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Mountains of Fire: The Menace, Meaning, and Magic of Volcanoes
Meeting with volcanoes around the world, a volcanologist interprets their messages for humankind.
In Mountains of Fire , Clive Oppenheimer invites readers to stand with him in the shadow of an active volcano. Whether he is scaling majestic summits, listening to hissing lava at the crater’s edge, or hunting for the far-flung ashes from Earth’s greatest eruptions, Oppenheimer is an ideal guide, offering readers the chance to tag along on the daring, seemingly-impossible journeys of a volcanologist.
In his eventful career as a volcanologist and filmmaker, Oppenheimer has studied volcanoes around the world. He has worked with scientists in North Korea to study Mount Paektu, a volcano name sung in national anthems on both sides of the Demilitarized Zone. He has crossed the Sahara to reach the fabled Tiéroko volcano in the Tibesti Mountains of Chad. He spent months camped atop Antarctica’s most active volcano, Mount Erebus, to record the pulse of its lava lake.
Mountains of Fire reveals how volcanic activity is entangled with our climate and environment, as well as our economy, politics, culture, and beliefs. These adventures and investigations make clear the dual purpose of volcanology—both to understand volcanoes for science’s sake and to serve the communities endangered and entranced by these mountains of fire.
In Mountains of Fire , Clive Oppenheimer invites readers to stand with him in the shadow of an active volcano. Whether he is scaling majestic summits, listening to hissing lava at the crater’s edge, or hunting for the far-flung ashes from Earth’s greatest eruptions, Oppenheimer is an ideal guide, offering readers the chance to tag along on the daring, seemingly-impossible journeys of a volcanologist.
In his eventful career as a volcanologist and filmmaker, Oppenheimer has studied volcanoes around the world. He has worked with scientists in North Korea to study Mount Paektu, a volcano name sung in national anthems on both sides of the Demilitarized Zone. He has crossed the Sahara to reach the fabled Tiéroko volcano in the Tibesti Mountains of Chad. He spent months camped atop Antarctica’s most active volcano, Mount Erebus, to record the pulse of its lava lake.
Mountains of Fire reveals how volcanic activity is entangled with our climate and environment, as well as our economy, politics, culture, and beliefs. These adventures and investigations make clear the dual purpose of volcanology—both to understand volcanoes for science’s sake and to serve the communities endangered and entranced by these mountains of fire.
352 pages, Hardcover
First published April 24, 2023
156 people are currently reading
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 91 reviews
August 19, 2025
I listened to the audio version of this book, though I couldn’t see that edition listed on GR. If someone subsequently adds it I will change the page to the correct edition.
I’m of the view that a good audio narrator can enhance a book. In this case, the author narrates the book himself, something I generally view as a mistake, and indeed I think it may have been on this occasion. He isn’t able to project his voice in the way that a professional narrator does, and the listener also has to put up with lots of swallowing noises during the book.
Although this is packaged as book about volcanoes, it’s really a personal memoir of the author’s career combined with a history of volcanology. It’s a sort of around the world trip starting of course in southern Italy, the place where people first started to study volcanoes scientifically. From there the reader is taken across to the Caribbean, South America, and to numerous other locations. Unsurprisingly there are extensive chapters on Iceland and Indonesia, two of the most volcanically active locations on Earth. One of the most interesting chapters was on the rarely visited Tibesti Mountains of Chad, and the last chapter concentrates on Mount Erebus in Antarctica. The author seems to have become something of a specialist on this volcano, and it’s clearly a place he loves.
The book also looks at the spiritual and cultural significance of volcanoes, especially Mount Paektu, which lies on the border of China and North Korea, and which seems to be of great cultural importance to Korean, Manchu and Chinese people alike.
There is a relatively limited amount of scientific information in the book.
One small bonus of the audiobook is that the author provides us with some sound recordings he took of volcanic activity at Mt. Erebus – those noises were quite sinister sounding! Overall though, this might be one to actually read rather than listen to.
I’m of the view that a good audio narrator can enhance a book. In this case, the author narrates the book himself, something I generally view as a mistake, and indeed I think it may have been on this occasion. He isn’t able to project his voice in the way that a professional narrator does, and the listener also has to put up with lots of swallowing noises during the book.
