Natural Disasters That Changed the World

British author Rodney Castleden takes readers on a guided tour of various disasters that have ravished the earth over the millenia. Whether you're talking earthquakes, volcanos, tsunamis, landslides, mudslides, avalanches, floods, fires, droughts, meteors, plagues, pandemics, etc., Castleden provides the who-what-when-where-and-why for them all. Given that most of these events killed hundreds of thousands - sometimes millions(!) - of people, it might seem inappropriate to term NATURAL DISASTERS THAT CHANGED THE WORLD "fascinating" but that's just what I found it to be! Castleden starts his tragical history tour with the Permian mass extinction circa 251 million B.C; his last entry is for Global Warming circa 2007. In all, some 150-odd events are described. Castleden's wide-ranging knowledge of geography, history and archaeology is everywhere evident as he makes all those events not just exciting but understandable. Especially useful are his explanations about what they all meant to earth and mankind, why they are important and how they did change the world. Some events alerted us to previously-unknown dangers, others forced authorities to create and enforce regulations and standards to limit damage from future disasters and so on. As much as I enjoyed Castleden's book - and I did enjoy it tremendously! - I had to give it four stars; actually 4 1/2. The book runs to 576 pages, covers 150-odd events and has NO index! Secondly, several of the events covered I would not classify as "natural disasters." Here are a few examples: the sinking of the Titanic, the grounding of the Exxon Valdez, the destruction of the Hindenburg, the Malpasset dam collapse, the wreck of the Birkenhead, etc. were man-made disasters. They were caused by human stupidity, incompetent engineering, etc. and to blame mother nature seems wrong. In any case, NATURAL DISASTERS THAT CHANGED THE WORLD is one of the most eye-opening books I've come across in years. Admittedly it's the dark side of history but it was so very interesting to learn of all those catastrophic events and how they have shaped human development over the years in so many ways. As Mr. Spock would say: Fascinating! Highly recommended.