well order that beer with dinner. So...win?
* Volcanoes: big, bigger, really big, OMG DEATH BLAST END OF THE WORLD (see under: Yellowstone)
* Volcanoes: many ways they can kill you (lava, pyroklastic flow, snowmelt flood, ash suffocation, fluorine poisoning, sulfate poisoning, covering the entire world with nuclear-winter-ash-cloud)
* Volcanoes: are they just big geological zits? where does the hot stuff come from? etc.
They also touch on further interesting points such as: did J.W. Turner and Edward Munch paint red skylines because there was so much volcanic particulate in the air at those times? How do you divert a bajillion tons of angry lava away from your tiny Icelandic fishing village, both in the 18th century and in 1973? Ancient Danish/Icelandic warrior kings with weird bone structure--early victims of fluorine poisoning?
If you're already a volcano afficionada/o, you may already know most of what's here. And while Witze and Kanipe do a reasonable job of dramatizing their story, they don't yet have the narrative touch of some of our top popular nonfiction authors, like Erik Larson and Mary Karr. The book straddles a line between "of interest to Iceland/volcano geeks" and "trying to be of interest to everyone."
I finished it feeling newly reminded that if Yellowstone goes, it's game over for everybody, so I might as well order that beer with dinner. So...win?
November 17, 2014
I so wanted to read this book that I couldn't wait until it was published in the U.S. or came out on Kindle: I ordered it from Amazon's British website, because it was initially published in Great Britain. It's the compelling story of a huge volcanic eruption in Iceland in 1783 that darkened the skies over Europe for most of a year. It's told through the lens of the personal story of the Rev. Jon Steingrimsson, a minister who lived near the volcano, called Laki. He recorded what happened as a result of the eruption, which continued for months. The authors use Laki's eruption to tell the greater story of Icelandic volcanoes: why they exist, how they erupt, and how the people of Iceland manage to live with the volcanoes. Alex Witze is an excellent science writer, and she clearly enjoys writing about volcanoes. She and co-author Jeff Kanipe skillfully weave the science in with the human story of Laki's eruption and its aftereffects. The narrative is easy to follow, and the photos, sketches, and graphs add insight. Full disclosure: I have known Alex for more than 15 years, since she was a science writer at "The Dallas Morning News." I've always enjoyed her writing.
April 3, 2024
Teadmata põhjusel tekkis mul aasta alguses soov lugeda midagi vulkaanidest, nimekirja märkisin Argo kirjastuses ilmunud raamatu supervulkaanidest, kuid kohe ma seda raamatukogust ei saanud ja nii ta esialgu siis jäi. Kuni keegi lugemise väljakutse grupis tutvustas ingliskeelset „Lõõmavat saart. …“. Minu uinunud soov lugeda midagi vulkaanidest (taas)(t)ärkas, tõmbas ketsid jalga, lippas raamatukokku ja sel korral tulemuslikult, raamat oli olemas ja ilusas eesti keeles pealegi. Ja oi, kuidas mulle see raamat meeldis! Täielik trehvamine, mh veel ka ajaliselt ja geograafia plaanis – raamatukogust suundusin vaat, et otse ühele pimsskivist saarele, kus siis lugesin ja mõtlesin muudkui, laamtektoonikast, muidugi mõista. Etteruttavalt vist, aga kõige huvitavam oli mulle see osa raamatust, mis rääkis Maa koorest, laamadest ja vulkaanide maa-alusest elust, magmast, gaasidest jne (Maakera siseehitus – 4. klass). Kogu see raamat on kirjutatud üsna lihtsas ja samas värvikas keeles, tulenevalt, kõike on lihtne ette kujutada ja pähe tekkivad pildid on võimsad. Raamatus mde on lisaks kaartidele ja joonistele ka üllatavalt palju fotosid, küll, kahjuks on need mustvalged, samas õnneks on googel olemas ja kui huvi on, siis netis on samad pildid värviliselt.
Aga algusest. 8. juunil 1783. aastal Islandi lõunaosas Sida piirkonnas hakkas purskama vulkaan nimega Laki. Laki koosneb vulkaanide ahelast (135 maalõhet) ning väljutas 14 km3 laavat, mis kattis 2500 km2 maad. Kuid laavavood otseselt palju ei tapnud, seda tegi hoopis mürgine lendlev vulkaaniline tuhk. Kolme järgneva aasta jooksul surid umbes pooled Islandi kariloomadest ja viiendik inimestest. Väävli-, kloori- ja fluoriühendite rikas tuhk mürgitas loomasööda ja joogivee, mis omakorda mürgitas loomad ja inimesed ja oleks siis, et kuidagi hoobilt! Aga ei, nii inimesed kui loomad surid piinarikkalt, kohutavatesse haigustesse ja nälga.
