If you live in the US and have access to the SciFi Channel, you may want to watch this week's Doctor Who adventure. I'm biased. Doctor Who is probably my all-time favorite television program, an hour when people in my household address me only at their peril. But this week there is a "redeeming" feature to this obsession. Doctor Who and his companion are traveling to Pompeii in time to see the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. Mt. Vesuvius is a volcano that erupted on August 24 A.D. 79 blanketing the towns and 1000s of residents of Pompeii, Stabiae, and Herculaneum. Pompeii was buried 10' deep, while Herculaneum was buried under 75' of ash.

If you need a refresher on Pompeii, here are some suggestions:

• Read my article on Mt Vesuvius:
  What You Need to know about Mt. Vesuvius
• Read Pompeii, by Robert Harris
• Read about Pliny the Elder and the Eruption
• Read An Introduction to Wall Inscriptions From Pompeii and Herculaneum

Photo of human body from Pompeii courtesy of the Library of Congress.