Clive Oppenheimer is a volcanologist and filmmaker. He is Professor of Volcanology at the University of Cambridge, where he has been based for 30 years. His research seeks to understand how volcanoes work and to probe the connections between eruptions, climate and society. He has conducted fieldwork around the world - either at the crater's edge peering in with assorted monitoring devices or hunting for the far-flung deposits of Earth's greatest eruptions. He has also made two documentary features with legendary filmmaker Werner Herzog, INTO THE INFERNO (Netflix, 2016) and FIREBALL: VISITORS FROM DARKER WORLDS (Apple TV+, 2020).
What the French adventurer Jacques Cousteau was to the hidden world
under our seas, Oppenheimer is to the hidden, molten world bubbling
under our feet.
*Sunday Times*
Gripping ... [reads] like a thriller ... Perhaps one final
attribute of a volcanologist is that he should be a good
storyteller. Oppenheimer is better than good. This is terrific.
*Spectator*
A fantastic account of the power and importance of volcanoes to
history. Clive Oppenheimer takes us on a wonderful tour of some of
the world's best and least known volcanoes in a book that will make
all readers want to become volcanologists.
*PETER FRANKOPAN*
Oppenheimer weaves together science, history and culture into a
book that is far greater than the sum of its parts. It is also a
darn good read ... The gripping narrative and stylish descriptions
make this a real page-turner. If Michael Palin had been a
volcanologist, this is the book he would have written... All lovers
of adventure stories, travel stories and the science of our living
planet can rejoice.
*Literary Review*
Elegantly weaving derring-do with insights into the mechanics of
how volcanoes work ... fascinating ... What makes this book stand
out isn't its poetry or scientific explication, but all the ways
Oppenheimer finds to connect the majestic lives of volcanoes to the
ephemeral lives of people ... The overall result is a scientific
memoir that is unusually full of human feeling and myth ... We
can't all travel the globe to risk our lives at the crater's edge,
but we have Oppenheimer's prose to get us nearly there.
*New Scientist*
Beautiful. Mountains of Fire is bursting with poetry, with
storytelling. Clive is one of the rarest of men driven by nomadism,
courage, and curiosity. What he studies, volcanic eruptions, are in
the rank of things that are mighty, grave, and great. Like a magma
eruption, his wonderful prose even spills over into footnotes at
the end. Normally, such notes are tucked away, because they are
boring and pedantic, but here they are as readable and exciting as
the book itself.
*WERNER HERZOG*
Few people have come into contact with as many fiery mountains as
Dr Oppenheimer has ...In Mountains of Fire he regales readers with
gripping stories of his travels, as well as those of adventurers
past ... Mountains of Fire is a love letter to volcanoes and an
investigation into all the ways that they have and continue to
sustain humanity-spiritually and scientifically.
*The Economist*
On almost every page of his book - which is at once a history of
volcanology and a memoir of Oppenheimer's own research expeditions
- there is some display of mind-boggling bravado in the face of
Earth's pyrotechnics ... as Oppenheimer shows, such fascination
[with volcanoes] is practically ubiquitous across every culture and
epoch. Volcanoes have always been seen as numinous places, where
the boundaries are blurred between the living and the dead, between
material reality and the netherworld ... Faced with violent
geological forces beyond our control, some of us are not content
merely to keep our distance from them, but instead feel compelled
to fathom their mysteries ... It's an excellent thing that
scientists like Oppenheimer exist to pursue such a noble cause.
*The Times*
Think of how Naples is defined by Mount Vesuvius, or Tokyo by Mount
Fuji ... As a seasoned volcanologist, Oppenheimer conjures up
volcanoes with science and humanity ... Fired by his and others'
fieldwork at the crater's edge, his appealing book is grounded in
the reasoning of thinkers far from the flames and lava.
*Nature*
Captures exactly...what it's like to work as a volcanologist - the
taste of the sulphur in the morning air, the smell of rubber soles
sizzling on hot lava, the mix of exhilaration and apprehension that
accompanies peering into the rumbling crater ... as Mountains of
Fire ably demonstrates, a world without volcanoes would be one of
markedly less awe and fiery enchantment.
*Times Literary Supplement*
Each chapter centers on a particular volcanic site, scrutinized by
the indefatigable author; by [the] book's end, he weaves together
volcanic cause, explosion and effect so that it all makes startling
sense ... the author has a droll, dry sense of humor and is fun to
accompany as he traipses around the globe in search of
extraordinary and fascinating terrain and history ... Oppenheimer
is at his best when discussing how volcanoes are integral parts of
nature's vast, involuted networks of sky, land, oceans and
subterranean regions.
*Wall Street Journal*
Entertaining deep dive into the history and science of volcanology
... fascinating and enlightening encounters with volcanoes.
*Geographical*
[Oppenheimer] blends science, history, and cultural traditions from
communities around the world to deliver a riveting account of
active volcanoes. Escorting readers on an educational, often
frightening, but always adventurous global tour, Oppenheimer is an
uber-experienced and well-informed guide. . . Readers will marvel
at Oppenheimer's close calls, risky research, and elegant writing
style that delightfully weaves his perilous excursions with
exacting science and rich ethnography.
*Booklist*
Oppenheimer [is] a professional volcanologist, working in searing
heat and constant peril, dodging lava bombs and sulphurous air ...
Oppenheimer is engaged not just in the earth sciences, but a kind
of deep history ... pure action-adventure stuff ... Oppenheimer's
story is compounded of science, personal testimony and a broad
cultural understanding, but the most unexpected thing about the
book is his apparent affection for all those hills that tried to
kill him.
*The Tablet*
An illuminating, popular book on the scientific and social history
of volcanoes ... But Oppenheimer has also written an absorbing
travelogue, setting his own adventures squarely in the natural and
social history of the sites he has visited. He is a sensitive
observer and a fine writer, turning what could have been drab
accounting into luminous prose ... an uplifting tour of the hot
spots and high points of a perceptive volcanologist's career.
*Natural History magazine*
Oppenheimer takes readers to the world's active volcanoes, making
stops in Antarctica, Iceland, the Sahara Desert, and North Korea,
and noting characteristics, sensory details, and local cultural,
political, and economic aspects and beliefs. This magnificent guide
offers stories about his adventures, research observations, and
science-including volcanoes' link to climate and environmental
changes-conveyed in memorable prose.
*Library Journal*
Thrilling! An explosive account of the inner lives of volcanoes,
and how they have touched our lives through history. Adventurous,
gripping science writing at its very best.
*LEWIS DARTNELL, author of Origins*
I absolutely loved this book - it's so full of passion, wonderment,
philosophy, anthropology and most of all volcanoes! It ignited my
mind and delighted my imagination. I loved the deep and poignant
connections between history, meaning and people, but it's Clive
Oppenheimer's dazzling charisma and thrilling experiences that
infuse this book with an energy befitting our planet's most
powerful force.
*SARA DOSA, director of the Academy Award-nominated film Fire of
Love*
Breathtaking. Weaving together geology, history, culture with
dramatic personal adventure, Clive Oppenheimer takes us deep into
the beating heart of our planet.
*ANIL SETH, author of Being You*
An engrossing, richly detailed journey into the mysterious world of
volcanos and volcano enthusiasts. Clive Oppenheimer's passion for
his subject begins in the realm of science and ends with the human
soul.
*HELEN GORDON, author of Notes from Deep Time*
Witty, precise, evocative. Clive Oppenheimer is a beautiful writer
and spectacular scholar. He guides us safely through the smelly,
noisy blast furnaces of volcanic craters and lava flows. Mountains
of Fire tells the story of a volcano doctor who measures the
temperature and chemical compounds in volcanic 'breath' while
recounting the history, adventures, and spirituality surrounding
these wonders of the world.
*Terry Plank, Professor of Earth Science, Columbia University*
A global tour of some of the world's most fascinating volcanoes ...
From North Korea to Antarctica to the Caribbean, he brings the
reader along with extraordinary access onto the very flanks of
volcanoes. Oppenheimer's deep knowledge of these mountains of fire,
combined with his eye for detail and his deep respect for those
living alongside volcanoes, yields a thoroughly delightful and
accessible exploration of these geological wonders.
*Alexandra Witze, author of ISLAND ON FIRE*
An 'entertaining deep dive into the history and science of
volcanology ... Oppenheimer is keen
to present another side to these awe-inspiring portals to the
Earth's roiling, incandescent interior.
*Geographical*
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