Aga see pole kaugeltki kõik. Tuul korjas tuhapilve ning lennutas selle üle kogu Mandri-Euroopa. Tuhapilv varjutas päikese ja ilm halvenes. Happevihmad ja kõike elavat söövitav udu. Tugevad tormid, üleujutused ja äikesed. Erakordselt kuum suvi ja sellele järgnenud erakordselt külm ja pikk talv (kusjuures, see oli niigi väikese jääaja lõpuots, eksole), kaasnev saagi ikaldus, nälg ja kohutavad haigused. Raamat sisaldab mitmeid päevikukandeid mitmetelt tarkuritelt erinevatest Euroopa osadest, kes ennenägematut udu nägid ja kirjeldasid, kuid täpselt seletada ei osanud. Arvatakse, et mh mõjutas udu kaasaegset kunsti ning vähemalt kaudselt aitas kaasa Prantsuse revolutsiooni puhkemisele.
Aga ka see pole veel kõik, teadlased väidavad, et Laki tuhapilve poolt tekitatud atmosfäärilised muutused olid märgatavad Hiinast Põhja-Ameerikani, mh Arktikas ja Aafrikas (nt India, Egiptuse ja Jaapani näljahädad). Teadlased pakuvad, et kokku hukkus Laki emissioonide tõttu 1,5 – 6 miljoni inimeseni (raamatus on mitmel pool ära toodud mitmete erinevate teadlaste (geoloogid, vulkanoloogid, klimatoloogid jt) erinevad arvamused samades küsimustes, mis on kahtlemata tore).
Raamat on nutikalt üles ehitatud ses mõttes, et raamatu nö selgroo moodustavad Laki vahetus läheduses elanud ja kõike oma silmaga näinud pastori päevikukatked, mis annavad raamatule mingisuguse hea, inimliku mõõtme. Legendaarne Klausturi küla pastor Jón Steingrímssoni (1728–1791) oli terane mees ning ei piirdunud oma keskkonnas toimuva tõlgendamisel üksnes teoloogiaga. Jón tundis järjepidevat huvi looduse vastu ning mitmete tulevaste teadlaste (võib vist arvata, et eriti vulkanoloogide) suureks rõõmuks – tegi kirjalike märkmeid.
Lisaks Laki loole räägitakse raamatus ka teistest Islandi vulkaanidest ja vulkaanidest üldiselt (geoloogilised, majanduslikud, sotsiaalsed, poliitilised jne mõjud) ning igast supervulkaanist eraldi. Minevikust peamiselt, mis ühe või teise purse kaasa tõi, kuidas Maa elu (juhul, kui elu juba oli) ja olu mõjutas. Mh oli huvitav lugeda, kuidas seda üldse uuritakse, mis nt ammu enne igasuguse elu tekkimist, juhtus. Olevikust, raamatu autorid külastasid Islandit, Lakit ja selle ümbrust. Aga natukene ka tulevikust. Et mis siis saaks, kui mõni neist hiiglastest purskaks nüüd. Mh sellest, et praegune kliima soojenemise soodustab vulkaanide aktiivsuse tõusu. Raamatus on eraldi äärmiselt mõjus peatükk sellest, kuidas vulkaanid tapavad. Tuleb välja, et mitmeti ning kõik moodused on erakordselt piinarikkad.
Väga hea raamat.
Aga algusest. 8. juunil 1783. aastal Islandi lõunaosas Sida piirkonnas hakkas purskama vulkaan nimega Laki. Laki koosneb vulkaanide ahelast (135 maalõhet) ning väljutas 14 km3 laavat, mis kattis 2500 km2 maad. Kuid laavavood otseselt palju ei tapnud, seda tegi hoopis mürgine lendlev vulkaaniline tuhk. Kolme järgneva aasta jooksul surid umbes pooled Islandi kariloomadest ja viiendik inimestest. Väävli-, kloori- ja fluoriühendite rikas tuhk mürgitas loomasööda ja joogivee, mis omakorda mürgitas loomad ja inimesed ja oleks siis, et kuidagi hoobilt! Aga ei, nii inimesed kui loomad surid piinarikkalt, kohutavatesse haigustesse ja nälga.