Although this is packaged as book about volcanoes, it’s really a personal memoir of the author’s career combined with a history of volcanology. It’s a sort of around the world trip starting of course in southern Italy, the place where people first started to study volcanoes scientifically. From there the reader is taken across to the Caribbean, South America, and to numerous other locations. Unsurprisingly there are extensive chapters on Iceland and Indonesia, two of the most volcanically active locations on Earth. One of the most interesting chapters was on the rarely visited Tibesti Mountains of Chad, and the last chapter concentrates on Mount Erebus in Antarctica. The author seems to have become something of a specialist on this volcano, and it’s clearly a place he loves.
The book also looks at the spiritual and cultural significance of volcanoes, especially Mount Paektu, which lies on the border of China and North Korea, and which seems to be of great cultural importance to Korean, Manchu and Chinese people alike.
There is a relatively limited amount of scientific information in the book.
One small bonus of the audiobook is that the author provides us with some sound recordings he took of volcanic activity at Mt. Erebus – those noises were quite sinister sounding! Overall though, this might be one to actually read rather than listen to.
August 10, 2024
You cannot deny a certain fascination with vulcano's they cannot be tamed by human technology, we cannot even with certainty predict if a vulcano is going to erupt or even explode. And yet they are a True force of nature and creates life and faith.
This book is about more than geology it is about the human need to build life around a vulcano even if it can destroy civilisation too. Just look at Pompije which is fascinating as it offers us the Roman civilisation as it was unearthed from the day it vanished. Like my tourguide said when one lives among or close to a vulcano one should live life as best as one can. Tomorrow can be the last day.
This book tells us about vulcano's but less in scientific detail but far more in a social culturele way. The vulcano in several episodes are difficult to investigate like Chad, Eritrea, Korea, mount Erabus in Antartica. The weiter tells about the vulcano but also about its history and remains of human history. While the sciencefiction around vulcano's is fairly new there are plenty pioneers and enough written in history about situations that hang together with great eruptions that took place.
This book is a fascinating view upon the field of vulcanos and its Groningen sciencefiction surrounding it no longer being just geology.
A fun book to read that is actually 260 pages and the rest are notes.
If you want to learn about vulcanos and are not into the mood for serious science this is the book for you.
This book is about more than geology it is about the human need to build life around a vulcano even if it can destroy civilisation too. Just look at Pompije which is fascinating as it offers us the Roman civilisation as it was unearthed from the day it vanished. Like my tourguide said when one lives among or close to a vulcano one should live life as best as one can. Tomorrow can be the last day.
This book tells us about vulcano's but less in scientific detail but far more in a social culturele way. The vulcano in several episodes are difficult to investigate like Chad, Eritrea, Korea, mount Erabus in Antartica. The weiter tells about the vulcano but also about its history and remains of human history. While the sciencefiction around vulcano's is fairly new there are plenty pioneers and enough written in history about situations that hang together with great eruptions that took place.
This book is a fascinating view upon the field of vulcanos and its Groningen sciencefiction surrounding it no longer being just geology.
A fun book to read that is actually 260 pages and the rest are notes.
If you want to learn about vulcanos and are not into the mood for serious science this is the book for you.
September 1, 2024
I first became aware of Clive Oppenheimer while watching Werner Herzog's documentary "Encounters at the End of the World". Their meeting at the Erebus volcano in Antarctica led to a collaboration on two more films. I found this British scientist to be a brilliant popularizer and storyteller, so I was very eager to read his book. And he does not disappoint.
It is no coincidence that these two men got along so well. Oppenheimer shares Herzog's insatiable curiosity and ability, or even desire, to be amazed. In this book, he masterfully blends popular science, the history of earlier discoveries, and recollections of his own fascinating expeditions to places like Iceland, the Sahara, Indonesia, and even North Korea ( in the company of Werner Herzog, by the way). His style is witty, colorful, and evocative - it truly transports you to different times and places.
Volcanology is not just an earth science - the modern approach includes cultural and anthropological aspects, as well as the effects of eruptions on our climate and environment. You don't have to be a volcano buff to find this book very interesting.
Thanks to the publisher, University of Chicago Press, and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.
It is no coincidence that these two men got along so well. Oppenheimer shares Herzog's insatiable curiosity and ability, or even desire, to be amazed. In this book, he masterfully blends popular science, the history of earlier discoveries, and recollections of his own fascinating expeditions to places like Iceland, the Sahara, Indonesia, and even North Korea ( in the company of Werner Herzog, by the way). His style is witty, colorful, and evocative - it truly transports you to different times and places.
