From the remainder bin at the GSA bookstore. The book appears to have been produced by someone with a powerful desktop publishing package and too much time on their hands. The author’s points can be summarized:


* A tsunami inundated several Japanese coastal villages in 1700.


* No one in Japan reported a local earthquake.


* Stratigraphy shows tsunamites deposited along the Washington and Oregon coast at about the same time.


* Modeling shows a magnitude 9 earthquake in the Cascadia subduction zone could account for the data.


* It could happen again so people along the coast better watch out.


This is presented in stunningly elaborate detail. Every page has half a dozen color or historic black-and-white photographs. There are detailed color drawings of the mechanics of subduction and megathrust earthquakes. There are beautiful contemporary Japanese maps and paintings, and whole pages of photographed Japanese documents with side-by-side transliteration. The Japanese translation of the title (minahigo Genroku tsunami) is thoughtfully provided. A detailed wave model (also included as the cover illustration) shows the tsunami beating up the Japanese coast and on its way to whack Melanesia. All in all, it would make a wonderful coffee-table book, except I’m not sure how many people would be interested in it. I mean, I get off on this stuff but it got to be too much even for me after a while. ( )