The Jupiter Effect: The Planets As Triggers Of Devastating Earthquakes

by Isaac Asimov

Once the province of astrologers and soothsayers, earthquake prediction has recently become an urgent pursuit of modern science. In The Jupiter Effect, two young scientists present a chilling hypothesis with astrological the forthcoming Grand Alignment of all the planets in 1982, the first such in 179 years, may well trigger a California earthquake far worse than the San Fransisco catastrophe of 1906. This new edition covers developments since the book was first published and reactions from the scientific community.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction

136 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1974

About the author

Works of prolific Russian-American writer Isaac Asimov include popular explanations of scientific principles, The Foundation Trilogy (1951-1953), and other volumes of fiction.

Isaac Asimov, a professor of biochemistry, wrote as a highly successful author, best known for his books.

Asimov, professor, generally considered of all time, edited more than five hundred books and ninety thousand letters and postcards. He published in nine of the ten major categories of the Dewey decimal classification but lacked only an entry in the category of philosophy (100).

People widely considered Asimov, a master of the genre alongside Robert Anson Heinlein and Arthur Charles Clarke as the "big three" during his lifetime. He later tied Galactic Empire and the Robot into the same universe as his most famous series to create a unified "future history" for his stories much like those that Heinlein pioneered and Cordwainer Smith and Poul Anderson previously produced. He penned "Nightfall," voted in 1964 as the best short story of all time; many persons still honor this title. He also produced well mysteries, fantasy, and a great quantity of nonfiction. Asimov used Paul French, the pen name, for the Lucky Starr, series of juvenile novels.

Most books of Asimov in a historical way go as far back to a time with possible question or concept at its simplest stage. He often provides and mentions well nationalities, birth, and death dates for persons and etymologies and pronunciation guides for technical terms. Guide to Science, the tripartite set Understanding Physics, and Chronology of Science and Discovery exemplify these books.

Asimov, a long-time member, reluctantly served as vice president of Mensa international and described some members of that organization as "brain-proud and aggressive about their IQs." He took more pleasure as president of the humanist association. The asteroid 5020 Asimov, the magazine Asimov's Science Fiction, an elementary school in Brooklyn in New York, and two different awards honor his name.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_As...

Reviews

[Aaron Meyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually enjoyed this book. What I liked the most is how they explore the science of earthquakes from the basics of plate tectonics to how outside influences can effect the whole. Now the interesting part is when they start discussing the sun, moon and planets ability to influence the chances of earthquakes. The authors predicted disaster in 1982 for san andreas fault line and LA in particular. This is based on all the planets being on the same side of the sun creating a chance for an unique disaster. It is unfortunate that the authors didn't expand their research to beyond the san andreas. The last time this planetary alignment occured was 1809 I believe and according to their data on alignments greatest activity happens with two year periods. 1811 the New Madrid quake happened which was utterly devastating. It fits the bill for their research. Might have to read the next volume they came out with to see if they fixed their theory or expanded it or not.

[Johnathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's fun to go back and read how science has changed through the times. I feel that this book might have had a lot of newer ideas when it came out. However, compared to today's education I feel I learned a lot about this in high school. Now, I did learn a few things in this book, example would be how they classify earthquakes. I also learned they predicted a major earthquake to hit the San Andreas fault around 1982. It's cool to read the predictions and learned how they viewed climate change. Honestly, a good book to read still. While a little outdated (Mentioning Pluto as a planet) it is still a good educational book.