Volcanology is not just an earth science - the modern approach includes cultural and anthropological aspects, as well as the effects of eruptions on our climate and environment. You don't have to be a volcano buff to find this book very interesting.
Thanks to the publisher, University of Chicago Press, and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.
May 11, 2025
Written by a Cambridge professor and a vulcanologist, this is a wonderful book. Part science, part history, and part adventure, and a very readable account of volcanoes and their power and effect.
It seems we even come from volcanoes - the gases and minerals they emit allowed life to evolve - and they can also devastate it. He explains how the Tabora eruption of 1815 led to the year ‘without a summer’ the following year and widespread famine. And it seems there have been even bigger eruptions thousands of years ago.
Volcanoes are often in remote places and each chapter is about a particular region and the author’s field work - he covers Chile, Iceland and Indonesia but also places few of us will ever visit such as the Tibesti Mountains in Chad and Mount Paektu in North Korea.
The only thing missing was much about volcanoes under the ocean (there are many more of them than on land), probably because that is a subject he doesn’t appear to have studied to any great degree.
Overall, a really enthralling read.
It seems we even come from volcanoes - the gases and minerals they emit allowed life to evolve - and they can also devastate it. He explains how the Tabora eruption of 1815 led to the year ‘without a summer’ the following year and widespread famine. And it seems there have been even bigger eruptions thousands of years ago.
Volcanoes are often in remote places and each chapter is about a particular region and the author’s field work - he covers Chile, Iceland and Indonesia but also places few of us will ever visit such as the Tibesti Mountains in Chad and Mount Paektu in North Korea.
The only thing missing was much about volcanoes under the ocean (there are many more of them than on land), probably because that is a subject he doesn’t appear to have studied to any great degree.
Overall, a really enthralling read.
October 12, 2025
I am actively trying to read more nonfiction, especially as I’m not reading quite as much for school any more, and this was a fantastic book to start with. I’ve had this one for a while as well, but only picked it up recently, and it’s incredible.
This book is a really really great mix of really cool information about volcanoes all over the globe, stories about pioneering volcano science and scientists, and how volcanoes are permanently integrated in not only human culture and mythos, but our existence. This book takes you from the U.S. to Iceland to the Sahara to Indonesia to Antarctica and many other places in between, and at each stop dives into all of the information surrounding the volcanoes in question. It does a fantastic job of pairing modern science with legend, religion, and cultural meaning and underscores the importance of pairing the two rather than working in isolation. And, the entire book is written through the lens of “holy cow look at how awesome volcanoes are”. The author even talks at one point about how hypothesis-driven science doesn’t always leave room for just going and exploring and appreciating and collecting as much information as possible, and seeing what comes out of it.
There’s a very good reason that volcanoes are present in writings, songs, stories, etc. from as long as humans have been around them. Because they operate on such long timescales compared to a human life, it’s easy to forget how genuinely impactful they are on the planet as a whole, and to me it was a very big reminder that no human is immune to the forces of nature. The only thing we really can do is admire it and recognize its power. THIS BOOK ROCKED!!!!!!!!
This book is a really really great mix of really cool information about volcanoes all over the globe, stories about pioneering volcano science and scientists, and how volcanoes are permanently integrated in not only human culture and mythos, but our existence. This book takes you from the U.S. to Iceland to the Sahara to Indonesia to Antarctica and many other places in between, and at each stop dives into all of the information surrounding the volcanoes in question. It does a fantastic job of pairing modern science with legend, religion, and cultural meaning and underscores the importance of pairing the two rather than working in isolation. And, the entire book is written through the lens of “holy cow look at how awesome volcanoes are”. The author even talks at one point about how hypothesis-driven science doesn’t always leave room for just going and exploring and appreciating and collecting as much information as possible, and seeing what comes out of it.
There’s a very good reason that volcanoes are present in writings, songs, stories, etc. from as long as humans have been around them. Because they operate on such long timescales compared to a human life, it’s easy to forget how genuinely impactful they are on the planet as a whole, and to me it was a very big reminder that no human is immune to the forces of nature. The only thing we really can do is admire it and recognize its power. THIS BOOK ROCKED!!!!!!!!
September 1, 2023
4. Delightful to read! I now want to drop everything and become a volcano explorer. The author was great at describing not only why volcanoes look like and what they do, but also how they feel and why they are important. Beings of mythical proportion, where present and past merge.
