Krakatoa : The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1883

Rating:
Summary: Sometimes meandering but always fascinating account
Review: In "Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded" Simon Winchester has produced a comprehensive account of one of the most widely known, but perhaps least understood, natural disasters of the last 200 years. While his account often drifts far afield of the title material, he has a knack for always finding his way back to the topic at hand. Which is a good thing because that topic, the largest explosion ever recorded by modern man and one that was responsible for the death of 36,000 people, is more than ample material for any book's purview.

What makes Winchester's writing appealing is that he uses the more conversational narrative style that has become the preferred approach in popular history and science today; one might call in the Stephen Ambrose Effect. Winchester largely paints his story with a broad brush (albeit across a host of topics), and as such, those who may be intimidated by science writing shouldn't avoid "Krakatoa". While the author does delve into a large variety of scientific disciplines, he is at heart a teacher, and the passion he has for the subject matter comes through as he strips down potentially complicated subjects to their basic elements.

That said, Winchester by no means "dumbs down" his material. His explanation of the geological pressures that created and ultimately lead to the demise of Krakatoa are comprehensive and detailed. Rather, he presents this material in a manner that is approachable for those without much of a scientific background, without detracting from it intellectually. As such, those (like myself) who are more disposed to a scientific bent should be no more discouraged from reading "Krakatoa" than those who are not. Winchester has basically laid out an intellectual smorgasbord and leaves it for the reader to determine how much they will consume. The beauty of the "Krakatoa" (much like Robert Zubrin's on space exploration) is that the reader can skim the heavier science without losing the narrative flow.

What makes the book most appealing, though, is how Winchester vividly describes the eruption and then most importantly places it within a historical context. This seems to be the area where some readers have felt he bogged down, but his descriptions of the region, its fauna and peoples, including a detailed consideration of Dutch colonial rule, provide critical information for understanding the scope and impact of the disaster. In particular, his descriptions of the impact of the eruption on the rise of a more militant brand of Islam in Indonesia were particularly engaging, and eminently logical in spite of the seeming stretch.

Moreover, this historical element accomplishes two things. The first is to put a human face on the tragedy: with 36,000 victims it is easy to lose one's frame of reference for the scale of the tragedy and suffering. By including individual stories, including background, Winchester is able to humanize what otherwise has the potential to be a statistic. The second is that it allows Winchester to explore the eruption not just as an event, but as a catalyst for the scientific community that had a host of long term impacts. Thus, the massive shockwaves and wave effects are again removed from scientific the realm of scientific arcana and grounded in what they meant to a community barely on the cusp of understanding the world around them.

"Krakatoa" is an eminently readable and thoroughly enjoyable account of a well known but little understood place and time. Winchester wanders through a host of different scientific disciplines and historical periods, and to be fair, there are probably those who will find this off-putting. However, if the idea of a book that explores biology, geology, politics and history all while detailing one of the most spectacular natural events the world has ever seen appeals to you, "Krakatoa" is definitely right up your alley.

Enjoy!

Jake Mohlman

Rating:
Summary: Winchester Relates This Tragic Event with Masterly Vividness
Review: By late summer of this year, 120 years will have passed since the greatest natural disaster to occur on this planet since mankind began recording history some 30,000 years ago.

It was exactly 10:02 a.m. on Monday, August 27, 1883 when the small volcanic island of Krakatoa in the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra blew itself out of existence with an explosion that was heard thousands of miles away and that resulted in the deaths of over 36,000 people. That eruption is believed to be the loudest sound ever heard by human ears.

As Simon Winchester points out in this latest of his detailed historical-scientific investigative books, the vast majority of those 36,417 victims were killed not by the explosion itself, but by the enormous tsunami it created. This moving mountain of seawater wiped out whole towns; devastated the social and economic life of a region measured in thousands of miles; and was recorded on tide gauges as far away as France.

Winchester specializes in detailed accounts that shine light into odd or forgotten corners of history. His two most recent successful efforts in that genre were THE MAP THAT CHANGED THE WORLD and THE PROFESSOR AND THE MADMAN. Now he has crafted a vividly written book of 400-plus pages about an event that was over in a matter of hours. KRAKATOA is certainly full of digressions that have only tangential relevance to its main subject --- but those digressions are so well researched, beautifully written and just plain interesting that they become assets rather than liabilities. The reader does not really object to the fact that the eruption doesn't begin until past the halfway point in Winchester's text.

