I cannot pimp John McPhee's Assembling California [1] highly enough. It is fantastic, and contains a wonderful section about the '89 quake. Really, anything John McPhee writes is worth stopping whatever one is doing and getting started. He's a national treasure.
It's not that hills don't shake, it's just that your house has a better chance of staying up if the foundations are laid in bedrock, and most hills in SF are close to the bedrock.