Also, for the largest unhumble brag, and a longer, more formally written take:
https://www.economist.com/culture/202...
Also, for the largest unhumble brag, and a longer, more formally written take:
https://www.economist.com/culture/202...
January 19, 2025
⍋ 6/10 ⍋
February 10, 2025
Ahhh the life that could’ve been! This is a really interesting personal memoir of the writer’s travels and research as a volcanologist which is basically my alternate reality dream. Felt like I was escaping to different corners of the globe with every chapter. I knocked a star off for some cringy similes, and another star for the fact that it caught me at a time of particular disenfranchisement with the medical profession which, of course, is not Clive’s fault!
March 2, 2024
If you want to read a bunch of travel narratives about work trips to various remote locations that Oppenheimer has taken over his career, then this is the book for you. If you want to learn anything about the science of volcanoes, it’s a complete waste of time.
January 31, 2026
De auteur heeft het audioboek zelf ingesproken. Dat kan heel leuk zijn maar in dit geval betekende het vooral dat ik de beste man om de zoveel zinnen moest horen slikken (voor de collega’s: ja, het is audio spike in subtitle editor levels van slikken). Zeer intieme ervaring met je koptelefoon op
Het leek me cool om meer over vulkanen te leren, maar Mountains of Fire ging vooral over het onderzoek naar vulkanen en niet de vulkanen zelf. Eigenlijk weet ik nu dus nog steeds niks, denk dat ik op zoek ga naar een vulkanen voor dummies
Het leek me cool om meer over vulkanen te leren, maar Mountains of Fire ging vooral over het onderzoek naar vulkanen en niet de vulkanen zelf. Eigenlijk weet ik nu dus nog steeds niks, denk dat ik op zoek ga naar een vulkanen voor dummies
October 27, 2023
We're all made of volcanic diffusions of rock, water, and gas (p. 24). Oppenheimer gives us a world tour of the places of fiery and glassy pyroclasms emanating from beneath less than totally terra firma. His interest is evident in both the historical records and today's science. While another recent book, Robin George Andrews' 'Super Volcanoes' charts the big peaks on Earth as well as across our slice of the extraterrestrial realm in lively fashion (see my review), Oppenheimer follows a more topographical route around the planet to elucidate vulcanology. It makes for an instructive experience. Some of his best observations emerge deep from within his footnotes, as well as on pp. 149 and 248. The photos greatly enhance the sense of the landscapes he describes. Chapters are short enough so that his main points stay steady, and he appends ample documentation, although some of it likely to languish in academic archives, to substantiate his research. It makes for a solid narrative, and the final section about his stints in Antarctica at Mt Erebus illustrate touchingly his appreciation at his luck in being able to witness nature.
April 28, 2023
I thought this was a pretty entertaining book about volcanoes. My favorite parts were when the author explained how they solved the mysteries of when certain eruptions happened. I also appreciated how he integrated the science of volcanology with the cultural and historical aspects of volcanoes. I think that synthesis was probably the biggest strength of the book.
I didn’t care as much for the personal travelogue elements of the story, but that’s more of my own preference for nonfiction.
I think he mostly did a great job of explaining the science so that the general public could understand, but there were times when I think he didn’t quite succeed at that. However, there were a few times when I had trouble following the science explanations and I myself have a BS and an MS in geology, though I focused on sedimentary geochemistry rather than anything related to volcanoes.
My thanks to NetGalley and the University of Chicago Press for allowing me to read an ARC of this book.
I didn’t care as much for the personal travelogue elements of the story, but that’s more of my own preference for nonfiction.
I think he mostly did a great job of explaining the science so that the general public could understand, but there were times when I think he didn’t quite succeed at that. However, there were a few times when I had trouble following the science explanations and I myself have a BS and an MS in geology, though I focused on sedimentary geochemistry rather than anything related to volcanoes.
My thanks to NetGalley and the University of Chicago Press for allowing me to read an ARC of this book.
May 23, 2023
My favorite nonfiction book of the year so far. The best praise that I can give this book is that I read all the footnotes. You can't really get much better than that. Clive Oppenheimer is a big name in volcanology - even though I've only taken a few geology courses, I've certainly heard of him. This book is a chronicle of his career, and wow, he's had a cool life. He also has a talent for using the perfect adjectives for every situation, which was very satisfying. This is the sort of interdisciplinary science I want to do, and this book was a fascinating read.
ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
January 14, 2024
I most appreciated the information on the relationships of humans with volcanoes and how the can provide valuable resources as well as being a threat. The authors tales of some harrowing experiences are entertaining. It is a shame that there aren't more pictures and maps with each chapter. Then it would be a 4 star rating.
March 13, 2025
It's been over a month since I finished this book and I’m STILL thinking about it! Oppenheimer has beautifully visual vocabulary which makes for incredible storytelling. I’m still thinking about Mt Pelee and the Mt Erebus. It’s a page turner for sure. 10/10
January 1, 2026
To my slight disappointment, this book was not textbook on volcanoes but a collection of experiences, impressions, myths and legends assembled by someone whose life work is volconoes - and could probably write a textbook about them. For me, sadly, it didn't quite hang together and didn't really achieve what it set out to do. It's interesting to note in the acknowledgements that the idea for this book actually came from the publisher rather than the author and I do wonder if this is what happens when an arty publisher puts a proposal to a scientist.
Despite all this, there are some truly fascinating passages within this book - from the author nearly being hit by a lava bomb on Stromboli to his frozen exploits on the Antarctic volcano Erebus. In fact, I started having career envy (last felt reading Dave Goulson's A Sting in the Tale) wishing I had had the nerve or drive to make a living out of a subject they love; so much so that I now intend to investigate holidays to volcanoes - once I've done the eclipses!
One final thing, this book really needed much better illustrations and maps - they were all small, and often unrelated to the text.
Despite all this, there are some truly fascinating passages within this book - from the author nearly being hit by a lava bomb on Stromboli to his frozen exploits on the Antarctic volcano Erebus. In fact, I started having career envy (last felt reading Dave Goulson's A Sting in the Tale) wishing I had had the nerve or drive to make a living out of a subject they love; so much so that I now intend to investigate holidays to volcanoes - once I've done the eclipses!
One final thing, this book really needed much better illustrations and maps - they were all small, and often unrelated to the text.
August 13, 2024
Volcanoes are essential to the existence and survival of humanity and Oppenheimer really hones in on this.
The book very much reads as though we’re directly reading from his field journal and gives such a unique and thorough insight into what it is to be a volcanologist. Following along with Oppenheimer’s thoughts and feelings gives such a great perspective and his descriptions and details really make you feel like you’re there with him in these incredible places.
Not only do we get this great insight into his own expeditions, Oppenheimer also brilliantly puts together and describes the expeditions of others in the past on their incredible journeys to essentially put volcanology on the map and make observations and recordings of volcanic activity common place.
In that regard it was incredibly interesting to learn more about those who pioneered the field.
I would very much recommend this to anyone who is at all interested in volcanoes!
The book very much reads as though we’re directly reading from his field journal and gives such a unique and thorough insight into what it is to be a volcanologist. Following along with Oppenheimer’s thoughts and feelings gives such a great perspective and his descriptions and details really make you feel like you’re there with him in these incredible places.
Not only do we get this great insight into his own expeditions, Oppenheimer also brilliantly puts together and describes the expeditions of others in the past on their incredible journeys to essentially put volcanology on the map and make observations and recordings of volcanic activity common place.
In that regard it was incredibly interesting to learn more about those who pioneered the field.
I would very much recommend this to anyone who is at all interested in volcanoes!
November 21, 2023
Fascinating, informative and transportive, this book is a journey around the world via a series of volcanoes.
Oppenheimer's writing is not just accessible, but entertaining too. He manages to capture the essence of his experiences and paints such vivid imagery that it feels like you've been there with him. It's a thorough blend of travel writing meets science writing. I particularly liked the way he paid a sort-of tribute to the founding scientists in his field by telling their story, followed by how he has followed in their - often literal - footsteps.
I not only learned so much about volcanology, I feel like I have visited them too. This book has reignited my keen interest in volcanoes and left me hungry for more.
Oppenheimer's writing is not just accessible, but entertaining too. He manages to capture the essence of his experiences and paints such vivid imagery that it feels like you've been there with him. It's a thorough blend of travel writing meets science writing. I particularly liked the way he paid a sort-of tribute to the founding scientists in his field by telling their story, followed by how he has followed in their - often literal - footsteps.
I not only learned so much about volcanology, I feel like I have visited them too. This book has reignited my keen interest in volcanoes and left me hungry for more.
