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Waking the Giant: How a Changing Climate Triggers Earthquakes, Tsunamis, and Volcanoes
An astonishing transformation over the last 20,000 years has seen our planet changed from a frigid wasteland into the temperate world within which our civilization has grown and thrived. This dynamic episode in our planet's history, right at the close of the Ice Age, saw not only a huge temperature hike but also the Earth's crust bouncing and bending in response to the melting of the great ice sheets and the filling of the ocean basins--dramatic geophysical events that triggered earthquakes, spawned tsunamis, and provoked a series of eruptions from the world's volcanoes. In Wakingthe Giant, Bill McGuire argues that now that human activities are driving climate change as rapidly as anything seen in post-glacial times, the sleeping giant beneath our feet is stirring once again. When and if it finally wakes, we should all be afraid--very afraid. Could we be leaving our children not only a far hotter world, but a more geologically unstable one too?
320 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2012
19 people are currently reading
238 people want to read
About the author
Bill McGuire
19 books10 followersBill McGuire is an academic, broadcaster, activist and Amazon UK Top 100 popular science and speculative fiction writer. He is currently Professor Emeritus of Geophysical and Climate Hazards at University College London, a co-director of the New Weather Institute, a patron of Scientists for Global Responsibility, a member of the scientific advisory board of Scientists Warning and special scientific advisor to WordForest.org.
His books include: A Guide to the End of the World: Everything you Never Wanted to Know; Surviving Armageddon: Solutions for a Threatened Planet; and Seven Years to Save the Planet. His current non-fiction book is Waking the Giant: How a Changing Climate Triggers Earthquakes, Tsunamis and Volcanoes; ranked at number five in The Guardian's Top 10 'eco' books. His debut novel, Skyseed – an eco-thriller about climate engineering gone wrong – is published by The Book Guild.
His books include: A Guide to the End of the World: Everything you Never Wanted to Know; Surviving Armageddon: Solutions for a Threatened Planet; and Seven Years to Save the Planet. His current non-fiction book is Waking the Giant: How a Changing Climate Triggers Earthquakes, Tsunamis and Volcanoes; ranked at number five in The Guardian's Top 10 'eco' books. His debut novel, Skyseed – an eco-thriller about climate engineering gone wrong – is published by The Book Guild.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
September 10, 2020
I bought this book because the author, Bill McGuire, is a well regarded British volcanologist. He writes in his book that because of global warming the melting ice caps will cause heavier rainfall which will then cause both landslides, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Now my dear grandchildren are going to inherit this mess. Made this reader feel extremely frustrated and distressed. A must read for earth science lovers.
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May 9, 2013Bill McGuire, a Professor of Geohazards at University College London, wrote the 2012 work of nonfiction that is entitled “Waking the Giant: How a changing climate triggers earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanoes. A detailed description of the interconnectedness of our earth’s systems described how humans affect each of these systems. The book argues the fact that our planet is experiencing a dramatic change over the last 20,000 years; civilization of humans and industrialization is causing our planet to warm, resulting in the melting of our world’s ice sheets, causing isostatic rebound that causes the abundance of earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanoes. To support his argument, he cites studies by other scientists to support his claim that humans are damaging our world through the emission of fossil fuels in our environment, thus warming the planet that is causing an increase in natural disasters due to these geophysical events.
Through out each chapter, he progressively introduces a new topic to our understanding of earth’s systems from the basis of earth’s beginning. For example, the author included the beginning of our earth while describing periods of inter-glacial and glacial periods that led up to the existence of humans. The reason why scientists are so worried about the future because they have previous evidence of humans in earth’s past. We know that humans have caused in increase in greenhouse gases, our planet tries to maintain homeostasis, and our planet has experienced warming before, but our planet is populated with billions of people that will be effected by global climate change if we don’t acknowledge our planet is changing and these disasters will have some effect on us in the very near future. And this concept is alarming to McGuire, which is one of the compelling reasons why he published, “Waking the Giant,” and why I picked to read it.
To better understand McGuire’s argument, he included graphs and examples to show scientific evidence of how our climate is warming rapidly, especially in the 20th and 21st centuries. To explain the warming temperatures, he used the “Hockey stick graph” that describes how our world is warmer now than at any time in the past millennium and the increase in temperature over the past hundred years is drastically higher over this specific time period. Over the course of the history of the earth, the earth has experienced periods of glacial and inter-glacial periods. Fluctuations of temperatures from as little as 1-3°C can change the climate of various locations over time. The reason why this climate change is so alarming this time is the fact that humans are influencing the climate through the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation, and industrialization that the earth “might not be able to fix by itself.”
