Not perfect, but probably the best available!?!
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In the category of textbooks that can be read cover to cover rather than as a purely reference textbook, this is the only one I know of on earthquakes that is any good.
There are some excellent things about this book, it has a very readable, gentle style and explains some fairly complicated science, pretty well. It is clear the author has a wealth of expertise and this really shows in the book.
However for me there are a few problems that detract from the book: firstly the chapters don't seem to be in the correct order, for example the chapter on plate tectonics is not until Chapter 7 - after a quite a lot of discussion about earthquakes has already occurred. To leave it this late before introducing the fundamental geological theory behind earthquakes seems odd. I do admire the attempt to start with basic observations about earthquakes and build these up into scientific principles, however I'm afraid it just needs doing better. Secondly as a British rather than American geology student it did become tiresome reading about so many Californian earthquakes that really on a global scale may not be the best example for the point being made. I realise the author is at UCB but I wonder if someone in his position could find more global examples to excite the reader (though there are some interesting Chinese examples). Finally I feel the book has slightly too many case studies (it reads a bit like he gets an extra mark everytime he mentions a case study!) that appear in the middle of text in chapters, whilst not appearing to be particularly related to the chapter. Some of these case studies may have been better in a seperate chapter or clearly defined boxes within chapters that can be read at an appropriate juncture for the reader.
Having said all this though, this does appear to be the best 'short, readable' textbook available about earthquakes and until I find a better one, this is what I would recommend if you are learning about earthquakes at university.
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Scientific concepts explained clearly.
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This was a book in a long list of recommended preparatory reading for a second level Open University course.
The coverage is usefully broad, and scientific detail is not skimped. For instance, this book contains the best description I have found of the "beach ball" diagram for demonstrating earthquake moments. Other mathematical concepts are also well described.
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The updated and expanded Fourth Edition just published
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The new 4th edition has a new chapter on Plate Tectonics,recent earthquake descriptions,connections with Web pages,and colored illustrative plates.Fresh historical text has been included and more help with seismic safety.
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If you only buy one earthquake book, this should be the one.
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I spent a lot of time searching for a book explaining earthquakes that wasn't too simple or a text book. Bolt's book is more toward the textbook end of the scale, but is still quite readable. This is not a simple "what to do" book but an explanation of how quakes happen, how they cause damage, what we can do, etc.
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Canada