Rating: 
Summary: Volcanology 101
Review: A well written book for the general public. Stan discusses geology and volcanology in a language understandable by the average reader. A primer for the first time earth scientist who might be interested in what makes a volcano tick. Sure, Stan uses his narrow escape from death as a source for writing the book, but at the same time the geology and the mechanisms of volcanic eruptions, mud flows and Pyroclastic Flows are vividly described. This book should be in all school libraries. Stan maybe exploiting his near death experience, however, I don't think it is bravado. I have known Stan since he was a student at Dartmouth. He flew with me as an observer in Feb. 1978 on the National Center for Atmospheric research aircraft Queen Air N.304D when were sampling volcanic eruptions by flying through them. Stan and his mentor Dr. Stoiber were willing to take chances to learn more about volcanic activity. What I am saying is Stan's Galeras adventure was just a continuance of his intense interest in volcanic activity. I have pictures taken entering a volcanic plume, inside the plume and exiting it, and many others from erupting Guatemalan volcanoes and of Mt St. Helens.
Rating: 
Summary: the perils of vulcanology
Review: Galeras is a Colombian volcano within hiking distance of the Colombian town of Pasto. When it showed increased activity, several scientists were killed in a minor eruption that made headlines, and provoked controversy: mainly about whether or not the scientists' deaths could have been prevented.
Williams book is a well written personal account of the disaster and of William's life afterward, including his struggle with his injuries and his guilt over whether he could have better predicted and prevented the deaths.
For those interested in vulcanology, it would be a good introduction on what scientists do to monitor dangerous volcanos, and the very real risk that many of them take with little publicity to protect hundreds of thousands of lives of those people living within the shadow of these dangers.
Rating:
Summary: Great adventure read
Review: I couldn't put this down. It is a great adventure story and and excellent look at a breed of the most adventure-seeking people in the world -- field vulcanologists.
Rating:
Summary: Great adventure read
Review: I couldn't put this down. It is a great adventure story and and excellent look at a breed of the most adventure-seeking people in the world -- field vulcanologists.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing!
Review: I really wanted to like this book. I've been in love with Volcanos since learing about Pompeii in elementary school and have kept a keen eye on volcanic activic world over ever since. I distinctly remember watching Dr. Williams on Good Morning America back in '93 as he convalesced after his horrific experience at Galeras volcano in Pasto,Columbia. I also distinctly remember thinking how awful it must have been to be the only survivor. When I learned that Dr. Williams had written a book about his experinces,I went immediately to the bookstore to pick it up -that's when I discovered NO APPARENT DANGER-another book written about the same eruption. I bought both-of course. In Surviving Galeras, Dr. Williams admits that he was not the only survivor of the eruption,a stunning confession that left me extremely put off. After that, I lost interest. I have little desire to delve into the psyche of someone so egocentric they have the gall to out and out lie on national television. Not only did it insult me personally, I can't imagine how the families of the victims must've felt. I couldn't finish the book. Instead I turned my attention to NO APPARENT DANGER which was written by Victoria Bruce-a journalist and geologist. A much more profound book-it explores the human mistakes, including a major one by Dr.Williams, that have failed to prevent large (and small) scale Volcanic disasters from occuring. It also proves, in its shocking final pages, that Dr. Williams is an academic theif who more than once stole theories and data from other scientists and called them his own. Actions like this make me sick to my stomach. If publicity and fame were all that Dr. Williams was searching for- he should have joined the circus, not the sciences.
Rating:
Summary: Daring the goddess
Review: In his quest for knowledge that could save thousands of lives, Williams entered where most would fear to tread, the crater of an active volcano. Like others before him, he was caught by whimsical nature of this most awesome phenomenon. It erupted, taking the lives of six of his colleagues; Williams was perched just over the rim of the crater. Williams, to his own amazement, survived, but remains of some of his friends and co-workers were never found. This book is a testament to the few courageous scientists around the world who climb and investigate these capricious mountains. Williams captivates the reader with the subject of volcanology and descriptions of those who brave the risks to study the goddess Pele's offspring. In telling his own story of risk, injury and survival, Williams recounts his life and his colleagues' around the world. They come from many lands - Russia, Italy, Columbia and other regions beset by earth's upheavals. Williams, almost an anomaly as a native of Illinois - far from any volcanic activity [except, perhaps, politically], is intensely dedicated to the science. He describes the various volcanic processes and the impact volcanoes have had down the ages. The aim of the studies is to learn how to forecast eruptions. A major success in that endeavour was the saving of thousands of lives when the Philippine mountain Pinatubo erupted in 1991. Galeras, the Columbian volcano that nearly took Williams life, is neighbour to a town of three hundred thousand, Pasto. Attempts to instill evacuation programmes there was met with derision and resentment - it would hurt business. Williams' accounts of volcano disasters make enthralling reading. From Pliny the Younger's attempt to rescue his uncle during Pompeii's famous outburst to modern eruptions, the failure of human populations to accommodate the threat are vivid examples of short-sighted views. Williams stresses the obvious threats, lava flows, "pyroclastic" flows of mud, ash and rocks mixed with toxic gases. He also recounts poorly recognized after effects the debris can evoke - chemical poisonings and crop and herd losses. Famine is a regular result of volcanic activity. Volcanoes are capable of global climate impact, the most famous being the 1815 Tambora explosion resulting in New England's "Year Without A Summer" which devastated crops and herds over wide areas. Williams attributes the wave of Western expansion to the impact of an eruption "a world away." As a combined personal account and scientific study, there are few faults in this book. One can only hope someone derives a synonym for "pyroclastic flows" someday. Williams feelings about the event and the subsequent lives of the survivors are told with intense feeling. One can only sympathise with his distress at losing friends and co-workers and how the families bore up under the stress. His historical accounts cover both fact and mythology. Strangely, although Williams describes many of the gods associated with vulcanism, he omits the only American deity - Pele. As capricious as the Hawaiian goddess is, Williams reminds us that the island volcanoes don't threaten explosive eruptions. While that might offer some mild comfort to that State, Mammoth Mountain in California remains an unheralded threat to thousands in the Golden State.
Rating:
Summary: Surviving Galeras
Review: Surviving Galeras is a brilliant and compelling book. Williams and Montaigne have woven adventure, human drama, and the science of vulcanology with seemless balance. The poignant portrayal of his colleagues interspersed with glimpses of this and other eruptions propels the reader forward. To have survived, and to have lived through the aftermath of grief and the subtle devestation of head trauma is indeed a challenge. But to have written this moving and scientifically rich account is a gift to all who would understand volcanoes.
Rating:
Summary: Honest & riveting account of field scientists
Review: Surviving Galeras provides a fascinating and valuable read. The book blends solid, clearly explained science with insightful and honest descriptions of the events before, during, and after the catastrophic eruption of Galeras volcano in Columbia. As a field geologist who occasionally works in risky environments (but not volcanoes), I found Williams' description of the personalities who do this sort of work and the way they reached decisions to be familiar and, more importantly, entirely rational and reasonable. Williams and Montaigne allow the reader to really understand how this type of field scientist works. Anyone who has been in the midst of an event where people died or were seriously injured knows that memories don't get recorded accurately. Williams acknowledges the problem and presents the memories of others as well as his own. Some of Williams's critics have placed an unnecessary blackmark on both their profession and their agencies by airing "dirty laundry". Public rantings have ranged from legitimate (but overly inflammatory) debate over the value of seismic vs. gas flux data to asinine declarations that mandating hard hats would have minimized this tragedy. Fortunately, Williams and Montaigne have stayed with the high road in their book and avoided the temptation of pandering to journalist in search of creating conflict. In this book, Williams shows great respect for all his colleagues, even his critics, and one senses the effort to provide balance to the story. I have only been in the field with one person (Patty Mothes) in the book and she is portrayed exactly as the person I know. Williams does not minimize the credit due to his colleagues, whether for their scientific endeavors or their heroism on the fateful day. He shows remarkable class in honoring his graduate students (a trait all too rare in American academia), praising his fallen colleagues and his rescuers, and presenting the conflicting views of his critics. Good science requires a variety of approaches and, far too often, practitioners of the different styles see themselves as competitors for grant money and acclaim. Divergent geologist who view themselves as colleagues serve the profession far better. Valuable information comes from the lab and the computer. But, despite our progress in these "safe" venues of science, field observations still provide critical data. Obtaining that data on active volcanoes requires a personality that accepts, even enjoys, risk. Williams calls these folks, "My kind of geologist." But, some of Williams critics seem to think that this personality trait is better applied to bungee jumping, driving fast cars, and chain-smoking cigarettes instead of striving to better understand a public hazard. Their logic evades me. We need the out-on-the-edge field scientists, and Surviving Galeras helps show us why without denigrating the other approaches to studying volcanoes. We need the lab-oriented geochemist and computer-oriented geophysicists, also. But, the nature of public opinion is that field scientists make sexier subjects for the journalist, which seems to annoy some non-field folks. Unfortunately, it appears that the one thing more attractive to some journalists than a cutting-edge, field scientists is personal controversy. Read Surviving Galeras. It's a great read....entertaining, informative, and void of the emotional smears that mark other accounts of this dramatic event.
Rating:
Summary: The role of the ego in science
Review: This book, along with Victoria Bruce's account of the disaster at Galeras are a must read for anyone interested in Earth science or psychology. Williams appears to be a rogue volcanologist with a cavalier attitude about the dangers of working inside an active volcano. The simple fact is that Williams apparently did have some warning that Galeras was not 'sleeping' the day he led the conference into the crater and he did not insist on safety precautions. As leader of the expedition, Williams could easily have demanded that everyone wear safety gear or they would not be allowed inside. Apparently, Williams thinks anyone who is interested in safety is somewhat of a wimp. While hard hats, gas masks and flame retardent suits would not have saved everyone, no doubt a few of the nine might have also lived. The post-disaster story is almost as intriguing as the events leading to the disaster Williams appears as a glory seeker 'cashing in' on his compatriots ill-fortune. That is perhaps over-emphasized in Bruce's account. Williams himself suffered a serious head injury that apparently left him with some behavioral problems and difficulty in living a normal life. Nevertheless, he was made aware of how he was portraying the incident and has done little to correct those errors of fact publicly. I highly reccomend you read both accounts. Williams ego comes through strongly in both accounts of the story and yet this book paints a somewhat different picture of the post-tragedy fallout.
Rating:
Summary: The role of the ego in science
Review: This book, along with Victoria Bruce's account of the disaster at Galeras are a must read for anyone interested in Earth science or psychology. Williams appears to be a rogue volcanologist with a cavalier attitude about the dangers of working inside an active volcano. The simple fact is that Williams apparently did have some warning that Galeras was not 'sleeping' the day he led the conference into the crater and he did not insist on safety precautions. As leader of the expedition, Williams could easily have demanded that everyone wear safety gear or they would not be allowed inside. Apparently, Williams thinks anyone who is interested in safety is somewhat of a wimp. While hard hats, gas masks and flame retardent suits would not have saved everyone, no doubt a few of the nine might have also lived. The post-disaster story is almost as intriguing as the events leading to the disaster Williams appears as a glory seeker 'cashing in' on his compatriots ill-fortune. That is perhaps over-emphasized in Bruce's account. Williams himself suffered a serious head injury that apparently left him with some behavioral problems and difficulty in living a normal life. Nevertheless, he was made aware of how he was portraying the incident and has done little to correct those errors of fact publicly. I highly reccomend you read both accounts. Williams ego comes through strongly in both accounts of the story and yet this book paints a somewhat different picture of the post-tragedy fallout.
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