Vineland, Thomas Pynchon

Assembling California, by John McPhee (1993)

    Part of a series on geology of the USA, covering the California section, as
    well as some history of plate tectonics in the 20th century.
    Good intro to the history and current geography of California on human
    timescales as well: the 1989 earthquake, gold mining in the Sierras, Napa
    valley wine country, the story of the Davis campus, etc.
    The last chapter, about earthquakes in the SF bay area, was as powerful as
    the July 2015 New Yorker article ("The Really Big One") about tsunamis in
    the Pacific Northwest.

Not cover to cover:
* Engineering a Safer World