Mountains of Fire: The Secret Lives of Volcanoes (Paperback) - Clive Oppenheimer

A thrilling journey to the planet's most extreme places with world-famous volcanologist Professor Clive Oppenheimer.

'If Michael Palin had been a volcanologist, this is the book he would have written' LITERARY REVIEW

'Gripping' THE ECONOMIST

'Wonderful' PETER FRANKOPAN

'Like a thriller ... This is terrific' SPECTATOR

'Beautiful ... bursting with poetry, with storytelling' WERNER HERZOG

We are made of the same stuff as the breath and cinders of volcanoes. No matter where we live on the planet, they have shaped our history and might one day decide our destiny.

World-famous volcanologist Clive Oppenheimer has worked at the crater's edge in the wildest places on Earth, close enough to feel the heat of the lava. In Mountains of Fire we join him on hair-singeing adventures from Italy to Antarctica to learn how deeply our stories are intertwined with volcanoes.

About the Author

Clive Oppenheimer is Professor of Volcanology at the University of Cambridge, where he has been based for 30 years. His research seeks to understand how volcanoes work and to probe the connections between eruptions, climate and society. He has conducted fieldwork around the world at the crater's edge or hunting for the far-flung deposits of Earth's greatest eruptions. He has also made two documentary features with legendary filmmaker Werner Herzog, INTO THE INFERNO (Netflix, 2016) and FIREBALL: VISITORS FROM DARKER WORLDS (Apple TV+, 2020).