Well, I finished A Crack in the Edge of the World, and it was most satisfying! We finally got to the detailed examination of the San Francisco earthquake, complete with stories from those who experienced it. I never knew how terrifying it was until I read about the streets moving like gigantic waves toward the shocked onlookers, or the buildings falling down all around them. I saw such wave action on a much smaller scale in 1980 in San Jose and I can imagine that people were stunned by what they saw.
Something else I didn't know was how much help the people of San Francisco got after the earthquake from around the country and the world. Apparently, there was a huge outpouring of sympathy and cash for the devastated city. But that made me wonder if other towns and cities equally devastated but less populous also received assistance. That's something rarely talked about with respect to that day: all up and down the fault line, communities were hurt and in some cases destroyed by the earthquake that had far reaching effects--from as far north as Oregon to as far south as Anaheim and as far east as Winnemucca.
Toward the end of the book, the author goes on to discuss other earthquake prone areas of the world, including Alaska, with its quake in 1964, and the giant caldera in Yellowstone National Park. He's worried about all of these places, including San Francisco, since the Loma Prieta quake did not happen on the San Andreas fault, which means the pressure has been building there since 1906.
A Crack in the Edge of the World was a fun book to read! I recommend it highly.
But what to read next? Maybe a mystery would be a nice palate-cleanser before tackling a meatier work. I'll see what I have in the cupboard. Meet me back here later for a full account.
Something else I didn't know was how much help the people of San Francisco got after the earthquake from around the country and the world. Apparently, there was a huge outpouring of sympathy and cash for the devastated city. But that made me wonder if other towns and cities equally devastated but less populous also received assistance. That's something rarely talked about with respect to that day: all up and down the fault line, communities were hurt and in some cases destroyed by the earthquake that had far reaching effects--from as far north as Oregon to as far south as Anaheim and as far east as Winnemucca.
Toward the end of the book, the author goes on to discuss other earthquake prone areas of the world, including Alaska, with its quake in 1964, and the giant caldera in Yellowstone National Park. He's worried about all of these places, including San Francisco, since the Loma Prieta quake did not happen on the San Andreas fault, which means the pressure has been building there since 1906.
A Crack in the Edge of the World was a fun book to read! I recommend it highly.
But what to read next? Maybe a mystery would be a nice palate-cleanser before tackling a meatier work. I'll see what I have in the cupboard. Meet me back here later for a full account.
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