About this title: Winchester, author of THE MAP THAT CHANGED THE WORLD, here revisits the volcanic explosion at Krakatoa that shook the world. The story of this cataclysmic event covers most of the earth, as Winchester offers anecdotes from all those affected by the eruption, from Indonesia to New York. A New York Times Notable Book for 2003.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Date Published: 04/2003
ISBN-13:9780066212852ISBN:0066212855
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. Very Good, In very good dust jacket. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. With dust jacket. 432 p. Contains: Illustrations. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Date Published: 04/2003
ISBN-13:9780066212852ISBN:0066212855
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. Very Good, In very good dust jacket. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. With dust jacket. 432 p. Contains: Illustrations. Ex-Library expected imperfections. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9780060838591ISBN:0060838590
Description: Acceptable. Minor moisture damage Overall below average used book. May have highlighting, underlining, notes, price sticker on cover, or be an ex-library book. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Date Published: 2004
ISBN-13:9780060937362ISBN:006093736X
Description: Good. Good Condition. Reasonable wear-still very useable. Text appears free of marks, writing, and highlighting. May have bookstore-related stamps/stickers/marks. Multiple copies may be available. SHIPS W/IN 24 HOURS! FREE INSURANCE on all orders! E-mail notification! Careful, thorough packaging. Fast, personal service. No hassle, full refund return policy! COMBINE SHIPPING-TENS OF THOUSANDS OF OTHER BOOKS/CDs/MOVIES AVAILABLE! read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Date Published: 2004
ISBN-13:9780060937362ISBN:006093736X
Description: Good. Good Condition. Reasonable wear. Still very usable. Clean, mark-free interior! May have bookstore-related stamps/stickers/marks. Multiple copies may be available. SHIPS W/IN 24 HOURS! FREE INSURANCE on all orders! E-mail notification! Careful, thorough packaging. Fast, personal service. No hassle, full refund return policy! COMBINE SHIPPING-TENS OF THOUSANDS OF OTHER BOOKS/CDs/MOVIES AVAILABLE! read more
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Good reading copy. Tight binding. Ready for immediate delivery! Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 448 p. Contains: Illustrations. Audience: General/trade. In this first US edition, the author of the The Map That Changed the World portrays the 19th-century eruption of a Javanese volcano that still has global repercussions in both historical and scientific contexts. The book includes maps and other illustrations. read more
"I genuinely like Simon Winchester's writing. I don't think this book was as strong as his books on the OED, despite (or maybe because of) the fact that he was a geologist in another lifetime. The chapters on the history of geology, vulcanology and plate tectonics were incredibly interesting, but overall pretty dry. While necessary to the understanding of what occurred on Krakatoa in 1883, this section perhaps didn't need to be so LONG; it seemed that I had to read half the book before I got to the event itself. And maybe I am not smart enough to understand subduction zones and the like in the abstract, but I could have used more well-labelled diagrams; maybe I need a geology textbook. On the other hand, the firsthand accounts of the eruption(s) and the discussion of its after-effects, both physical and sociological, were fascinating."
"You could almost think of this as a textbook, chock full of an amazing amount of information, except for the very entertaining way in which it was written. I have to admit that my eyes glazed over at times and I'm not sure I absorbed it all, but I absorbed enough to learn a ton. I learned about plate tectonics, Dutch colonial history, botany, the formation of tsunamis, Indonesia, radical Islamism, and so much more. (Don't ask me to remember this a year from now though.) At times, when Winchester went off on a tangent, I thought, How can this possibly be relevant?" But it always was. The details made up an incredibly big picture. Winchester has a penchant for melodramatic statements (some of the chapters are named "The Unchaining of the Gates of Hell" and "The Paroxysm, the Flood, and the Crack of Doom") but I chalk this up to his overwhelming enthusiasm for his topic. The only one of his claims that seemed shaky and not very well substantiated is that the radical Islamic fanaticism that permeates Indonesia today can be traced back to Krakatoa and its aftermath. I would have liked the author to delve into that hypothesis more thoroughly. At the end when Winchester makes a trip out to the "Son of Krakatoa" and hikes up to the edge of the crater, I felt the story had come full circle (which it really hadn't--Krakatoa will erupt again). I can't wait to revisit the children's book The 21 Balloons in which Krakatoa has a starring role!"
"The most interesting thing that I learn from this book is about how recent the science of plate tectonics is. Most of the major theories relating to it were only established in the 1960's. There is an astounding 100-year gap between it and the much more controversial theory of evolution. The history of the development of the theory of plate tectonics is fascinating, although some of the scientific/ technical details could be rather tedious to read for someone who is not of a scientific bent like me.
Only two chapters are entirely devoted to the actual explosion and its aftermath, the rest being filled with various discussions about the development of plate tectonics theory, the colonial history of Indonesia, Alfred Russell Wallace and his contribution to the theory of evolution, the spread of 'radical' Islam, and even the author's reminiscence of his days as a geology student at Oxford. Some of these are supportive of the main topic, while others, like the bits about Wallace and Oxford, are interesting in their own rights, but perhaps only tangentially related to the main subject.
The author seems to argue for a connection between the massive 1883 explosion and its catasthropic aftermath with the rise of anti-Dutch rebellions inspired by 'radical' Islam in Indonesia, a connection which I find to be tenuous at best. There is no doubt that the explosion caused massive hardship among the native population, but they had been suffering under the forced cultivation system instituted by the colonial regime for a half-century before that. Armed resistance against the Dutch, some of them inspired by Islam, had been occuring all over the archipelago long before the first rumblings of Krakatoa."
"This is a very interesting recounting of what may have been the world's most dramatic volcanic explosion. Krakatoa (more properly 'Krakatau' if you are from Southeast Asia - an Indonesian will laugh at you if you pronounce it 'Krakatoa'), a volcanic island on the Strait of Sunda in Indonesia erupted on August 27, 1883, after years of rumbling. The explosion and associated tsunami killed over 40,000 people and the ash from the volcano plunged the region into darkness for months. Bodies washed up as far as Zanzibar and the explosion was detected as far away as Washington, D.C. This book contains a wealth of interesting information on Indonesian religions and culture, Dutch colonialization, and geology. It is a dense book and not a quick read but one can learn a lot from it."
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