World Disasters

Natural and man-made disasters have the power to destroy thousands of lives very quickly. Both as they unfold and in the aftermath, these forces of nature astonish the rest of the world with their incredible devastation and magnitude. In this collection of 10 well-known catastrophes such as the great Chicago fire, the sinking of the Titanic, and hurricane Katrina, Brenda Guiberson explores the causes and effects, as well as the local and global reverberations of these calamitous events.

From Hiroshima to Chernobyl, Fukushima to the growing legacy of lethal radioactive waste, humanity's struggle to conquer atomic energy is rife with secrecy, deceit, human error, blatant disregard for life, short-sighted politics and fear. Fallout is an eye-opening odyssey through the first eight decades of this struggle and the radioactive landscapes it has left behind. We are, he finds, forever torn between technological hubris and all-too-human terror about what we have created.

Liverpool 1940. Alice King stands on the deck of SS Carlisle, waiting to escort a group of children to Canada as overseas evacuees. She is finally doing her bit for the war. In London, as the Blitz bombs rain down and the threat of German invasion looms, Lily Nicholls anxiously counts the days for news of her son and daughter’s safe arrival.

Life has hardened Stanley Wagner, and he has spent the past decade preparing himself against the uncertainties of life. After an EMP destroys the nation's power grid, every ounce of that strength will be tested.

Can we human beings agree on a set of values which will allow us to confront the numerous threats that we and our planet face? Or will we continue our disagreements, rivalries, and antipathies, even as we collectively approach what, in the not impossible extreme, might be extinction? To answer these questions, A. C. Grayling considers the three most pressing challenges facing the world: climate change, technology, and justice.

Carbon dioxide: this seemingly simple and ubiquitous substance is fundamental to how our planet works. All life is made from CO2, and its behavior on this planet has kept Earth bizarrely habitable for hundreds of millions of years. In its workings lie both the splendor of our world and the potential for life’s destruction. In short, it is the most important substance in history. But why is CO2 as essential to life on Earth as it is capable of destroying it? Award-winning science journalist Peter Brannen reveals carbon dioxide’s fundamental role in the operation and maintenance of our planet

The entertaining style and solid research of the Lives of…. series of biographies have made it a favorite with families and educators for twenty years. This new volume takes readers through the centuries and across the globe, profiling the men and women whose curiosity and courage have led them to discover our world.

Climate change is the biggest existential crisis that humankind has faced. In the last 100 years, we have ruined the carbon cycle using fossil fuels, namely coal, petroleum, and natural gas, to build our civilization, not taking into account the catastrophic impacts climate change can cause. Even though our lives depend on it, most of us don't know about the causes and how we will be able to tackle this existential threat. This book gives you alternative answers on what steps governments, companies, and individuals need to take.

John Valliant's essay about the sinking of the Fantome, a Caribbean pleasure cruiser, during Hurricane Mitch in 1998, and the subsequent lawsuit. The disaster was the Atlantic’s worst sailing accident in over forty years.

This simple, easy to read, book takes you through the process of preparing for most types of urban survival emergencies or disasters that could occur while living in a high rise apartment building in a large city. It is very easy to understand and is not filled with technical or tactical jargon or doomsday panic. This is the everyday man or woman's go-to manual for urban survival and prepping. In order to avoid the zombie apocalypse and being overrun by zombies, it will be best to have some basic pertinent information about urban survival and prepping. Emergency preparedness, survival and ...

Entre los escombros del huracan Maria, los puertorriquenos y los "Puertopians" ultra-ricos estan atrapados en una batalla campal sobre como reconstruir la isla. Autora Naomi Klein revela como las fuerzas de las politicas de "shock" y del capitalismo del desastre, buscan minar la vision radical y resiliente de una recuperacion justa. El cien por ciento de las regalias por la venta de este libro iran directamente a JunteGente, un espacio de encuentro entre organizaciones en resistencia al capitalismo del desastre y que luchan por una recuperacion justa y sostenible de Puerto Rico.

Predicting the future is easy. But which future? The possibilities are endless. The modern world ended in 2051. That was ten years ago, when Tony was eleven years old. Unbearable heat and frequent superstorms have rendered Arkansas unlivable. A refugee from Colorado, Tony is one of only three people left in the camp at Kings River. He should have gone north with the others. Why is he still here? Hannah thought she would live on the Missouri farm where she grew up forever. Now, she knows she must leave. Not because of the raiders. As far as Hannah knows, the raiders have already gone. The ...

After the devastation of the cities, what kind of society would emerge in this transformed world? Gustavo, an almost 40-year-old computer scientist trapped in a stable routine, faces a worn-out marriage with a wife he no longer loves, and his thoughts wander towards the temptation of extramarital affairs. However, an extraordinary event shakes society, injecting a new sense of excitement into his life. Obsessed with the looming catastrophe, Gustavo spends a fortune on a survival checklist, leading his own family to believe he has lost his sanity. More than 10,000 books sold.

Civilization has finally reached the breaking point. After an EMP destroys the nation’s power grid, a family’s strength is tested. An EMP means the end of the world as they know it for a family who fights to survive. When disaster strikes in the form of an EMP, Keith Jameson and Ted Holder flee to their remote homestead with their families.

The development of nuclear weapons by humans with 'Trinity' and their gradual evolution within a decade into megaton-class thermonuclear weapons; capable of decimating entire cities in a matter of minutes with a single explosion; has almost taken mankind onto the verge of a potential nuclear apocalypse & doomsday on multiple occasions so far over the course of the Atomic Age, especially through the bone chilling Cold War years. However, almost all global nuclear powers consistently maintain and still swear by the extremely dangerous & absurd doctrines of ‘nuclear deterrence’, ‘mutual-...

Cory’s life was hard. A horrific childhood, bad marriage, and a stint in prison set him on the path. His time in organized crime was miserable, but he had no choice. He did pick up a few skills along the way, though, and just in time for the end-of-the-world.

Rife with captivating details of survival in an icy wilderness, this reimagining of the famous 1910 expedition to the South Pole, told in Cherry's voice, is an unforgettable tale of courage and camaraderie.

When the lights go out, humanity’s darkest instincts take over. An unthinkable electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack has crippled the United States, erasing the conveniences of modern life in an instant. Phones go silent, engines fail, and cities descend into chaos. For Frank and Katie Lowman, survival means making impossible choices in a shattered world. Separated by hundreds of miles, Frank fights to escape the ruins of New York, where desperation breeds violence at every corner. Meanwhile, Katie must fortify their Georgia home, battling both external threats and the creeping realization ...

On the night of December 2nd, 1943, the Luftwaffe bombed a critical Allied port in Bari, Italy, sinking 17 ships and killing over a thousand servicemen and hundreds of civilians. Caught in the surprise air raid was the John Harvey, an American Liberty ship carrying a top-secret cargo of 2,000 mustard bombs to be used in retaliation if the Germans resorted to gas warfare. After young sailors began suddenly dying with mysterious symptoms, Lieutenant Colonel Stewart Alexander, a doctor and chemical weapons expert, was dispatched to investigate.

Just before midnight on April 14, 1912, the RMS Titanic, the largest ship in the world, hit an iceberg, setting in motion a chain of events that would ultimately make it history's most famous, and notorious, ship. The Titanic was neither the first nor last big ship to sink, so it's clear that much of its appeal stems from the nature of ship itself. Indeed, the Titanic stands out not just for its end but for its beginning, specifically the fact that it was the most luxurious passenger ship ever built at the time.