Tambora

The Eruption That Changed the World

De: Gillen D'Arcy Wood

Narrado por: Tom Pile

When Indonesia's Mount Tambora erupted in 1815, it unleashed the most destructive wave of extreme weather the world has witnessed in thousands of years. The volcano's massive sulfate dust cloud enveloped the Earth, cooling temperatures and disrupting major weather systems for more than three years. Amid devastating storms, drought, and floods, communities worldwide endured famine, disease, and civil unrest on a catastrophic scale. On the eve of the bicentenary of the great eruption, Tambora tells the extraordinary story of the weather chaos it wrought, weaving the latest climate science with the social history of this frightening period to offer a cautionary tale about the potential tragic impacts of drastic climate change in our own century.

The year following Tambora's eruption became known as the "Year without a Summer," when weather anomalies in Europe and New England ruined crops, displaced millions, and spawned chaos and disease. Here, for the first time, Gillen D'Arcy Wood traces Tambora's full global and historical reach: How the volcano's three-year climate change regime initiated the first worldwide cholera pandemic, expanded opium markets in China, set the stage for Ireland's Great Famine, and plunged the United States into its first economic depression. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein's monster, inspired by Tambora's terrifying storms, embodied the fears and misery of global humanity during this transformative period, the most recent sustained climate crisis the world has faced.

Bringing the history of this planetary emergency grippingly to life, Tambora sheds light on the fragile interdependence of climate and human societies, and the threat a new era of extreme global weather poses to us all.

Download the accompanying reference guide.©2014 Princeton University Press (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

It's not what you think

What did you like best about Tambora? What did you like least?

It is interesting to hear about this major volcanic eruption from 200 years ago and its startling affect on world events. The reader however sounds like he is reciting a zip code directory. That's not a bad thing overall because the book talks very little about the actual eruption and subsequent effects in the local area. The book becomes a depressing advertisement for the problems of current global warming.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

The ending comes about in the first two chapters. The rest of the book is a long explanation of all the similar weather events that occurred the 3 years following the eruption. There were some interesting and probable inferences with world health conditions but again very little about the actual eruption and the local area. This is to be expected because it occurred at a time and place with little opportunity to record the event. I was hoping for more information that may have been discovered since the eruption. There was a little in one chapter.

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

It seemed to be a very monotone recitation. Perhaps a different narrator with more emotion would have made the book more enjoyable. As it was I had to force myself to continue to listen to it even though I was intellectually curious about the topic.

Did Tambora inspire you to do anything?

Yes, I won't erupt next time I'm in south east Asia.

Any additional comments?

I was hopeful about this book but ended up being a bit disappointed. I would encourage an interested person to listen to the whole preview and decide if you can handle listening to an entire book that sounds the same.

A Mishmash of Science vs Cultural Impact

This book was not what I expected. It does relay the details of the Tambora volcano explosion and aftermath, but it is concerned mostly with a social impact. There are explanations of the science, but far too many side trips that include poetry verses or artistic works of the respective period. Save it for another book. This was difficult to get through and at times boring as hell. There were bright spots. When sticking to the main narrative, it could be interesting, but this book comes as a mishmash, trying to be too many things to too many people. I read this book using immersion reading while listening to the audiobook. The narrator's voice was far too soft and monotone as to put you to sleep.

Interesting

Reader wispy voice. Hard to understand. Please dont use him again. Not good. Very bad

very useful information and quite insightful for

very useful information and quite insightful in regards to current climate issues helps one to understand the effects any volcanic eruption can have on the earth for a very long time

Tour de force

I listened to this twice. He covers all aspects of the local and global effects clearly from the geological to famine and disease and to the literary.

Tamboura is hugely important in an era of permanent global climate change. We need to understand the global effects of what we are doing to plan for the future.