Island of the Blue Dolphins was one of my favorite books as a kid. I remember that's how I learned about how if the ocean retreats after an earthquake a tsunami is inevitable (I think the author called it a tidal wave in the book). When that tsunami hit Thailand and I read accounts of how people followed the ocean out as it retreated, I was like, "WTF? Didn't they ever read Island of the Blue Dolphins?"

That was kind of an ethno-centric thought and I felt like an ass afterward for having it. This video if the incoming wave is scary.