June 25, 2024
Mountains of Fire is a book by Clive Oppenheimer about volcanos. In the book, Oppenheimer examines the multiple facets of volcanos and how they impact the lives of people who live near them.
In that vein, we get some mythology.
The book is fascinating, but I couldn’t get into it for some reason. I finally finished it, though. Oppenheimer is part scientist, part adventurer. He goes to the volcanoes themselves to take spectroscopic measurements of the gases.
The book was great. Thanks for reading my review, and see you next time.
In that vein, we get some mythology.
The book is fascinating, but I couldn’t get into it for some reason. I finally finished it, though. Oppenheimer is part scientist, part adventurer. He goes to the volcanoes themselves to take spectroscopic measurements of the gases.
The book was great. Thanks for reading my review, and see you next time.
December 23, 2024
An ok book. I got it to learn more about the science of volcanoes, as I'm in central America right now and whenever you look up at the sky there's almost always a volcano so I wanted to understand what they are, why they're here and why they erupt a bit better. Sadly this book isn't that as it's more the author's memoirs from his time around the world, which are interesting but not what I was hoping and I feel if you read the Horrible Geography about volcanoes as a kid you knew a lot of the stories from there already.
May 12, 2025
Solid— a bit more of a memoir than an overview of volcanoes, but still interesting to learn about volcanology and so cool that people get to travel to such extreme places for science. Glad I grabbed this off the display at the library
December 31, 2025
What a ridiculously interesting man. I will admit that a lot of the more visual, scientific parts of this book lost me a bit, but every time Clive links volcanology to society and gets into some drama I was living.
October 26, 2025
Truly captivating! A delightful insight into the secret life of volcanoes through the lens of Oppenheimer’s research and the histories of his predecessors.
March 9, 2024
A leading volcanologist and an oft amusing author who can write well in a populist way (a la Carl Sagan whom he quotes), Oppenheimer has produced a book of Volcano stories with no real structure. While I now know more about volcanoes than before.... it's probably not all that much more.
The author's photo on the book jacket makes him look like a cross between Neil Gaiman and Side Show Bob.... probably a fun guy to have a beer or overnight in a lava tube with.
The author's photo on the book jacket makes him look like a cross between Neil Gaiman and Side Show Bob.... probably a fun guy to have a beer or overnight in a lava tube with.
March 25, 2024
Good. Mix of science, adventures, and culture. Has maps, photos, and fun informative end notes.
Warning, you may want to suddenly become a vulcanologist
Warning, you may want to suddenly become a vulcanologist
December 23, 2023
An interesting book on volcanos that sadly could be as dry as lava at times
Mountains of Fire: The Menace, Meaning, and Magic of Volcanoes by Clive Oppenheimer is a decent look at humanity’s relationship and fascination with volcanos as well as a lengthy scientific and historic breakdown of various volcanic activity throughout the epochs and specific incidents of not to our own geological history.
Gonna be honest…the later chapters weren’t as interesting as the early chapters.
The first couple chapters focused on the cultural and almost mystical connection humans sometimes had for volcanoes…as well as an amusing look at early volcanologists of the 19th and very early 20th centuries (including a nice anecdote involving a ship helping evacuate Martinique during the 1902 eruption of Mount Pelée). I would have liked a great focus on past incidents (other than Pompeii of course since that too over done).
To accompany all the fascinating erupting mountain talk, there are a host of black and white photographs and art which I feel do a good job of showcasing the various cultures and peoples interest in volcanos over the century. I would have liked more cultural art like this, but I’m not gonna look a gift horse in the mouth. Nearly every single one of the pieces is rife for potential almost telling their own story and anecdotes that they allow you to imagine for yourself…
Mountains of Fire: The Menace, Meaning, and Magic of Volcanoes by Clive Oppenheimer is a decent look at humanity’s relationship and fascination with volcanos as well as a lengthy scientific and historic breakdown of various volcanic activity throughout the epochs and specific incidents of not to our own geological history.
Gonna be honest…the later chapters weren’t as interesting as the early chapters.
The first couple chapters focused on the cultural and almost mystical connection humans sometimes had for volcanoes…as well as an amusing look at early volcanologists of the 19th and very early 20th centuries (including a nice anecdote involving a ship helping evacuate Martinique during the 1902 eruption of Mount Pelée). I would have liked a great focus on past incidents (other than Pompeii of course since that too over done).
