Perils of a Restless Planet examines our attempts to understand and anticipate devastating natural phenomena, focusing on the interactions among basic scientific inquiry, technological innovation, and ultimately public policy.

Drawing upon studies of actual events from ancient to present times, the author provides perspectives on a selection of natural disasters and the scientific process of inquiry that has led to progress in understanding them.

He draws attention to he scientific challenges that remain, the socioeconomic factors that influence what scientific questions may be studied in the future, and the prospects for achieving a level of scientific understanding that someday may permit us to predict, and ideally mitigate, natural disasters. Extrapolating from the history of disasters, the author suggests what new perils may lie ahead, and how we may someday learn to protect the vulnerable populations on this restless Earth.