Besides talking about the increasing global temperatures, McGuire expressed how the natural processes, like earthquakes, volcanoes, and tsunamis might become more frequent and violent all across the world, but specifically in Alaska where glacier melting is already occurring at an terrifying rate. If humans don’t change their relaxed state of mind and way of life, there is going to be an increased number of natural disasters that will threaten many human lives. After analyzing millions of years of geologic history, McGuire drew the conclusion of how volcanic eruptions and collapses are stimulated by the disappearance of large ice sheets. Since the ice in glaciers is heavy, the water redistributes itself throughout the planet, thus affecting sea level and crust stability. As a result of the weight lifting off of the continents, the concept of isostatic rebound, or the “bouncing back” of the Earth after the crust was buried beneath kilometers of ice, can cause earthquakes and volcanoes in unstable zones, thus awakening the sleeping giant beneath of feet.
Besides the concept of isostatic rebound, the rising temperatures can cause increased rainfall, resulting in the increase of the occurrence of landslides. Both chapter 11 in our textbook about our dynamic planet and McGuire used the same example of the changing Alaska. Researchers from the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks used a variety of global positioning receivers to measure isostatic rebound of the crust following the retreat of the glacial ice following the last ice age cycle. This rebound unloaded a lot of weight off the crust. The scientists anticipated finding a slowed rate of crustal rebound in SE Alaska as they compared the rapid response of the first receding ice in the past. Instead, they discovered a rapid vertical motion on the Earth, averaging 36 mm, which is nearly an inch and a half per year. The scientists’ associate the quick rebound to the glacial ice melt and it’s melting over the past 150 years and the record warmth across Alaska. McGuire uses this example to reintegrate his point that our world is warming and vicious cycles could cause the increased activity of earthquakes and volcanoes in the future across the earth.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. From not knowing much about the history of earth, I liked how he included definitions, pictures, and explanations to demonstrate how our changing climate can trigger “the giant” that lives beneath us. McGuire referenced the concept of “waking the giant” throughout the whole book to emphasize how a warming planet can cause positive feedback loops in the earth systems. The term “awakening the giant” refers to the possibility of the increase of these natural processes, thus awakening a giant that “could bring havoc to a large amount of the population around the world.”
The giant is currently sleeping right now, but appears occasionally out of nowhere, like the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. In the past ten years, there has been an increased awareness of the natural disasters that occur all around the world, like the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. When this tsunami broke news, McGuire was shocked how much our planet has complete control over itself and we are at the mercy of our earth. In addition, these disasters can occur anywhere and will only increase as our climate in changing while humans seem to be the cause.
Being that McGuire used terminology and news stories that I could relate to, I could better understand the material and concepts that he was talking about. I would recommend this book to people who want to learn more about Earth’s history and become educated on what is occurring on our planet. The only thing I disliked about his book is that is tended to repeat himself a lot. I understood the theme of his book within the first couple chapters and the theme was repeated as each chapter began, making points redundant at times. That being said, the book could have been condensed down by a few chapters. I understand that a scientific community will analyze his book and McGuire wanted to add as much evidence from other scientific sources to support his argument. After reading the book and analyzing its pros and cons, I would definitely recommend the book because I learned so much that I didn’t know before. Our Earth is changing and we are responsible for making a difference for preserving it for the future.
Through out each chapter, he progressively introduces a new topic to our understanding of earth’s systems from the basis of earth’s beginning. For example, the author included the beginning of our earth while describing periods of inter-glacial and glacial periods that led up to the existence of humans. The reason why scientists are so worried about the future because they have previous evidence of humans in earth’s past. We know that humans have caused in increase in greenhouse gases, our planet tries to maintain homeostasis, and our planet has experienced warming before, but our planet is populated with billions of people that will be effected by global climate change if we don’t acknowledge our planet is changing and these disasters will have some effect on us in the very near future. And this concept is alarming to McGuire, which is one of the compelling reasons why he published, “Waking the Giant,” and why I picked to read it.
To better understand McGuire’s argument, he included graphs and examples to show scientific evidence of how our climate is warming rapidly, especially in the 20th and 21st centuries. To explain the warming temperatures, he used the “Hockey stick graph” that describes how our world is warmer now than at any time in the past millennium and the increase in temperature over the past hundred years is drastically higher over this specific time period. Over the course of the history of the earth, the earth has experienced periods of glacial and inter-glacial periods. Fluctuations of temperatures from as little as 1-3°C can change the climate of various locations over time. The reason why this climate change is so alarming this time is the fact that humans are influencing the climate through the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation, and industrialization that the earth “might not be able to fix by itself.”
