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Ghosts of Vesuvius
A New Look at the Last Days of Pompeii, How Towers Fall, and Other Strange Connections
by Charles R. Pellegrino
ISBN: 0380973103
ISBN-13: 9780380973101
Format: Hardcover
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Summary
Scientist Dr. Charles Pellegrino, who has written about everything from cloning dinosaurs to his discoveries on the wreck of the Titanic, devotes this book to the technologically advanced societies of the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, and the event which buried them both in volcanic ash: the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D. 79. He also draws parallels between that eruption and other natural and unnatural catastrophes, including the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens, the bombing of Hiroshima, and the destruction of the World Trade Center.
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"...[A]n engrossing, challenging read."
-- Kirkus
Bibliographic Details
Publisher: Harpercollins
Published date: 2004
Edition: 1th edition
Size: 6.75 x 9.75 inches
Weight: 1.75 pounds
Pages: 489
Publisher's Notes
The eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79 and the subsequent destruction of the thriving Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum are historic disasters of monumental proportions, resonating across millennia and remembered to this very day. Now Dr. Charles Pellegrino -- the acclaimed author who unearthed Atlantis, returned readers to Sodom and Gomorrah, and revealed startling new secrets about the most fabled sea tragedy of all in his superb New York Times bestseller Her Name, Titanic -- takes us back to the final days of an extraordinary civilization to experience an earth-shattering catastrophe with remarkable and unsettling ties to the unthinkable disaster of September 11, 2001. Through the modern wonders of forensic archaeology, astonishing facts about the everyday lives of the doomed citizens of Pompeii and Herculaneum have been brought to light, revealing a society that enjoyed "modern" amenities such as central heating, sliding glass doors, penicillin, hot and cold running water -- and a standard of living and life expectancy that would not be achieved again until the 1950s. But these thriving twin cities would be buried along with every hapless citizen in less than twenty-four hours when Vesuvius came frighteningly alive, sending a fearsome column of smoke and fire twenty miles into the sky. Employing volcano physics, Pellegrino shows that the Vesuvius eruption was one thousand times more powerful than the bomb that leveled Hiroshima, bringing to vivid life the frightful majesty of that volcanic apocalypse. Yet Pellegrino digs deeper, exploring fascinating comparisons and connections to other catastrophic events throughout history, in particular the 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. As one of the world's only experts on downblast and surge physics, Pellegrino was invited to Ground Zero to examine the site and compare it with devastation wreaked by Vesuvius, in the hope of saving lives during future volcanic eruptions. In doing so, he offers us a poignant and unforgettable glimpse into the final moments of our own "American Vesuvius." A stunning combination of science, history, humanity, and riveting storytelling, Charles Pellegrino's Ghosts of Vesuvius is an extraordinary accomplishment, an electrifying, edifying, astonishing, and powerful work of literary art.
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Ghosts of Vesuvius - A New Look at the Last Days of Pompeii, How Towers Fall, & Other Strange Connections
Pellegrino, Charles
New York: William Morrow & Co, 2004 489 pp, illustrated with maps, photographs & line drawings. The author has looked at disasters throughout history from a new perspective, using modern information & research. About a dozen of the pp have a diagonal crease at the top corner where they have been previously turned down, & their is a remainder mark across the base. Available for immediate despatch.. 1st. H/B. VG/VG. 23.5 Cms x 16.5 Cms. ( more information) Offered by P Devlin t/a The Warrington Book Loft (United Kingdom)
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