About this item
An exhilarating, time-traveling journey to the solar system's strangest and most awe-inspiring volcanoes.Volcanoes are capable of acts of pyrotechnical prowess verging on magic: they spout black magma more fluid than water, create shimmering cities of glass at the bottom of the ocean and frozen lakes of lava on the moon, and can even tip entire planets over. Between lava that melts and re-forms the landscape, and noxious volcanic gases that poison the atmosphere, volcanoes have threatened life on Earth countless times in our planet's history. Yet despite their reputation for destruction, volcanoes are inseparable from the creation of our planet.A lively and utterly fascinating guide to these geologic wonders, Super Volcanoes revels in the incomparable power of volcanic eruptions past and present, Earthbound and otherwise -- and recounts the daring and sometimes death-defying careers of the scientists who study them.
About the Author
Robin is perpetually curious and often ridiculous. He's a doctor of experimental volcanology (blew stuff up for science) a full-time, freelance, award-winning science journalist (rearranges letters for money) , a part-time award-winning photographer (takes photographs that aren't awful) , a scientific consultant (tells people how to do science right) , an occasional lecturer (rearranges letters and says them aloud for money) , a public speaker (rearranges letters and says them aloud, sometimes for free) , and a frequent explain-how-volcanoes-work TV guest (gesticulates wildly on live television) . His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, National Geographic, Scientific American, Quanta Magazine, Vox, Nature, Earther, Gizmodo, Forbes, The Verge, Atlas Obscura, New Scientist, Supercluster, Discover Magazine, WIRED, CNN, the Guardian, the Observer, The Times, The Daily Beast, and elsewhere. (He's enjoyed all his assignments, but he's especially pleased three of his stories made the front page of The New York Times - with two of these and one other making the cover of the Science Times section - and another tale was made Scientific American's cover story. Although all that might pale in comparison to his National Geographic story on an unsolved "murder" mystery - because that one went viral and got turned into TikToks, which was adorable. Oh, and one of his pieces - this one - was listed as a notable essay in the 2021 edition of the Best American Science and Nature Writing, which was lovely. He's also appeared multiple times on Science Shortform's best science journalism roundups, both as Honorable Mentions and Top Picks. ) You can also sometimes see his goofy face appear on TV, including on BBC News, Sky News, Al Jazeera, and Good Morning America. If faces aren't your thing, you can hear his exceedingly British accent on the Guardian's podcasts. He's also the author of a popular science book published by W.W. Norton & Company - SUPER VOLCANOES: WHAT THEY REVEAL ABOUT EARTH AND THE WORLDS BEYOND - and it's about (you guessed it) volcanoes. Many see volcanoes as little more than unpredictable magmatic killers. But for the most part, they are fantastical masterworks of molten rock capable of near-magical acts. And as they put on a pyrotechnical performance, they reveal secrets about the planets to which they belong. In other words, volcanoes aren't frightening; they're breathtaking, bizarre, and bonkers. They are citadels built by frozen lava that provide revelation after revelation about the Stygian depths and the strange surfaces of worlds near and far, including the only home we've ever known. He is also the 2022 recipient of the European Geosciences Union's Angela Croome Award for continued, excellent and successful reporting of Earth, space & planetary science topics - something he received the day after his first book was published in the US,