Besides talking about the increasing global temperatures, McGuire expressed how the natural processes, like earthquakes, volcanoes, and tsunamis might become more frequent and violent all across the world, but specifically in Alaska where glacier melting is already occurring at an terrifying rate. If humans don’t change their relaxed state of mind and way of life, there is going to be an increased number of natural disasters that will threaten many human lives. After analyzing millions of years of geologic history, McGuire drew the conclusion of how volcanic eruptions and collapses are stimulated by the disappearance of large ice sheets. Since the ice in glaciers is heavy, the water redistributes itself throughout the planet, thus affecting sea level and crust stability. As a result of the weight lifting off of the continents, the concept of isostatic rebound, or the “bouncing back” of the Earth after the crust was buried beneath kilometers of ice, can cause earthquakes and volcanoes in unstable zones, thus awakening the sleeping giant beneath of feet.
Besides the concept of isostatic rebound, the rising temperatures can cause increased rainfall, resulting in the increase of the occurrence of landslides. Both chapter 11 in our textbook about our dynamic planet and McGuire used the same example of the changing Alaska. Researchers from the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks used a variety of global positioning receivers to measure isostatic rebound of the crust following the retreat of the glacial ice following the last ice age cycle. This rebound unloaded a lot of weight off the crust. The scientists anticipated finding a slowed rate of crustal rebound in SE Alaska as they compared the rapid response of the first receding ice in the past. Instead, they discovered a rapid vertical motion on the Earth, averaging 36 mm, which is nearly an inch and a half per year. The scientists’ associate the quick rebound to the glacial ice melt and it’s melting over the past 150 years and the record warmth across Alaska. McGuire uses this example to reintegrate his point that our world is warming and vicious cycles could cause the increased activity of earthquakes and volcanoes in the future across the earth.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. From not knowing much about the history of earth, I liked how he included definitions, pictures, and explanations to demonstrate how our changing climate can trigger “the giant” that lives beneath us. McGuire referenced the concept of “waking the giant” throughout the whole book to emphasize how a warming planet can cause positive feedback loops in the earth systems. The term “awakening the giant” refers to the possibility of the increase of these natural processes, thus awakening a giant that “could bring havoc to a large amount of the population around the world.”
The giant is currently sleeping right now, but appears occasionally out of nowhere, like the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. In the past ten years, there has been an increased awareness of the natural disasters that occur all around the world, like the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. When this tsunami broke news, McGuire was shocked how much our planet has complete control over itself and we are at the mercy of our earth. In addition, these disasters can occur anywhere and will only increase as our climate in changing while humans seem to be the cause.
Being that McGuire used terminology and news stories that I could relate to, I could better understand the material and concepts that he was talking about. I would recommend this book to people who want to learn more about Earth’s history and become educated on what is occurring on our planet. The only thing I disliked about his book is that is tended to repeat himself a lot. I understood the theme of his book within the first couple chapters and the theme was repeated as each chapter began, making points redundant at times. That being said, the book could have been condensed down by a few chapters. I understand that a scientific community will analyze his book and McGuire wanted to add as much evidence from other scientific sources to support his argument. After reading the book and analyzing its pros and cons, I would definitely recommend the book because I learned so much that I didn’t know before. Our Earth is changing and we are responsible for making a difference for preserving it for the future.
January 14, 2022
Very fascinating analysis of tectonic plates and volcanoes and all sorts of other interesting geological stuff, with a dire conclusion about anthropomorphic climate change.
October 10, 2019
A well-written, readable book w excellent chapters on volcanoes, earthquakes & tsunamis
I recommend this book to anyone interested in the “real world science” of anthropogenic climate change. After listening and learning from the Audiobook, I am beginning to understand and appreciate how much earth scientists have learned about paleoclimatology. Industrialized nations must agree on plans to mitigate—and/or adapt to—climate change. In the twenty-five or thirty-years, I would hate to see wars fought over water and/or thousands of climate refugees at our borders.
I recommend this book to anyone interested in the “real world science” of anthropogenic climate change. After listening and learning from the Audiobook, I am beginning to understand and appreciate how much earth scientists have learned about paleoclimatology. Industrialized nations must agree on plans to mitigate—and/or adapt to—climate change. In the twenty-five or thirty-years, I would hate to see wars fought over water and/or thousands of climate refugees at our borders.
