Volcanoes

  • Robert Decker &
  • Barbara Decker
W. H. Freeman, $19.95(pbk)

A civil defence helicopter is dwarfed by a 400-metre-high lava fountain during Kilauea Volcano's Puu Oo eruption in Hawaii in 1984. The picture appears in the third edition of Volcanoes by Robert Decker and Barbara Decker (W. H. Freeman, $19.95 (pbk)), who provide a brief, authoritative introduction to these natural phenomena, in vivid prose: “Volcanoes assail the senses. They are beautiful in repose and awesome in eruption; they hiss and roar; they smell of brimstone. Their heat warms, their fires consume; they are the homes of gods and goddesses.” The new edition contains descriptions of recent eruptions and findings, as well as a list of Web sites carrying news of volcanic activity around the world.