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A review by ndr
Eruption: The Untold Story of Mount St. Helens by Steve Olson
4.0
Caveat viator was the philosophy of our eccentric governor, Dixy Lee Ray, in 1980, and it's one that I find hard to quarrel with. I was about 20 miles from Mt. Rainier on a May Sunday 36 years ago when a State Patrol officer pulled me over and told me that Mount St. Helens had erupted (all the ash moved east; I lived only 140 miles north of the volcano but hadn't turned on a radio or television and didn't know that the wait was over). I turned around and went home.
Steve Olson makes it plain that caveat laborator also dominated, astonishingly. If it weren't for the serendipitous weekend timing of the event hundreds of timber company workers would have been in the middle of the blast; I find it easy and necessary to argue with that principle. Because our governor didn't want to touch that political third rail called "interfering with business as usual" there were no restrictions on access to private land or public timber sale land. Workday absentees from the area would have put their already precarious jobs at further risk.
Eruption is classified as a "nature" book, but explores the political, economic, scientific and cultural environment of the era in a compelling way. Survivors recount their experiences and we are awed afresh at the randomness of death. We learn of all the unexpected ways in which the area is renewing itself. For example, scientists believed that new life would creep into the area from the perimeter. Instead, it is popping up in scattered places throughout the affected zone.
My only disgruntlement with the book is the attention it pays to matter that is well-covered elsewhere. Part 1 of the 7 part work is devoted to a history of Jim Hill (of Great Northern Railroad fame) and the Weyerhaeuser family (founders of the company that owned and logged the land near the volcano). George Weyerhaeuser Senior's childhood kidnapping is described in detail. This feels a bit like boiler plate. Since it's at the beginning of the book, I read it with impatience, wondering where the narrative was headed. Part 2 launches the chronicle, and from there on it's an absorbing read.
Steve Olson makes it plain that caveat laborator also dominated, astonishingly. If it weren't for the serendipitous weekend timing of the event hundreds of timber company workers would have been in the middle of the blast; I find it easy and necessary to argue with that principle. Because our governor didn't want to touch that political third rail called "interfering with business as usual" there were no restrictions on access to private land or public timber sale land. Workday absentees from the area would have put their already precarious jobs at further risk.
Eruption is classified as a "nature" book, but explores the political, economic, scientific and cultural environment of the era in a compelling way. Survivors recount their experiences and we are awed afresh at the randomness of death. We learn of all the unexpected ways in which the area is renewing itself. For example, scientists believed that new life would creep into the area from the perimeter. Instead, it is popping up in scattered places throughout the affected zone.
My only disgruntlement with the book is the attention it pays to matter that is well-covered elsewhere. Part 1 of the 7 part work is devoted to a history of Jim Hill (of Great Northern Railroad fame) and the Weyerhaeuser family (founders of the company that owned and logged the land near the volcano). George Weyerhaeuser Senior's childhood kidnapping is described in detail. This feels a bit like boiler plate. Since it's at the beginning of the book, I read it with impatience, wondering where the narrative was headed. Part 2 launches the chronicle, and from there on it's an absorbing read.