September 14, 2024
Over a period of many decades, or probably centuries, a warming climate change pronounced enough to melt icecaps will result in violent geophysical events like those mentioned in the title. Melting an icecap as big as Greenland's, for instance, will result in a large bounceback effect in underlying terrestrial layers. Magma will flow in ways that feed volcanic activity or snap into earthquakes. Likewise, sea-level rise eventually adds weight and stress to seabeds sufficient to generate tsunami-spawning undersea quakes. But the phenomena as described here unfold over relatively long periods of time, whereas the title disingenuously seeks to draw book purchases on the presumption that what's covered within will have relevant shorter-term impact, e.g., within the purchasers' remaining life spans. Such appears not to be the case.
On the other hand, if what you're looking for is a discussion of these types of events in the backdrop of geological time, on the scale of the comings and goings of ice ages, say, this book will fill the bill nicely. I've only taken one star off for spurious marketing. No slight is intended to the author for that removal.
On the other hand, if what you're looking for is a discussion of these types of events in the backdrop of geological time, on the scale of the comings and goings of ice ages, say, this book will fill the bill nicely. I've only taken one star off for spurious marketing. No slight is intended to the author for that removal.
June 27, 2018
A partly terrifying and entirely fascinating study into the distinct possibility that rapid changes in ice and water levels as well as weather (as currently being experienced under the anthropocene) leading to an increase in volcanic activity and earthquakes. This shows the interconnected nature of earth science and human influence on the planet as well as the much overlooked activity of the Earth's crust which is not located on major plate divisions.
April 10, 2019
This was fascinating. I do think that the blurb rather oversells the connections that McGuire is making (most of the climate change impacts on geophysical disasters he discusses are fairly subtle, at least in the short and medium term), but the book is one of the best and most accessible accounts I've read of what we can learn from paleoclimatology about the consequences of anthropogenic climate change.
October 12, 2025
A consensus for how rising sea levels effects volcanic activity, amongst other things. Dr. McGuire is a great writer, and his passion comes through with sometimes silly sentences or great imagery. He is a great science communicator, which is a difficult skill. Lots of concepts were repeated, which sometimes made the book difficult to read page-to-page. A great assessment overall of climate impacts from the fallout of global warming, if you would like to see a cohesive perspective.
June 22, 2024
Compelling analysis of what prehistoric data tells us about the catastrophic consequences of climate change pathways. Briefly, the impact of glacier and ice melting, ocean level fluctuations, and the changing precipitation and humidity in proximity to volcanoes, slopes, and fault lines runs risks of a return to historically increased volcano, earthquake, and tsunami activity.
November 6, 2020
So interesting! A good crash course on the last few billion years of our planet’s life, and how anthropogenic climate change could cause great impact. I wish he had given a little more of an active call to action, but in his defense, that was implied throughout the book’s entirety.
February 7, 2024
Certainly a lot of compelling evidence of human activity causing catastrophic disasters. Though the book was published back in 2012 and our activities have continued in the same vein and we have less time to make things right.
March 21, 2018
Very useful. Holistic viewpoint. Spoiler: the Giant is actually Cthulhu...
October 31, 2021
Interesting book. Very well written. Some chapters were a bit too technical for me. I’m fascinated by volcanoes & earthquakes but I haven’t studied much science.
June 2, 2016
ACTUAL. 3.5
This was honestly so interesting!! It took me a while to get through, even though it was relatively short but I can't just speed through anything non-fiction. But still, so much of this I found so interesting. (I WAS CONSTANTLY MESSAGING MY FRIENDS WITH DID YOU KNOW FACTS)
Sometimes I felt it was a little convoluted and the ending was a big of a drag (it was basically just a big summary of the whole book and I was like fam I remember flip flip flip) But mostly I really enjoyed it and I honestly didn't even know half this stuff
Definitely recommend it to anyone looking to know a lil more about the effects Global Warming can/will have on our world !
This was honestly so interesting!! It took me a while to get through, even though it was relatively short but I can't just speed through anything non-fiction. But still, so much of this I found so interesting. (I WAS CONSTANTLY MESSAGING MY FRIENDS WITH DID YOU KNOW FACTS)
Sometimes I felt it was a little convoluted and the ending was a big of a drag (it was basically just a big summary of the whole book and I was like fam I remember flip flip flip) But mostly I really enjoyed it and I honestly didn't even know half this stuff
Definitely recommend it to anyone looking to know a lil more about the effects Global Warming can/will have on our world !
Want to read
June 24, 2012KOBOBOOKS
Reviewed by The Guardian (26 Feb 2012)
Reviewed by The Guardian (26 Feb 2012)
December 21, 2013
Stalwart! A must for anyone concerned about the climate crisis.
June 26, 2016
Well-written and fascinating in a terrifying sort of way.
Read
November 9, 2016A bit too technical for me
January 15, 2023
VERY EYE-OPENING. This type of book should be required reading to show how scary the world is becoming because of human actions and our inaction to save the environment.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews