The Myth of Solid Ground: Earthquakes, Prediction, and the Fault Line Between Reason and Faith by David L. Ulin.

The Myth of Solid Ground: Earthquakes, Prediction, and the Fault Line Between Reason and Faith by David L. Ulin.  Paperback book published by Penguin Books 2005.

In 2011 a group of Italian scientists went on trial accused of manslaughter.  Their crime was that they hadn’t warned the good citizens of L'Aquila to get out of their town and subsequently in the ensuing earthquake, 308 people died (more details here).

According to this book earthquakes are a very tricky thing to predict and sometimes a psychic or even whales can be just as accurate as a group of Italian scientists.  In this instance the author, a Californian, is more concerned with California which as well we all know is on the verge of breaking off from the rest of America and floating out into the Pacific ocean.  So the Italian trial which happened after the publication of this book isn’t mentioned as… ummmm… California and Italy are a long away from each other... although by the sounds of it they are possibly getting a little closer to each other after each earthquake.  I’ve mentioned it though, as it was something that I noticed and was deeply concerned about at the time (it just seemed a little crazy and very unfair).  I can’t seem to find any information about what happened at the trial, but I’m hoping the scientists didn’t end up being punished… unlike the whales, which the Japanese are still punishing…

Overall it’s a bit frightening that earthquakes can happen so randomly, which I guess is why so many people die.  If no one tells you to run, you tend not to.  Science is always looking for answers to this sort of stuff and from what I can gather that is sort of what this book is about.  Finally, I’d just like to say, be careful where you stand and when someone says run...