On Shaky Ground (William Morrow, 1988)
In the 1980’s, most Americans erroneously believed that the threat of serious earthquake damage in the U.S. was confined to California and Alaska. This was the gripping and fast-paced book that changed all that, documenting through the lens of the personal quests of many seminal geophysical scientists the fact that 34 states stood in direct threat, and the remaining 16 stood to be massively impacted by the potential financial losses to the rest of the country. On Shaky Ground also changed the focus from recovery and rescue to heretofore ill-considered philosophy that it is better to strengthen the structures we build on the shaky surface to prevent them from falling down. In other words, no collapse, no rescue necessary. That principle is known as mitigation, or better put today, “Resilience.”
ON SHAKY GROUND is as accurate and relevant today as when released.