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  • Experts

Nature » Rocks & Minerals

Browse book recommendations:

Nature

  • Animals
  • Bacteria
  • Evolution
  • Nature Writing
  • Oceans
  • Pets
  • Plants, Trees & Flowers
  • Rocks & Minerals
  • The Earth
  • The Prehistoric World
  • The Solar System & Space

Of our interviews recommending rocks and minerals books, two are on volcanoes. David Pyle, volcanologist at Oxford University, talks about what causes them to erupt, and how—and to what extent—they differ due to the various rocks and minerals of which they are composed. He chooses a number of travel books on volcanoes as well as a book of verse. Author and journalist Simon Winchester’s choices are more fictional takes on volcanoes, including Jules Verne’s  Journey to the Centre of the Earth and the Last Days of Pompeii by Edward Bulwer Lytton.

Dr Caroline Smith, one of the Natural History Museum’s experts in meteoritics, chooses her best books on meteorites, discussing the rocks and minerals which comprise meteorites. She explains what meteorites can teach us, and why there are fewer hitting the earth than there used to be.  Some meteorites predate the earth by over 150 years, and in her job, she “can be holding the oldest object known to man in the morning and a piece of Mars in the afternoon.”

    The best books on Volcanoes, recommended by David Pyle

  • Read
    The best books on Volcanoes - Campi Phlegraei: Observations on the Volcanos of the Two Sicilies by William Hamilton

    1

    Campi Phlegraei: Observations on the Volcanos of the Two Sicilies
    by William Hamilton

  • Read
    The best books on Volcanoes - Fire Fountains by Constance Gordon Cumming

    2

    Fire Fountains
    by Constance Gordon Cumming

  • Read
    The best books on Volcanoes - Volcanoes by Peter Francis

    3

    Volcanoes
    by Peter Francis

  • Read
    The best books on Volcanoes - Volcano: A Memoir by Yvonne Weekes

    4

    Volcano: A Memoir
    by Yvonne Weekes

  • Read
    The best books on Volcanoes - Volcano Verses by Howard Fergus

    5

    Volcano Verses
    by Howard Fergus

The best books on Volcanoes, recommended by David Pyle

Volcanoes not only play a vital role in the Earth’s ecosystem but have fascinated us down the ages. Oxford University volcanologist David Pyle recommends some of his favourite books about volcanoes.

    The best books on Meteorites, recommended by Caroline Smith

  • Read
    The best books on Meteorites - Meteorites by Robert Hutchison

    1

    Meteorites
    by Robert Hutchison

  • Read
    The best books on Meteorites - Solar System Evolution, A New Perspective by Stuart Ross Taylor

    2

    Solar System Evolution, A New Perspective
    by Stuart Ross Taylor

  • Read
    The best books on Meteorites - Out of the Sky by H H Nininger (out of print)

    3

    Out of the Sky
    by H H Nininger (out of print)

  • Read
    The best books on Meteorites - Meteorites by Alex Bevan and John de Laeter

    4

    Meteorites
    by Alex Bevan and John de Laeter

  • Read
    The best books on Meteorites - Meteorites by Caroline Smith & Caroline Smith, Sara Russell and Gretchen Benedix

    5

    Meteorites
    by Caroline Smith & Caroline Smith, Sara Russell and Gretchen Benedix

The best books on Meteorites, recommended by Caroline Smith

One of the Natural History Museum’s experts in meteoritics, Dr Caroline Smith says the meteorites that land on earth predate our planet by about 150 million years and it’s not surprising that they land here

    The best books on Volcanoes, recommended by Simon Winchester

  • Read
    The best books on Volcanoes - Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne

    1

    Journey to the Centre of the Earth
    by Jules Verne

  • Read
    The best books on Volcanoes - The Last Days of Pompeii by E Bulwer Lytton

    2

    The Last Days of Pompeii
    by E Bulwer Lytton

  • Read
    The best books on Volcanoes - The Crater by James Fenimore Cooper

    3

    The Crater
    by James Fenimore Cooper

  • Read
    The best books on Volcanoes - The Violins of St Jacques by Patrick Leigh Fermor

    4

    The Violins of St Jacques
    by Patrick Leigh Fermor

  • Read
    The best books on Volcanoes - Twenty-One Balloons by William Pène du Bois

    5

    Twenty-One Balloons
    by William Pène du Bois

The best books on Volcanoes, recommended by Simon Winchester

The respected author and veteran journalist gives illuminating interview on volcanic eruptions. Discusses wonderful literary works from authors including Jules Vernes, Edward Lytton and Paddy Leigh Fermor

About

We ask experts to recommend the five best books in their subject and explain their selection in an interview.

This site has an archive of more than one thousand seven hundred interviews, or eight thousand book recommendations. We publish at least two new interviews per week.

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