The San Francisco author uses a very unique literary device to provide entertaining and scientifically solid advice on 15 different topics- he pretends that you are actually in, or time travel to, the dangerous places he outlines. The advice often seems counterintuitive, but is made to make sense as he describes the details.
The science can become quite complicated. He describes the square-cube law of our relationship to gravity that may make it possible to outrun Tyrannosaurs Rex. I had to read the climate science of tornadoes twice to grasp at least some of it.
“…the Midwest hosts more than 75 percent of the world’s tornadoes because its long flatlands provide a unique unobstructed pathway from Mexico to Canada. As a result, collisions play out on a continental scale. Every spring, when the winter jet stream still blows with enough force to create a strong low-pressure vacuum, and the skies over Mexico warm, but it remains cold over Canada, the Midwest hosts the atmosphere’s greatest demolition derby.”
Even without the fanciful personalized touch of pretending to be there, the science of some stories is interesting, such as the geography of the sacking of Constantinople and the many mistakes leading to the worsening of the devastation of the 1906 San Fransisco earthquake and fire. The then current myths about the cause of the Black Plague are detailed, and the refusal of many sailors to believe the solid evidence of the cause and easy cure of scurvy lead to thousands of miserable slow deaths.
A very enjoyable read.
9/10
Thanks, Rhynda.
The Passionate Reader 