The preliminaries that lead Winchester up to August 27th involve, among other things, giving proper credit to people like Alfred Russel Wallace --- whose theories of evolution paralleled those of Charles Darwin --- and Alfred Lothar Wegener, whose prescient views on continental drift, once ridiculed, were scientifically confirmed only in the 1960s. We get lengthy side-essays on subjects such as the science of plate tectonics; the spread of information technology spurred by the laying of the Atlantic Cable; the flora and fauna of the southwest Pacific; the history of colonial exploitation in that area by the British and Dutch; and the growth of international trade that placed Krakatoa directly on one of the busiest sea lanes in the world on that August morning. His thesis, backed by impressive geological evidence, is that Krakatoa had certainly erupted many times in the distant past --- before recorded history began --- and that it will inevitably do so again sometime in the unforeseeable future.

The small volcanic island had given plenty of warning. There had been a serious eruption the previous May and the warning signs of the big bang of late August were obvious. Yet, as so often happens in both natural and manmade catastrophes, no one put the pieces of the puzzle together in time. The eruption actually began on Sunday the 26th, but no one was prepared for the incredible disaster of the next morning. The captain of a passing British ship, awestruck, wrote in his log: "A fearful explosion...I am writing this blind in pitch darkness...The eardrums of over half my crew have been shattered. My last thoughts are with my dear wife. I am convinced that the day of judgment has come."

The island of Krakatoa --- six miles long and two miles wide --- was largely destroyed. Only tiny fragments of it remain today, along with an island, locally known as "The Child of Krakatoa," which has risen from the seabed where the volcano's crater once stood.

Winchester tells this story with masterly vividness. His research is thorough and he has the ability to translate things like the records of the pressure gauge at the gas works in Batavia (present-day Dakarta), 90 miles away, into telling historical evidence. He does seem, however, to be on somewhat shakier ground in contending that the catastrophe contributed to a rise in Islamic Fundamentalist fervor that has survived, grew and fed the political turmoil that grips independent Indonesia to this day. That may be stretching things rather further than is logical.

For American readers, KRAKATOA will serve as a vocabulary builder, with its references to genever (an alcoholic drink), godowns (warehouses), pye-dogs (??), solfataras (volcanic fissures) and other such technical terms. But readers will also learn about "subduction zones" and the prime role they play in the continuing slow-motion subterranean dance going on beneath the feet of all of us as continental plates rub up against each other, causing volcanic matter to gush up or be dragged down to await further Krakatoas. It seems that, if mankind somehow escapes blowing itself up, nature may do the job for us down the road in a few million years.

--- Reviewed by Robert Finn

Rating:
Summary: wandering tedium
Review: There is a great deal of information in this book - unfortunately not much of it is about Krakatoa. There is a lot of wandering on the part of the author. Much of the wandering led into interesting avenues of trivia, but not enough of it. And to think that readers need nearly 100 pages of lessons on plate tectonics is ludicrous - tedium! Buy this book used/cheap and browse the book, skipping the tedium and enjoying the occasional gems.

Rating:
Summary: Leisurely View of Indonesian History, Geology and Biology
Review: Simon Winchester is as talented an author as we have when the subject is either aspects of geology or history of science that are little known to the public. When he takes on the subject of Krakatoa, he wanders unconscionably. Unless you are fascinated about the sections I describe below, skip this book and read The Map That Changed the World instead.

When you think of Krakatoa, what strikes you? If you are like me, you imagine the tremendous volcanic explosion on August 27, 1883 . . . and you look forward to hearing more about the details. Be patient if you decide to read this book, because you won't get to very many such details until page 197. And then, all of those delicious details are left behind after page 316. If you just read these too-brief parts, you'll probably think this is a five-star book.

Well, but what was the geology behind the explosion? That would make a great second part of the book. Only trouble is . . . Mr. Winchester makes has that material PRECEDE his discussion of the explosion in a way that makes it seem disconnected from the subject at hand. To make matters worse, he decides to give the entire history of how plate tectonics were discovered as background. Unless you've been away on Pluto for the last 30 years, you probably know more than enough plate tectonics to receive an appropriate amount of background in 3 pages or less. If you want to know more, then look at pages 51 through 114. Otherwise, you can skip that section, too.

