QUAKELAND On the Road to America's Next Devastating Earthquake

Kathryn Miles lays bare the U.S.'s lack of earthquake preparedness. The news is pretty grim, but Miles has a light touch and a sense of absurdist humor, and Bernadette Dunne's narration is conversational, energetic, and wry. Miles explains the science and tells lots of fascinating stories, and Dunne brings it all to life with warmth and spirit. Together, they are the proverbial spoonful of sugar to make the medicine go down. Most communities don't build according to earthquake codes, and the dire state of dams is ignored. Seismic activity has increased, thanks to fracking for natural gas, and now Oklahoma has more earthquakes than any other continental U.S. state. Nuclear power plants sit atop fault lines. Miles encourages listeners to do what they can--pack a go-bag and have a family emergency plan to prepare for a natural disaster. A.B. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine [Published: DECEMBER 2017]