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Title: Magnitude 8: Earthquakes and Life Along the San Andreas Fault by Philip L. Fradkin ISBN: 0-520-22119-2 Publisher: University of California Press Pub. Date: 01 October, 1999 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $19.95

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Average Customer Rating: 4.75 (4 reviews)

Rating: 5
Summary: An Important Work
Comment: This is an important work; well researched and well written. It should be required reading for all public officials in California. More illustrations would have been useful. Highly recommended.

Rating: 5
Summary: Creates a personal visceral feel for powerful earth force
Comment: Yesterday, August 17, I was sitting in Point Reyes, CA., home of author Phil Fradkin, directly overhanging the San Andreas fault. I was on page 121 of Magnitude 8, when suddenly the house began to move. It swayed back and forth like a tree hut in a gale for about 15 seconds. Yes, it was a minor 5.0 magnitude quake centered in nearby Bolinas. Powerful Writing!

Great book by an author who has put his heart and soul into internalizing the meaning of these mysterious earth processes.

Rating: 4
Summary: Enthralling, thoughtful, and sobering, but with a few warts
Comment: Fradkin travels the length of the San Andreas by car, by kayak, and on foot, describing its perils and its history. Into his story of the San Andreas he weaves parallel threads about earthquakes elsewhere, always playing up the public's denial of earthquake hazard.

As a seismologist, I found the book often irritating (right down to its title: there is no evidence that the San Andreas has ever suffered a magnitude 8 earthquake or that it ever will), and sometimes too dramatic, but in the end it left me with a feeling of chagrin. Fradkin put together a good, coherent story of the San Andreas' hazards, but to do so, he had to fight his way through arcane jargon. His comment that the scientists don't know how to communicate makes me squirm, but it is absolutely right.

Not only is this a must-read for anyone within 200 miles of the San Andreas, it should be required for all seismologists and emergency managers who ever have to talk to the public.

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