The disaster in Japan resulting from the recent mega-earthquake and tsunami is still unfolding, bringing with it terrifying YouTube videos of giant waves swamping peaceful coastal towns. Once again the oceans have proven that they win. There is absolutely nothing anyone can do to stop a tsunami. The best we can do, other than avoiding all coasts forever, is to get educated. National Geographic Explorer has posted a survival guide that explains the basics of tsunami physics and how to detect, then avoid a tsunami. Key concepts: if the seawater suddenly retreats back into the ocean, run for higher ground. If a tsunami watch is in place, don’t stick around to watch the tsunami—get the heck out of there!
Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption has topped the best-seller lists since it came out late last year. So what’s all the fuss about? Author Laura Hillenbrand came across multiple references to Olympic runner and World War II POW Louis Zamperini while she was researching her first blockbuster book, Seabiscuit. A few phone conversations later, Hillenbrand realized the wise-cracking octogenarian would be the subject of her next book. Zamperini’s story has it all: his is a lifetime crammed with adventure, from his early days as a wild, reckless youth, to his meteoric rise up the ranks of elite runners, to his resilience in the face of soul-shattering torture in Japanese POW camps.
The opening pages zoom in on Zamperini and two crewmates fending off sharks in two crumbling rafts somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. On their 27th day at sea, nearly dead from thirst and exposure, they hear the sound of an airplane in the distance. They fire flares into the air and watch the plane circle back—only to realize that it’s not an American rescue plane, but a Japanese bomber about to open fire. That Zamperini survived is a miracle—but what’s even more miraculous is the sheer number of similarly precarious moments he endured. With Seabiscuit, Hillenbrand made her mark both as a skilled storyteller and a prodigious researcher; her meticulous hunting and gathering of anecdotes and facts is evident in Unbroken too. What’s different about Unbroken is its exuberant pace. The research does not get in the way of the story, and the story is absolutely breathtaking.
