The end of the world!...Or at least the Western Seaboard

So, I recently finished this book called Cascadia's Fault by Jerry Thompson. Here's a pretty little picture of it for you:

Now, being a bit of a natural disaster aficionado, I have read quite a few books about megathrust earthquakes, tsunamis, supervolcanos, tornadoes, and the like. And most of them have one major thing in common (besides their subject): They get very, very, EXTREMELY boring. You wouldn't think that something about the death of thousands of people and extreme destruction could become boring but they manage it. Usually they'll suck you in with a dramatic preface and then the rest of the book is just like " And the force of the wave is calculated by dividing negative one by zero and then completing the formula with a quadratic equation..."

(A quadratic equation. Disclosure: I don't understand math.)

But, this book was a very pleasant surprise. Not only did it have an interesting preface, the whole book was interesting! There was some science and math involved, but it didn't take up multiple chapters and Thompson simplifies it so the average everyday reader can understand what the heck he's talking about. Now, the book describes how the Cascadia Fault was found and how scientists went about determining how dangerous it will be when it releases all its energy. For those of you who don't know where it is, the Cascadia Fault is located in red: 

Basically, if this earthquake decides to happen anytime soon, the upper half of the Western coast will first suffer a devastating earthquake that will be followed by a tsunami powerful enough to wipe out whole coastal towns. Thompson does a wonderful job of detailing the scientist's journey of discovering just how powerful this fault really is, as well as what will happen when the fault slips. I really recommend this for anyone looking for some interesting nonfiction.