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Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1883
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Authors/Performers
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Simon Winchester;
Product Description
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It may seem a stretch to connect a volcanic eruption with civil and religious unrest in Indonesia today, but Simon Winchester makes a compelling case. Krakatoa tells the frightening tale of the biggest volcanic eruption in history using a blend of gentle geology and narrative history. Krakatoa erupted at a time when technologies like the telegraph were becoming commonplace and Asian trade routes were being expanded by northern European companies. This bustling colonial backdrop provides an effective canvas for the suspense leading up to August 27th, 1883, when the nearby island of Krakatoa would violently vaporize. Winchester describes the eruption through the eyes of its survivors, and readers will be as horrified and mesmerized as eyewitnesses were as the death toll reached nearly 40,000 (almost all of whom died from tsunamis generated by the unimaginably strong shock waves of the eruption). Ships were thrown miles inshore, endless rains of hot ash engulfed those towns not drowned by 100 foot waves, and vast rafts of pumice clogged the hot sea. The explosion was heard thousands of miles away, and the eruption's shock wave traveled around the world seven times. But the book's biggest surprise is not the riveting catalog of the volcano's effects; rather, it is Winchester's contention that the Dutch abandonment of their Indonesian colonies after the disaster left local survivors to seek comfort in radical Islam, setting the stage for a volatile future for the region. --Therese Littleton
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Excellent author, excellent book....both interesting and informative.
If you like books that teach in a fun way, I highly recommend this guy.;
[Rating: 5 Stars]
I liked this book a lot. It's a generalist view of the world which shows how the world became tied together by a single world changing event. And it covers the discovery of plate tectonics, the theory and practice of evolution, and the history of Dutch Colonial rule of the island of Java. All in one book! You can't beat that, and it's fairly easy to read, captivating and well worth your time.
Another great book by Mr. Winchester. ;
[Rating: 4 Stars]
Anyone with an interest in both World History and Geology/Vulcanology would enjoy this book. It is probably overkill for most others. This work is the synthesis of most everything ever written about the Krakatoa eruption of 1883, as well as a little history about Indonesia, Muslim expansion, Wallace and Darwin, and a host of other interesting observsations and thoughts.
It is the first Simon Winchester book I have read, however I plan to read more. If you read the book "Longitude", it is a bit like that in its scope. Obviously this is about Krakatoa and not the history of chronometers.;
[Rating: 4 Stars]
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