Well, there are people, plants and plants near Krakatoa. You probably want to know a little about them, too, in addition to the damages they encountered during and after the eruption. Pages 1 through 50 give you background on those subjects that you probably won't care if you learn or not. You can skip those sections too.

How about the rise of anticolonial feeling in Indonesia? Is that a hot one for you? It wasn't for me . . . even though the author believes that the eruption helped inflame Islamic fundamentalism in the area. The relevant material wasn't worth the length it was given. If that doesn't interest you, you can skip pages 317 to 338.

Finally, there are brief sections on the geology since the explosion and the arrival of plants and animals to repopulate the land. Those are the concluding sections except for a brief description of the author's visit to Anak Krakatoa.

Seldom have I read such an extended amount of material so peripheral to the obvious appeal of the subject. It was a relief to finish reading about all of the miscellaneous, oft-repeated information in the book such as the reasons why the name "Krakatoa" is a misspelling, the four Shuits and the details of the undersea cables in 1883.

The book does have one saving grace I haven't mentioned. It has a brilliant and thorough set of illustrations that relieve the tedium of so much of the leisurely pokings into slightly interconnected material. Be sure to scan through those.

As I finished the book, I thought about how important it is that authors have a good plan for their non-fiction books. A great place to start in developing such plans is to tell the story of what the author has learned to others . . . and to watch for what interests people. Then, pare out all that doesn't rivet people . . . and build up what does. Leave in the minimum essentials of everything else . . . and get on with what you are trying to share.

Rating:
Summary: Colourful account with a slightly tepid climax
Review: The cataclysmic eruption of Krakatoa in 1883, which killed over 36,000 people, produced tidal waves of well over a hundred feet that inundated the shores of Java and Sumatra, and whose detonation produced a sonic boom that was heard 3,000 miles away and ejected such a mass of volcanic ash into the atmosphere that gave rise to a drop in global temperatures as well as eerily beautiful sun-sets around the world, has never failed to grip the public's imagination as one of the most awesome display of the powers of Mother Nature.

In this latest account of the titanic geological upheaval, Simon Winchester has successfully placed the event in its proper geological, historical, political and social contexts. So much so that the description of the final paroxysm actually occupies less than half of its pages. On the other hand, Winchester sets the scene brilliantly (and beautifully) by describing, often in fascinating detail, the colourful early colonial days of the East Indies, the installation of the worldwide network of telegraphic cables (which rendered the eruption of Krakatoa to be one of the first events which received immediate global attention and press coverage) as well as the unique distribution of flora and fauna along the Indonesia archipelago. There is also a discussion on the theory of plate tectonics and its rather tortuous road of discovery by generations of earth scientists. Also included is an analysis of the political and religious repercussions that the eruption had for the East Indies, a chapter on the gradual return of life to the remnants of the site of devastation. Winchester ends the book on a personal touch - an account of the author's visit to Anak Krakatoa, the "successor" of the previous volcano that has gradually been building itself out of the caldera after the 1883 eruption. Given that Winchester writes in a very fluent style, and that there is also a sense of humour where appropriate, these portions of the book, although being digressions to be main story, do make an enjoyable and often enlightening read.

What Winchester does not develop to the full, however, is the eruption of Krakatoa itself and its immediate consequences. Winchester has, of course, quoted and summarized statements from eye-witnesses from different locations and these portions are as vivid as ever. Yet, after all the preparation, the climax of the story comes a little tepid and, as I reader, I am slightly underwhelmed by the account. Somehow Winchester has not quite captured the full horror and magnitude of the event. Perhaps a lengthier treatment and more extensive quotes from eye-witnesses may have helped. For example, Winchester has taken some material from the diary of Mrs Beyerinck on her and her family's dramatic escape to the hills just before the onslaught of those massive waves that subsequently annihilated their village. Yet, Winchester's account stops at the point when the family has succeeded in scrabbling to safety in their hillside refuge. As the Beyerincks are not mentioned again after that, readers may assume that their ordeal was over by then. Far from it! When Krakatoa finally blew itself apart the following morning, the place where the Beyerincks were lodging was actually still very close to the volcano itself and the fiery ash clouds descended upon the hillside, incinerating and killing many of the natives that had also gathered at nearby locations. There, an injured and greatly traumatised Mrs Beyerinck penned a most harrowing (and somewhat incoherent) account of their plight, which virtually resembles a ghastly sojourn in Dante's hell that only ended days later when they were rescued. Similarly, there are too few accounts on the horrors wreaked by those monumental waves. Those missing eye-witnesses statements can all be found in <Krakatau 1883: The Volcanic Eruption and Its Effects> by Tom Simkin and Richard Fiske, referred to in high esteem in Winchester's bibliography and is a very substantial volume which is obligatory reading for those who want to know everything about the eruption.