Aga see pole kaugeltki kõik. Tuul korjas tuhapilve ning lennutas selle üle kogu Mandri-Euroopa. Tuhapilv varjutas päikese ja ilm halvenes. Happevihmad ja kõike elavat söövitav udu. Tugevad tormid, üleujutused ja äikesed. Erakordselt kuum suvi ja sellele järgnenud erakordselt külm ja pikk talv (kusjuures, see oli niigi väikese jääaja lõpuots, eksole), kaasnev saagi ikaldus, nälg ja kohutavad haigused. Raamat sisaldab mitmeid päevikukandeid mitmetelt tarkuritelt erinevatest Euroopa osadest, kes ennenägematut udu nägid ja kirjeldasid, kuid täpselt seletada ei osanud. Arvatakse, et mh mõjutas udu kaasaegset kunsti ning vähemalt kaudselt aitas kaasa Prantsuse revolutsiooni puhkemisele.
Aga ka see pole veel kõik, teadlased väidavad, et Laki tuhapilve poolt tekitatud atmosfäärilised muutused olid märgatavad Hiinast Põhja-Ameerikani, mh Arktikas ja Aafrikas (nt India, Egiptuse ja Jaapani näljahädad). Teadlased pakuvad, et kokku hukkus Laki emissioonide tõttu 1,5 – 6 miljoni inimeseni (raamatus on mitmel pool ära toodud mitmete erinevate teadlaste (geoloogid, vulkanoloogid, klimatoloogid jt) erinevad arvamused samades küsimustes, mis on kahtlemata tore).
Raamat on nutikalt üles ehitatud ses mõttes, et raamatu nö selgroo moodustavad Laki vahetus läheduses elanud ja kõike oma silmaga näinud pastori päevikukatked, mis annavad raamatule mingisuguse hea, inimliku mõõtme. Legendaarne Klausturi küla pastor Jón Steingrímssoni (1728–1791) oli terane mees ning ei piirdunud oma keskkonnas toimuva tõlgendamisel üksnes teoloogiaga. Jón tundis järjepidevat huvi looduse vastu ning mitmete tulevaste teadlaste (võib vist arvata, et eriti vulkanoloogide) suureks rõõmuks – tegi kirjalike märkmeid.
Lisaks Laki loole räägitakse raamatus ka teistest Islandi vulkaanidest ja vulkaanidest üldiselt (geoloogilised, majanduslikud, sotsiaalsed, poliitilised jne mõjud) ning igast supervulkaanist eraldi. Minevikust peamiselt, mis ühe või teise purse kaasa tõi, kuidas Maa elu (juhul, kui elu juba oli) ja olu mõjutas. Mh oli huvitav lugeda, kuidas seda üldse uuritakse, mis nt ammu enne igasuguse elu tekkimist, juhtus. Olevikust, raamatu autorid külastasid Islandit, Lakit ja selle ümbrust. Aga natukene ka tulevikust. Et mis siis saaks, kui mõni neist hiiglastest purskaks nüüd. Mh sellest, et praegune kliima soojenemise soodustab vulkaanide aktiivsuse tõusu. Raamatus on eraldi äärmiselt mõjus peatükk sellest, kuidas vulkaanid tapavad. Tuleb välja, et mitmeti ning kõik moodused on erakordselt piinarikkad.
Väga hea raamat.
July 19, 2021
It is pretty commonly known that Iceland is where the Mid-Atlantic Ridge breaks the surface and that it is a very volcanically active country. In fact, one of its numerous volcanoes is erupting even as I write this review. Most of the world is familiar with the 2010 eruption of Eyjafjallajokull which disrupted aviation across the world for a week.
But the eruption that this book discusses is Laki in 1783 which not only devastated the island communities - nearly a quarter of the population died either from the poisonous gas, the resulting famine due to ash blocking of the sun and deaths of herd animals from breathing in the sharp ash granules and eating ash covered fodder - but spread across the world.
The sulfur dioxide gases and sun-blocking clouds traveled east to Europe where toxic hazes mixed with unusual high summer temperatures killed thousands across western Europe. It is also suspected to have contributed to some extreme weather events - severe winters with frost well into June, violent electrical storms, droughts causing famine and hail-stricken harvests. In North America, the summer had a dry fog that failed to dissipate and the following winter was one of the coldest and longest recorded. On a positive note, it also gave some spectacular sunsets that may have inspired painters of the time.
The author also talks about plate tectonics, massive eruptions of volcanoes across the world - from Vesuvius to Santorini to Tambora and Krakatoa. There's even mention of Yellowstone and its fellow 'supervolcanoes'. How the people of Iceland live today, in the shadow of active volcanoes as well as some of the actual causes of death from eruptions. Hint: it's usually toxic gases, pyroclastic flows or lahars although there are certain types of lava that do move very quickly.
It ends by returning to Heimaey where the book originally started and how the parish priest - who spoke the famous 'fire sermon' that supposedly stopped the lava flow not far from the church where he was preaching - was still being recognized and revered.
