Via Firehand, I see that the book The Orphan Tsunami of 1700 is available free online via the U.S. Geological Survey.
Though technically a research paper, it is in fact, a lively, well-illustrated account of how researchers in two countries gradually came to realize that Cascadia was never the seismically moderate region once imagined, but is in fact prone to some of the largest earthquakes possible — with accompanying tsunamis (that in this case helped solve the puzzle of the Cascadia subduction zone).
I’ve read this book twice and have had it on my to-own list for a while. Lead author Brian Atwater is a researcher of the “go out in a canoe and muck around in the mud” variety, and he’s both a familiar and well-liked figure in my part of the world.
This book won’t be everybody’s cup of tea, but if you live within the Cascadia subduction zone (basically from northern California to the northern tip of Vancouver Island and inland to the Cascades and beyond), or if you just like a good scientific or historic detective story, here it is in pdf form. At no cost (other than the tax funds that went into producing it, of course).
Not directly a preparedness tool, but maybe a consciousness raiser.
Another book I highly recommend is Willard Bascom’s “The Crest of the Wave”, long out of print but available through the miracle of Amazon’s used booksellers.
It’s the autobiographical story of a young scientist who started studying waves and beaches after the Second World War as part of the research into effects of Pacific nuclear tests, and who wound up involved in some of the most fascinating ocean science projects of the later 20th century, from offshore diamond mining on the Skeleton Coast to a sea-monster hunt with John Steinbeck. A very good read.
“Civilization exists by geological consent, subject to change without notice.” – Will Durant