Other than that, there are also far too few photographic illustrations (sketches and maps dominate), in particular given the colour and exoticism inherent to the story. Some of the maps have failed to identify several of the major towns, villages and other locations that play important parts in the narrative and their absence can give rise to difficulties when the reader wishes to follow the path of destruction geographically. These are things that can be remedied in future editions of the book.

If this book were to be compared to a formal multi-course dinner, I would say that it is rich and delightful in its entree, soup and dessert while the main course is somewhat below expectations. But I suppose that it can still whet the appetite of those who are yet unfamiliar with the event such that they can themselves explore further should they wish to lay their hands on a more exhaustive account of the eruption itself. After all, this book is still very well written and, despite the afore-mentioned flaws, can be recommended to the general reader and those who want to read the story from a wider perspective.

Rating:
Summary: Surprisingly difficult to read
Review: I launched into this book on (what was supposed to be) a five hour plane ride, having read books such as Isaac's Storm, The Perfect Storm, Into Thin Air, et all which mixed weather, science, history, and a human element in a way that was educational and interesting. This looked to be the same. Three and a half hours later, as the pilot indicated that weather in New York was forcing us to circle indefinitely (and later take a detour to DC to refuel) my aggravation level was exacerbated by the fact I was stuck on the plane reading what amounted to a science book about volcanos. The first 100+ pages of this book go into a high level of specificity about volcanos - the index lists out 27 page references to plate tectonics, for example, to give you a flavor.

At about its midpoint (as we landed in DC to refuel) the book picks up. There is some social history here - interesting stuff about Dutch colonialism in the region, the Muslim development of Indonesia, global forms of communication and at what stage they were developed - that sort of thing. There is some coverage of the affects of the eruption around the world as well, both on science and the population at large. In all, that amounts to about half - the more interesting half - of the book. I found myself skipping swaths of the book near the end that dealt with the scientific aspect.

It may be all in the expectation. But do know this book goes into the scientific side of the eruption of Krakatoa in more detail than you'd expect by reading the book jacket or the various breathless reviews excerpted from USA Today, Time Magazine, et al. I would have liked more political and social perspective. At any rate, should you be on a long flight, I'd recommend a second book for insurance purposes.

Rating:
Summary: There Are Better "Natural Catastrophe" Books Out There
Review: With all these other comprehensive, excellent reviews around, is there a need to say anything more? Perhaps, if it can be said somewhat more concisely than the other reviewers have done. The central disappointment I experienced with Winchester's book was that I came to it expecting another good read in the "Natural Catastrophe" genre - you know, the books that followed in the wake of Jon Krakauer's "Into Thin Air" and Sebastian Junger's "The Perfect Storm." (I suspect the popularity of the movie "Titanic" was also partly responsible for turning this type of book into a hot publishing sub-category.) The essence of this genre's appeal, of course, is the same as that of the 1970's disaster flicks: Who will Live? Who will Die? And what kind of decisions and chances determined who fell into which categories?

Most readers will probably come to "Krakatoa" looking for that kind of book. But while you may be wanting and expecting to read about Sumatrans, Javanese, and sailors on ships struggling to survive the giant tsunamis unleashed by the Krakatoa explosion, that isn't the book that Simon Winchester wanted to write. He was a geologist before he became a journalist and author, and what he's really fascinated by is the geology underlying the Krakatoa explosion and the scientific studies of it afterwards. The eruption itself and its more immediate life-and-death consequences accounts for maybe 50 pages (pp. 209-259) in this nearly 400-page book. But the lack of a focus on the more human side of the eruption's story gave Winchester's book a certain lack of immediacy and urgency for me.

