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Smart Reads: Alexandra Witze and Jeff Kanipe’s ‘Island on Fire’
Think volcanic eruptions, and likely Mount Vesuvius or Mount St. Helens comes to mind. But there’s another eruption in the annals of volcanic history worth knowing about: the 1783 shuddering to explosive life of Iceland’s Laki, which may mark, says journalist Alexandra Witze, one of the first instances of a global consciousness. In their new book Island on Fire, Witze and co-author Jeff Kanipe trace the story of this eruption through modern scientific understanding and detailed historical records. We recently got a chance to speak with Witze about the book. (Note: This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and length.) World Science Festival: What made you want to focus on Laki as opposed to another famous volcanic eruption, like, say, Vesuvius? Alexandra Witze: I actually got into Laki in 2010. I went to Iceland for the first time that summer to do some reporting on the—you know, the really long-named volcano that starts with an E? WSF: Oh! That one—Ey-yah-fee-yokel, right? Witze: Pretty close! Eyjafjallajökull—which I spent a lot of time pronouncing, actually. I was reporting for Science news about why ice-covered volcanoes are so dangerous. When I was there, I was driving around with some University of Iceland grad students who were …
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