This is the third book in Philip Fradkin's trilogy on earthquakes. The first two are Magnitude 8: Earthquakes and Life Along the San Andreas Fault (California, 1999) and Wildest Alaska: Journeys of Great Peril in Lituya Bay (California, 2001). Fradkin, who has lived adjacent to the San Andreas Fault for thirty years, is also the author of the acclaimed A River No More (California, 1996) and The Seven States of California (California, 1995), as well as many other books. He shared a Pulitzer Prize while at the Los Angeles Times.