Overall, it's an interesting bit of history which reminds the reader that as much as we consider ourselves the master of the world - ol' mother earth is far more powerful than humanity.
2021-145
But the eruption that this book discusses is Laki in 1783 which not only devastated the island communities - nearly a quarter of the population died either from the poisonous gas, the resulting famine due to ash blocking of the sun and deaths of herd animals from breathing in the sharp ash granules and eating ash covered fodder - but spread across the world.
The sulfur dioxide gases and sun-blocking clouds traveled east to Europe where toxic hazes mixed with unusual high summer temperatures killed thousands across western Europe. It is also suspected to have contributed to some extreme weather events - severe winters with frost well into June, violent electrical storms, droughts causing famine and hail-stricken harvests. In North America, the summer had a dry fog that failed to dissipate and the following winter was one of the coldest and longest recorded. On a positive note, it also gave some spectacular sunsets that may have inspired painters of the time.
The author also talks about plate tectonics, massive eruptions of volcanoes across the world - from Vesuvius to Santorini to Tambora and Krakatoa. There's even mention of Yellowstone and its fellow 'supervolcanoes'. How the people of Iceland live today, in the shadow of active volcanoes as well as some of the actual causes of death from eruptions. Hint: it's usually toxic gases, pyroclastic flows or lahars although there are certain types of lava that do move very quickly.
It ends by returning to Heimaey where the book originally started and how the parish priest - who spoke the famous 'fire sermon' that supposedly stopped the lava flow not far from the church where he was preaching - was still being recognized and revered.
Overall, it's an interesting bit of history which reminds the reader that as much as we consider ourselves the master of the world - ol' mother earth is far more powerful than humanity.
2021-145
July 3, 2014
I bought this book after my trip to Iceland in June 2014. Iceland is a fascinating country and so was the book.
The book describes and analyses effects of some of the big volcano eruptions to date with focus on Laki eruption which occurred in Iceland in the late 19th century and was very well documented by a local priest. What would happen if Laki eruption occurred these days? Or that of Tambora which went off in Indonesia in 1815 and was probably the reason behind "the year without summer" in 1816? Today, such thing could be a big test for our civilisation with severe impact on the way we live and even on our lives. There is no way to predict such events, volcanos like Popocatepetl in Mexico or the infamous Vesuvius in Italy which slept for centuries or even millennia can re-awake with a rather short notice. And then, there are the really bad guys - supervolcanos capable of ejecting so much ash, gas and particles to the stratosphere that the global temperature may consequently drop by 10C for a number of years and, needless to say, with a devastating effects on the mankind itself. Like the book says, these guys come to life very rarely (the latest known supervolcano eruption happened 27 thousand years ago) and, hence, the probability of occurrence is very very low. Yet, there is a huge difference between something being "improbable" and "impossible".
The book is very well written -- thanks to alternating topics it is dynamic and for me it was difficult to put down. I see it as a good balance between facts and "fiction". Volcanic activity is indeed a very fascinating topic I plan to explore further. For me, it is five stars with no hesitation! :)
The book describes and analyses effects of some of the big volcano eruptions to date with focus on Laki eruption which occurred in Iceland in the late 19th century and was very well documented by a local priest. What would happen if Laki eruption occurred these days? Or that of Tambora which went off in Indonesia in 1815 and was probably the reason behind "the year without summer" in 1816? Today, such thing could be a big test for our civilisation with severe impact on the way we live and even on our lives. There is no way to predict such events, volcanos like Popocatepetl in Mexico or the infamous Vesuvius in Italy which slept for centuries or even millennia can re-awake with a rather short notice. And then, there are the really bad guys - supervolcanos capable of ejecting so much ash, gas and particles to the stratosphere that the global temperature may consequently drop by 10C for a number of years and, needless to say, with a devastating effects on the mankind itself. Like the book says, these guys come to life very rarely (the latest known supervolcano eruption happened 27 thousand years ago) and, hence, the probability of occurrence is very very low. Yet, there is a huge difference between something being "improbable" and "impossible".
The book is very well written -- thanks to alternating topics it is dynamic and for me it was difficult to put down. I see it as a good balance between facts and "fiction". Volcanic activity is indeed a very fascinating topic I plan to explore further. For me, it is five stars with no hesitation! :)
June 14, 2015
My first trip to Iceland was in 2010 only a few months after Eyjafjallajokull brought European air traffic to a halt. That trip included a visit to Heimaey; one of my favorite books is John McPhee's Control of Nature, in which he describes the 1973 eruption during which the harbor was saved by spraying millions of gallons of water on the lava flow. This book was on a reading list I was given in preparation for a second trip to Iceland. I am not sure why they changed the subtitle for the American edition because the UK edition is: An Island on Fire: The Extraordinary Story of Laki, the Volcano That Turned Eighteenth-Century Europe Dark which I think is better. The main focus is the relation of volcanic eruptions to major climate changes, specifically the 1873 eruption of Laki. Using contemporary accounts, including Ben Franklin who was in Paris then, the authors describe the "year of wonders " as the ash cloud moved over Northern Europe and brought famine and disease (a contributing factor to the French Revolution). But the book is more broadly a short and readable scientific account of all the major volcanic eruptions and the potential for concern should another "Laki" occur.
