An award-winning Professor of Earth Sciences at the University of Oxford explores the cultural role volcanoes have played in history and how they have shaped our planet and its future.
Mather’s book is intended for readers like me: novices who wouldn’t know the difference between pumice and tephra if they both hit us on the head. At times, however, it reads like a textbook, its sentences burdened with encyclopedic digressions ... In other places, Adventures in Volcanoland becomes lyrical.
Mather is clear on the limits of our knowledge and the extent to which the inner workings of our planet – which volcanoes provide a window on to – remain a matter of speculation ... Detailed, impeccably researched.
Her book’s travelogue approach and reader-friendly discussion will help audiences connect to this scientific topic in a captivating manner ... This marvelous, earnest work is impressive.
