Text Book Reviews

“Disasters” is about some of the most terrible disasters that have ever happened: fire, volcanic eruptions, shipwrecks, bombings, earthquakes, etc. I read “Pompeii: The City That Slept for 1,500 Years” and “Death on the Unsinkable Titanic”. This book was very interesting and I would like to read the rest of the stories some other time.
Pompeii was built on the slope of Mount Vesuvius an inactive volcano. In A.D. 79, Vesuvius became very active. The lethal gasses from the volcano had killed all living things. A paste of volcanic ash mixed with mud and rain covered the city to a depth of 12 to 50 feet shutting off oxygen and preventing decay. It was as if the city had been frozen in time. Excavators found everything 1500 years later in an unbelievably good state of preservation. Today visitors marvel at Pompeii’s preserved wonders and step back in time 2,000 years.
“Death on the Unsinkable Titanic” is probably one of the most well known disasters. Many lives were lost when the ship hit an iceberg in the North Atlantic. The Titanic had over 2,200 passengers, but only 711 survived. Over 1,500 went to a watery grave with the unsinkable ship. Perhaps, if Captain Smith had heeded the warnings of two nearby ship and reduced the speed of the ship, it wouldn’t have sunk. Would the Titanic be as famous today if it hadn’t sunk?