To accompany all the fascinating erupting mountain talk, there are a host of black and white photographs and art which I feel do a good job of showcasing the various cultures and peoples interest in volcanos over the century. I would have liked more cultural art like this, but I’m not gonna look a gift horse in the mouth. Nearly every single one of the pieces is rife for potential almost telling their own story and anecdotes that they allow you to imagine for yourself…
January 1, 2024
While "Mountains of Fire" explores a very intriguing subject, I found the author's attempts to convey his genuine passion for volcanoes fell short. Ironically, the historical and cultural diversions proved more captivating than the extended, somewhat tedious accounts of Oppenheimer's own explorations and studies.
June 2, 2025
Really interesting. Quite dense and information heavy so not a quick read but very fascinating as an ex earth sciences student who studied volcanoes. Multiple case studies I'd never previously heard of and the combination of science, the authors experience and the culture and societal history of the volcanoes made an engaging read
January 2, 2024
Another of my contributions to the Literary Review:
Mountains of Fire is ostensibly a book about volcanoes, but really it is about the adventures of volcanologist Clive Oppenheimer on his travels to explore these phenomena. He is now Professor of Volcanology at the University of Cambridge, and has made a couple of acclaimed documentaries about his work. This, however, is not a dry academic account of his research, nor even a standard “popularisation”. Instead, it weaves together science, history and culture into a tapestry that is far greater than the sum of its parts, and is also a darn good read.
We meet Oppenheimer as a young student taking foolish risks to make measurements that ended up proving useless, visit North Korea with him, find him at risk of being kidnapped or worse on the border between Ethiopia and Eritrea, and end up on Mount Erebus in Antarctica. This makes for a real page-turner of a book, because of the author’s gripping style and way with a descriptive narrative. If Michael Palin had been a volcanologist, this is the book he might have written.
But there are two other threads to the story. The science is not forgotten, but along with other details that might break up the flow of the story many details are confined to the 82 pages of notes which follow the main text (and can be totally ignored if all you are after is a good read). And best of all Oppenheimer includes many accounts of the adventures of his predecessors, with stories of eruptions in recorded history, as well as those that shaped the world in the far distant past. So we meet Robert Bunsen, of burner fame, on an expedition to Iceland in the mid-nineteenth century, and Charles Darwin being shaken by an earthquake in Chile a couple of decades earlier. Darwin’s first major published work, we learn, was a theory of volcanism that “came remarkably close to pre-empting a central plank of plate tectonic theory.”
My favourite section of the book, which pulls together all the threads, deals with the history of eruptions in Iceland, an island which sits astride a major crack in the Earth’s crust known as the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland is actually getting wider, by a couple of centimetres a year, as crust spreads out on either side of the ridge, which shows up as a steep-sided canyon crossing the island. “Tectonically speaking,” as Oppenheimer puts it, you can stand there “planting one foot in America and the other in Europe.” As well as Iceland’s own volcanic activity, the nearby Greenland ice cap carries buried in the layers of snow falling each year a dusty record of enormous eruptions from around the globe, including an eruption of the Korean volcano Paektu in the year 946 CE. Identification of this layer in the Greenland ice in turn enabled him to count backwards down the layers to pinpoint the date of a major Icelandic eruption as occurring in the spring of 939 CE. Which ties it neatly to accounts of crop failures across Europe and the Sun showing red in the daytime as far away as Rome. Tree ring data show that the following year, 940 CE, was one of the coldest Northern Hemisphere summers of the past two millennia, as particles from the volcano spread high in the stratosphere around the globe and blocked sunlight. But if you want to know how this ties in with Icelandic medieval poetry and the Norse vision of the end of the world, Ragnarok, you will have to read the book.
There are, however, two omissions that deserved a place in the book, one specific and one general. The catastrophic eruption of Thera, on the island of Santorini, which is thought to have caused the collapse of Minoan civilisation around 1600 BCE surely deserves a mention, and although Oppenheimer discusses the relationships between volcanoes, the environment and life I would have liked to learn his take (for or against) on Gaia theory, the idea that all these processes are linked to make a kind of planetary super-organism.