January 15, 2020
A quick, easy & informative read. It's not anything especially groundbreaking, but it takes an event obscure to many people outside of Iceland and gives it some worthy publicity, combined with a solid overview of famous volcanic activity throughout history. Something to have on the reference shelf when needed.
September 17, 2014
Huvitav, pisut õõvastav ning väegade arusaadavalt kirjutatud raamat vulkaanidest. Eriti Laki-nimelisest, kelle külje all üks 18. sajandi Islandi kirikuõpetaja kõik, mis juhtus, üles kirjutas...
February 23, 2020
This is one of the most engaging non-fiction books I have read. The topic of volcanoes is obviously fascinating all by itself, but this is written in such a compelling way as to make it impossible to put down.
Geographical, historical; part non-fiction, part-travel writing: it is a multi-faceted work which is deeply informative and gripping. The 1783 eruption of the Icelandic volcano Lake takes centre-stage and is used as a benchmark for the exploration of dangerous future eruptions, although the book is far-reaching in its scope and not at all limited to Lake, or Iceland. From the essentials of Plate Tectonic theory and crustal movements to supervolcanoes and deadly global eruptions.
Traversing historical and geological time, Island on Fire is a condensed tour de force on the Earth's volcanic history with a brief and highly disturbing glimpse at a possible future; all in the context of the impacts on people and the development of societies.
Geographical, historical; part non-fiction, part-travel writing: it is a multi-faceted work which is deeply informative and gripping. The 1783 eruption of the Icelandic volcano Lake takes centre-stage and is used as a benchmark for the exploration of dangerous future eruptions, although the book is far-reaching in its scope and not at all limited to Lake, or Iceland. From the essentials of Plate Tectonic theory and crustal movements to supervolcanoes and deadly global eruptions.
Traversing historical and geological time, Island on Fire is a condensed tour de force on the Earth's volcanic history with a brief and highly disturbing glimpse at a possible future; all in the context of the impacts on people and the development of societies.
October 10, 2016
This book is about the 1783 Laki eruption, but it discusses many other notable volcanic eruptions, including geological records of prehistoric catastrophes. There is a brief discussion about these earlier eruptions, speculating that at various times, humans were among the species very nearly wiped out, and referring to the theory of "bottlenecks" during our existence on the planet: times where so few of us survived that our continued existence was imperiled. That makes me curious about the implications of re-populating the planet with a drastically reduced genetic pool. Huh. Maybe I should read something about that.
What was new to me (but obviously not to actual scientists) was how much difference it makes if a big volcano detonates in the equatorial or mid-latitudes versus the far north. If I understand it correctly, an Icelandic eruption has a much shorter distance for the effluvia to shoot right past the tropospheric "pause" and into the troposphere, and from there it's going to go around the globe faster and more consequentially.
The authors also discuss the 2010 eruption at Eyjafjallajökull, but despite their tips on going to YouTube to learn to pronounce it, I still can't. Some folks seem to pronounce the sets of "ll"s with a kind of clucking or scritching sound, and some say it as "el", but I suspect the latter are pandering to non-Icelanders. Bless their hearts.
What was new to me (but obviously not to actual scientists) was how much difference it makes if a big volcano detonates in the equatorial or mid-latitudes versus the far north. If I understand it correctly, an Icelandic eruption has a much shorter distance for the effluvia to shoot right past the tropospheric "pause" and into the troposphere, and from there it's going to go around the globe faster and more consequentially.
The authors also discuss the 2010 eruption at Eyjafjallajökull, but despite their tips on going to YouTube to learn to pronounce it, I still can't. Some folks seem to pronounce the sets of "ll"s with a kind of clucking or scritching sound, and some say it as "el", but I suspect the latter are pandering to non-Icelanders. Bless their hearts.
January 24, 2023
Volcano go boom and everyone dies. You’ve heard the story and seen the movies. But that’s not how Laki in Iceland rolls, and Alexandra Witze and Jeff Kanipe are here to tell you about it.
Island on Fire is really good even though it is not what I expected at all. I thought it would be another disaster book where it follows a few people as they attempt to run from a lava spewing volcano. A Pompeii redux, if you will. No Laki is more of a slow burn which slowly kills a ton of people through famine and ash. And since it was 1783, there was little anyone can do about it.
The book jumps around quite a bit from the science of volcanos to the effects on Iceland folk when Laki erupts to what it did to people outside of Iceland. Laki had far ranging consequences and you learn all about them.
Often, it can be aggravating when a book covers so much ground, but Witz and Kanipe keep everything to the point while digging into the lives of those effected by LAki’s eruption. I really liked this book, and it has a little something for everyone.
Island on Fire is really good even though it is not what I expected at all. I thought it would be another disaster book where it follows a few people as they attempt to run from a lava spewing volcano. A Pompeii redux, if you will. No Laki is more of a slow burn which slowly kills a ton of people through famine and ash. And since it was 1783, there was little anyone can do about it.
The book jumps around quite a bit from the science of volcanos to the effects on Iceland folk when Laki erupts to what it did to people outside of Iceland. Laki had far ranging consequences and you learn all about them.
Often, it can be aggravating when a book covers so much ground, but Witz and Kanipe keep everything to the point while digging into the lives of those effected by LAki’s eruption. I really liked this book, and it has a little something for everyone.
November 2, 2016
This is an easy to read and immensely entertaining and informative book on the eruption of the Icelandic volcano Laki along with background and history of volcanology and a few famous and not so famous eruptions that show the different types of volcano and how this relates to Laki. Witze and Kanipe have an real and obvious passion for the subject which comes through in the writing as they use first hand accounts, historic scientific records and their own experiences and research to take the reader on a journey around the volcanic world, including a chapter and what another Laki eruption could mean today. This is a brilliant introductory book for those unfamiliar with volcanoes and volcanology and is a great refresher read for those, like me, who have been fascinated by them for years. An excellent read, in fact its that good I'm likely to go and buy my own copy!!
January 22, 2021
well, the story of the 1783 eruption of Laki is fascinating and something I'd never heard about. but only half of the book is about that eruption--the rest of the pages discuss volcanic eruptions in general, the broader history of Icelandic eruptions, and the possible consequences of a future eruption (in Iceland and elsewhere). I guess that, in order to reach "book length," the authors really had to pad the story. the good news is that most of the padding is pretty interesting, so I'm ok with it. the writing is solid but not exceptional.
July 23, 2016
A fascinating read examining the 18th century eruption of Icelandic volcano Laki. I appreciate how the authors link the Laki eruption to disasters elsewhere in the world at the time as well as putting it into context with other volcanoes around the globe.
January 8, 2022
Centred on the diary of a local priest who delivers a "fire sermon" to keep the lava at bay from his village in southern Iceland. I enjoyed this book, which was more a general discussion of volcanos than a deep dive into Laki (1783)
July 30, 2024
A very enjoyable read on the 1783 eruption of Laki in Iceland and volcanoes in general. Combinations of history and science are always fun - authors review the journal of Rev. Jon Steingrimsson, whose day-by-day account of the eruption is consulted by volcanologists today, and whose Fire Mass kept lava flows at bay in his tiny church full of terrified, devout Christian townsfolk all those years ago. They also include writings from Benjamin Franklin and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and in covering the social and medical repercussions of other volcanic eruptions around the world, provide firsthand accounts from witnesses in continents around the world. The chapter on supervolcanoes and records of their eruptions throughout earth's history was especially (perhaps morbidly) fascinating. Nice to read from local authors - who got to visit the National Ice Core Laboratory in Denver - as well.
July 6, 2021
Great book on the history of volcanoes in Iceland (with perhaps a strong focus on Laki and its eruption in 1783). Thoroughly enjoy the integration of Iceland’s geology and the history of how people have dealt with/learned to live with volcanic eruptions. Another plus, the authors do a fairly good job at the subject’s account without the use of too much jargon. The only major criticism I have is with the organization of the chapters and their topics — the authors appear to jump around quite a bit and I think the procession of the book should have had a better flow to it.
December 18, 2019
I really enjoyed this eminently readable history of Laki. It was a fascinating look at not just the history of Iceland and the way it co-exists with its volcanoes, but also at the way volcanoes have influenced history. The authors broaden their scope to beyond Iceland and visit all of the continents and major volcanic areas. Along the way they also give an explanation of what volcanoes are and how they work. It really was a fun read.
January 12, 2021
Because super volcanos are at least not caused by stupid people and neo-nazis.
August 17, 2021
volcanology with most of it centered around Iceland and the 1783 eruption of Laki. An explosion that sent ash and poisonous fog around the world for eight years. Serious business. It's a 6hr Audible quickey that also talks about Krakatoa, Tambora, Yellowstone and some of the other big ones. I love that stuff 3***
June 13, 2017
A vivid description of the great volcano eruption of 1783-84 and other similar disasters in Iceland and elsewhere.
March 26, 2023
Exactly what I expected from a book on volcanos.
November 22, 2015
Meh? I've read a lot of other volcano books that were a lot more interesting. This might have been good if it was reduced to 30 pages. The basic premise is interesting enough - a 1793 Icelandic volcano that caused serious world damage due to ashfall. More than 140,000 people are estimated to have died from it, from massive starvation and fluoridosis in Iceland, through respiratory deaths across Europe, and supported by icecore samples.
Unfortunately, a good portion of the book reads like a letter home. There are plenty of photographs, but the printing quality is so poor they look out of focus, like an old newspaper clipping. Here's this volcano that's famous in Iceland and you've never heard of but we thought it was kind of cool; here's our trip to it. It didn't have mega lava flow, people weren't killed by pyroclastic flows, no one was buried alive in hot ash. It just caused a lot of pollution. There's one reference I might follow up on, because I love medical mysteries, but over all it was a big Ho hum and took me forever to get through. Sorry.
Unfortunately, a good portion of the book reads like a letter home. There are plenty of photographs, but the printing quality is so poor they look out of focus, like an old newspaper clipping. Here's this volcano that's famous in Iceland and you've never heard of but we thought it was kind of cool; here's our trip to it. It didn't have mega lava flow, people weren't killed by pyroclastic flows, no one was buried alive in hot ash. It just caused a lot of pollution. There's one reference I might follow up on, because I love medical mysteries, but over all it was a big Ho hum and took me forever to get through. Sorry.
November 19, 2017
Neat history of the Laki eruption of 1783, with related summaries of other major volcanic eruptions/disasters across the globe. I had to take a lot of fresh air/dog walking breaks from reading the descriptions of all the ways volcanoes can kill you-- fire, lava, racing flows of cement-like mud, flying rocks, sulfuric acid, fluorine poisoning, and wait, don't forget suffocation from streams of trapped carbon dioxide that build up under lakes that aren't even anywhere near volcanoes and burst out of the lake and suffocate people asleep in their beds. In the 1980's!
Also a great primer on how all of history is connected, and how Europe first became aware of the global impact of geological changes and weather disruptions across the globe, with the Tambora eruption in Indonesia leading to the Year Without a Summer, and connections being drawn between Laki's eruption and the fall of the French monarchy.
Also, makes you want to visit Iceland!
Also a great primer on how all of history is connected, and how Europe first became aware of the global impact of geological changes and weather disruptions across the globe, with the Tambora eruption in Indonesia leading to the Year Without a Summer, and connections being drawn between Laki's eruption and the fall of the French monarchy.
Also, makes you want to visit Iceland!
April 14, 2014
I found this absolutely fascinating. I hadn't really realised just how dangerous - to how many people - volcanoes could be. The book dealt with the human impact of Laki, the Icelandic volcano, which erupted in 1783. It seems likely, with climate change, that volcanoes will erupt more often, and more violently. Perhaps it's nature's way of correcting a balance, but (tens of? hundreds of?) millions of human lives could be lost in the process. I really recommend this book, which is careful, and factual, but is also a fascinating read.
February 27, 2015
I found this book incredibly interesting -- but ultimately, Simon Winchester's Krakatoa set the volcanology bar very high with "Krakatoa." I'd still recommend this book, though, for how well it distinguishes between the "ring of fire" eruptions to the glacial eruptions like Laki.
December 21, 2020
Island on Fire: The Extraordinary Story of a Forgotten Volcano That Changed the World by Alexandra Witze and Jeff Kanipe is the story of Laki, the massive Icelandic volcano whose 1783 eruption plunged Europe - and possibly the wider world - into the dark (and subsequently the cold). In Iceland they died of the direct of effects of a poisoned environment; in western Europe of the prolonged effects of breathing in an unrelenting poisonous fog; further afield - as far as the Nile - of the effects of climate change wrought by this massive explosion.
Using the meticulous records of one Jón Steingrímsson, Witze and Kanipe reconstruct the terrifying days following the eruption of Laki. However, Island on Fire is more than the simple retelling of what happened to Iceland in 1783. It is a treatise on volcanology, from plate tectonics and magma build-up to detailed explanations on the scale and after-effects of eruptions from Mount Vesuvius (the one that buried Pompeii) and Krakatau (the Indonesian volcano whose eruption and final collapse could be heard as far as Singapore) to Mount Pelée (the Caribbean monster who erupted with devastating force in 1902) and Mount St. Helens. Even better, Witze and Kanipe bring the study of ice cores, atmospheric conditions, magma formation, lava flows, and killer gases emitted by underwater volcanoes to a level that laypeople can easily comprehend.
