The million death quake: the science of predicting Earth's deadliest natural disaster

This book is an entertaining history of earthquakes, with both compelling stories of some of the deadliest disasters of all time and stories of how scientists very slowly came to understand what causes them. The author provides very clear scientific explanations of earthquakes and of the reasons why we still cannot predict them. But he also argues that lives can be saved - if we have the political will - through investment in earthquake engineering and real-time digital warning systems. The book is intended to be an essential reading for policymakers, planners, builders, investors, and all citizens of this tectonically vigorous planet.