Can we predict cataclysmic disasters such as earthquakes,
volcanic eruptions, or stock market crashes? The Indian Ocean
tsunami of 2004 claimed more than 200,000 lives. Hurricane Katrina
killed over 1,800 people and devastated the city of New Orleans.
The recent global financial crisis has cost corporations and
ordinary people around the world billions of dollars.
"Megadisasters" is a book that asks why catastrophes such as these
catch us by surprise, and reveals the history and groundbreaking
science behind efforts to forecast major disasters and minimize
their destruction.
Each chapter of this exciting and eye-opening book explores a
particular type of cataclysmic event and the research surrounding
it, including earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions,
hurricanes, rapid climate change, collisions with asteroids or
comets, pandemics, and financial crashes. Florin Diacu tells the
harrowing true stories of people impacted by these terrible events,
and of the scientists racing against time to predict when the next
big disaster will strike. He describes the mathematical models that
are so critical to understanding the laws of nature and foretelling
potentially lethal phenomena, the history of modeling and its
prospects for success in the future, and the enormous challenges to
scientific prediction posed by the chaos phenomenon, which is the
high instability that underlies many processes around us.
Yielding new insights into the perils that can touch every one
of us, "Megadisasters" shows how the science of predicting
disasters holds the promise of a safer and brighter tomorrow.
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