That said, I felt the title of this book didn't really do it justice. I read Island on Fire for two reasons. I'm getting ready to run a program in Iceland and I'm trying to read widely of the country before this happens. I came away with relatively little knowledge about Iceland, but a tremendous amount of knowledge about volcanoes in general. I would guess that roughly 50 percent of the book deals with Iceland directly, and perhaps 70-80 percent of that is about the Laki eruption. This isn't a complaint and shouldn't be an issue for most readers (ardent researchers of Laki aside), but it is something to note.
The bottom line: calling all science geeks, and those with a healthy appetite for science reading. On the other hand, if plate tectonics bores you, it would be best to find another book.
Using the meticulous records of one Jón Steingrímsson, Witze and Kanipe reconstruct the terrifying days following the eruption of Laki. However, Island on Fire is more than the simple retelling of what happened to Iceland in 1783. It is a treatise on volcanology, from plate tectonics and magma build-up to detailed explanations on the scale and after-effects of eruptions from Mount Vesuvius (the one that buried Pompeii) and Krakatau (the Indonesian volcano whose eruption and final collapse could be heard as far as Singapore) to Mount Pelée (the Caribbean monster who erupted with devastating force in 1902) and Mount St. Helens. Even better, Witze and Kanipe bring the study of ice cores, atmospheric conditions, magma formation, lava flows, and killer gases emitted by underwater volcanoes to a level that laypeople can easily comprehend.
That said, I felt the title of this book didn't really do it justice. I read Island on Fire for two reasons. I'm getting ready to run a program in Iceland and I'm trying to read widely of the country before this happens. I came away with relatively little knowledge about Iceland, but a tremendous amount of knowledge about volcanoes in general. I would guess that roughly 50 percent of the book deals with Iceland directly, and perhaps 70-80 percent of that is about the Laki eruption. This isn't a complaint and shouldn't be an issue for most readers (ardent researchers of Laki aside), but it is something to note.
The bottom line: calling all science geeks, and those with a healthy appetite for science reading. On the other hand, if plate tectonics bores you, it would be best to find another book.
September 23, 2022
Laki is a volcanic fissure located in Vatnajökull National Park, Iceland. On June 08, 1783, the fissure opened and spewed forth a lot of steam from super heated groundwater. In addition to that, nearby volcano Grímsvötn, also erupted. Both of these events over an eight month period produced something like four tons of basalt lava, as well as clouds of noxious gasses. The result was contaminated soil and groundwater, leading to crop failure, the death of at least half the livestock in Iceland, and famine that killed a decent percentage of the human population. This massive event also impacted the rest of the world, mostly due to weather changes. The sky was filled with these noxious gasses, causing haze, terrible thunderstorms, high temperatures in summer, very low temperatures in winter, and drought in some locations.
This book was free to listen to on Audible Plus, so I gave it a try. It was a pretty short book. I think it was about five hours, so if you want something that isn't terribly long, this may be for you. I really want to travel to Iceland one day, and visit that national park. I love to see things that I have read about in general, so that would be a good opportunity to see Laki. I thought that this book was particularly interesting when reading about the impacts on weather throughout the world. I suppose that it never really occurred to me that something happening on one side of the world could affect something where I live so much. (Which in hindsight is really stupid because the smoke from wildfires in California certainly made it to Tennessee last season.) In the United States, there were reports of chunks of ice in the Gulf of Mexico and the Mississippi River was frozen. The snow in New Jersey was DEEP and the temperatures were below zero. All of this was happening at the end of the American Revolution, which is wild to think about. This was a pretty interesting book that I just happened to run across. I'm glad that I did.
This book was free to listen to on Audible Plus, so I gave it a try. It was a pretty short book. I think it was about five hours, so if you want something that isn't terribly long, this may be for you. I really want to travel to Iceland one day, and visit that national park. I love to see things that I have read about in general, so that would be a good opportunity to see Laki. I thought that this book was particularly interesting when reading about the impacts on weather throughout the world. I suppose that it never really occurred to me that something happening on one side of the world could affect something where I live so much. (Which in hindsight is really stupid because the smoke from wildfires in California certainly made it to Tennessee last season.) In the United States, there were reports of chunks of ice in the Gulf of Mexico and the Mississippi River was frozen. The snow in New Jersey was DEEP and the temperatures were below zero. All of this was happening at the end of the American Revolution, which is wild to think about. This was a pretty interesting book that I just happened to run across. I'm glad that I did.
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