His early experience on Mount Stromboli is worth sharing:
“A metallic whiff like a struck match smarted my eyes. I was seized by the realisation that volatile molecules just unfettered from the inner Earth, and tasting like sour milk at the back of my throat, were now in my lungs, in my bloodstream . . . I was discovering [that] fieldwork on an active volcano is a profoundly embodying experience.” And when lumps of molten lava start falling at his feet, his notebook laconically records, “working here extremely hazardous.” It’s a wonder that he lived to tell the tale, and the rest of the tales in the book, but all lovers of adventure stories, travel stories, and the science of our living planet can rejoice in the fact that he did. Most of the books I review get passed on, one way or another, fairly quickly; but this one is definitely a keeper.
Mountains of Fire is ostensibly a book about volcanoes, but really it is about the adventures of volcanologist Clive Oppenheimer on his travels to explore these phenomena. He is now Professor of Volcanology at the University of Cambridge, and has made a couple of acclaimed documentaries about his work. This, however, is not a dry academic account of his research, nor even a standard “popularisation”. Instead, it weaves together science, history and culture into a tapestry that is far greater than the sum of its parts, and is also a darn good read.
We meet Oppenheimer as a young student taking foolish risks to make measurements that ended up proving useless, visit North Korea with him, find him at risk of being kidnapped or worse on the border between Ethiopia and Eritrea, and end up on Mount Erebus in Antarctica. This makes for a real page-turner of a book, because of the author’s gripping style and way with a descriptive narrative. If Michael Palin had been a volcanologist, this is the book he might have written.
But there are two other threads to the story. The science is not forgotten, but along with other details that might break up the flow of the story many details are confined to the 82 pages of notes which follow the main text (and can be totally ignored if all you are after is a good read). And best of all Oppenheimer includes many accounts of the adventures of his predecessors, with stories of eruptions in recorded history, as well as those that shaped the world in the far distant past. So we meet Robert Bunsen, of burner fame, on an expedition to Iceland in the mid-nineteenth century, and Charles Darwin being shaken by an earthquake in Chile a couple of decades earlier. Darwin’s first major published work, we learn, was a theory of volcanism that “came remarkably close to pre-empting a central plank of plate tectonic theory.”
My favourite section of the book, which pulls together all the threads, deals with the history of eruptions in Iceland, an island which sits astride a major crack in the Earth’s crust known as the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland is actually getting wider, by a couple of centimetres a year, as crust spreads out on either side of the ridge, which shows up as a steep-sided canyon crossing the island. “Tectonically speaking,” as Oppenheimer puts it, you can stand there “planting one foot in America and the other in Europe.” As well as Iceland’s own volcanic activity, the nearby Greenland ice cap carries buried in the layers of snow falling each year a dusty record of enormous eruptions from around the globe, including an eruption of the Korean volcano Paektu in the year 946 CE. Identification of this layer in the Greenland ice in turn enabled him to count backwards down the layers to pinpoint the date of a major Icelandic eruption as occurring in the spring of 939 CE. Which ties it neatly to accounts of crop failures across Europe and the Sun showing red in the daytime as far away as Rome. Tree ring data show that the following year, 940 CE, was one of the coldest Northern Hemisphere summers of the past two millennia, as particles from the volcano spread high in the stratosphere around the globe and blocked sunlight. But if you want to know how this ties in with Icelandic medieval poetry and the Norse vision of the end of the world, Ragnarok, you will have to read the book.
There are, however, two omissions that deserved a place in the book, one specific and one general. The catastrophic eruption of Thera, on the island of Santorini, which is thought to have caused the collapse of Minoan civilisation around 1600 BCE surely deserves a mention, and although Oppenheimer discusses the relationships between volcanoes, the environment and life I would have liked to learn his take (for or against) on Gaia theory, the idea that all these processes are linked to make a kind of planetary super-organism.
His early experience on Mount Stromboli is worth sharing:
“A metallic whiff like a struck match smarted my eyes. I was seized by the realisation that volatile molecules just unfettered from the inner Earth, and tasting like sour milk at the back of my throat, were now in my lungs, in my bloodstream . . . I was discovering [that] fieldwork on an active volcano is a profoundly embodying experience.” And when lumps of molten lava start falling at his feet, his notebook laconically records, “working here extremely hazardous.” It’s a wonder that he lived to tell the tale, and the rest of the tales in the book, but all lovers of adventure stories, travel stories, and the science of our living planet can rejoice in the fact that he did. Most of the books I review get passed on, one way or another, fairly quickly; but this one is definitely a keeper.
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