Neil Fein's Blog

Krakatoa : The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1883
by Simon Winchester
(non-fiction)

When I first opened this book, the first thing I saw was the List of Illustrations and Maps. Most everybody who is going to read this knows what Krakatoa is -- or was -- but glancing through the titles on this page it's apparent that Winchester has followed his MO even more than one might expect. The use of inexplicably disparate elements that somehow manage to come together in the end. Somehow.

Krakatoa is the story of a volcano that (in case you didn't read the title of this book)^[1] exploded in 1883, taking most of an island with it, and nearly wiping out the nearby islands of Java and Sumatra in the process. But the eruption had planet-wide effects, and this was apparent through the relatively new technologies of the telegraph and undersea cabling.

If you've read Winchester's previous books like The Professor and the Madman,^[2] you won't be disappointed in this book. In some ways, Krakatoa is the superior book, in that it is far more global, and even though it takes place further back in history, the weaving together of history and personal experience in this book is, I think, of a flavor unique to Simon Winchester. Highly recommended. <sup>[3]

[1]</sup> in which case, why are you reading this? Please stop.

^[2]I'm also looking forward to reading the intervening books, The Meaning of Everything and The Map That Changed the World. I strongly suspect the latter book will cover areas in common with Krakatoa.

^[3]Winchester also doesn't shy away from using footnotes -- in this book in particular. Another reason his prose resonates with me.