We are all very aware of the Earth's beauty, which goes hand in hand with its frightening power for devastation. Akin to a slumbering giant, the Earth is at times forced to awaken, and when it does, no one sleeps. Just in recent years, we have seen the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami claim 230,000 lives; Hurricane Katrina ravage the New Orleans region in 2005; the Japanese earthquake set off a tsunami and threats of nuclear meltdown in early 2011; and a heavy monsoon season result in massive flooding of Thailand in late 2011. Is nature seemingly becoming more violent? Are natural disasters and climate change indeed related? If so, why aren't we heeding Earth's warnings in regard to climate change? Will we see more instances of natural disasters-of the giant awakening-coming faster and with more fury? Bill McGuire explores these topics and more in WAKING THE GIANT: How a Changing Climate Triggers Earthquakes, Tsunamis, and Volcanoes (Oxford, April 2012).

McGuire, a Professor of Geophysical and Climate Hazards at University College London, explains that things weren't always so hot on the planet; twenty thousand years ago the Earth was a virtual icehouse with much of Europe and North America buried under sheets of ice. But as time went on and the temperature spiked, the ice was shed-and the removal of that enormous weight at high latitudes caused dire consequences. Torrents of freshwater streaming rapidly into ocean basins caused the Earth's crust to bounce back in an extreme fashion. Earthquakes, a volcanic outburst, and a tsunami all transformed the world from a frigid wasteland to the temperate home we are familiar with now. In WAKING THE GIANT, McGuire argues that this occurrence is not one to be relegated to science textbooks or disaster movies. Instead, McGuire shows us that civilization could be in for another such extreme bout of change, especially as human activities continue to furiously drive an unchecked amount of climate change.

As McGuire warns us, "Rapid and dramatic environmental changes in the past, particularly at times of major climate transition, have together elicited a considerable response at the Earth's surface and beneath. In this light, it would be surprising indeed if the melting ice sheets, rising sea levels and changing weather patterns that will undoubtedly characterize the coming century and beyond, did not go some of the way-at the very least-towards reawakening the slumbering giant beneath our feet."