This isn't to say that Winchester wrote a bad book: he just didn't write the book most of his readers will be expecting. If the natural history of the Indonesian archipelago, the geology of Greenland, plate tectonics, and the study of the effects of tsunami-generated waves 4,000 miles away are your thing - hey, this book's for you. But otherwise, you may share the disappointment that was apparently felt by Winchester's New York publisher, whom he salutes in the "Acknowledgments" by noting anxiously: "I only hope that he finds this slender book is worthy of all his many hopes he once entertained for it."

Rating:
Summary: Interesting, but rather stretched
Review: Simon Winchester is right when he claims in this book that Krakatoa's eruption in 1883 has a hold on the popular psyche like few other similar events.

This account gives us an awesomely comprehensive survey of why this should be so, providing an overview of plate tectonics, evolutionary theory, and the sociology and biology of the area before and since the eruption. Nothing that the general reader could want to know is left out.

And that's really the problem. Some of what appears here, particularly in the footnotes, seems to have, at best, a tenuous connection with what the book is supposed to be about. Do we really need to know about the circus acts that were in town at the time of the eruption? Can the eruption actually be said to have triggered the end of Dutch imperial rule? I can't help thinking that the Second World War had more to do with the latter than Krakatoa did.

On the whole, however, this is worth reading. It is mostly well written and if there's any information at all a lay reader needs about Krakatoa, chances are that it's here somewhere. But if you're looking for a straightforward, general account of the eruption, I'm afraid this book doesn't cut it.

Rating:
Summary: Tedious and Over Rated
Review: I loved Simon Winchester's book, the Professor and the Madman, but Krakatoa was very slow and, I must say, poorly written. There is a section in here in which Winchester goes on for 100 pages describing tectonic plates, and much of what he does is just summarizing. His conclusion, that Krakatoa led to the rise of Islam in the region, is based on tons of supposition: was Islam not on the rise when Krakatoa was destroyed? It appears that Mr. Winchester is now cranking them out to take advantage of his rising stardom, something that happens with too many writers. I read a story in the L.A. Times that he was doing a book on the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake, and allocating three months to the effort. I find that a little absurd: I have read every major book written about the great earthquake, and there are two extraordinary books. One is Gladys Hanson's Denial of Disaster, and the other, which I just finished, is a new novel called 1906 by James Dallessando. Ms. Hanson's book reveals the huge coverup in the death toll from the quake. Mr. Dalessandro's 1906 novel paints an unbelievable portrait of the city and the events that followed, shows an incredible amount of research and still captures the human element. It's a fantastic novel. I'll be curious to see how Mr. Winchester's earthquake book stacks up: whether it will just more hype or a legitimate competitor to two marvelous books.

Rating:
Summary: Krakatoa : The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1883
Review: Winchester is a teacher to the world. Among his previous books are the best-selling The Professor and the Madman (1998) and The Map That Changed the World (2001), in which he taught us all about the Oxford English Dictionary and the world's first geological map, respectively. What's on his mind now? Sit back and learn, for this eloquent British writer submits a fascinating account of the cataclysmic explosion of the East Indian volcanic island of Krakatoa in 1883. The destruction was phenomenal, due primarily to the sea waves created by the explosion^-"the most violent explosion ever recorded and experienced by modern man" ^-which swept away nearly 200 villages on neighboring islands. Krakatoa evaporated, "blasted out of existence" ^-simply a space left in the sea. Of course, this wouldn't be a book by Winchester if he simply narrated the events of the eruption, exciting as the details are; no, he gives us a wealth of further information, setting the incident within the contexts of general volcanic behavior, plate tectonics, Dutch rule in the East Indies, and the region's flora and fauna. In the wake of Krakatoa came the recognition that natural events in one place can greatly affect those in far-distant places, hardly news to us but news nonetheless back then. All readers, science-prone or not, will be delighted by this experience-expanding book. Brad Hooper ~ Young adult recommendations in this issue have been contributed by the Booklist staff and by reviewers Nancy Bent, Carrie Bissey, John Charles, Tina Coleman, Patty Engelmann, Gordon Flagg, Carol Haggas, Beth Leistensnider, Shelley Mosley, Regina Schroeder, Candace Smith, Diana Tixier Herald, Mike Tribby, and Linda Waddle. Titles recommended for teens are marked with the following symbols: YA, for books of general YA interest; YA/C, for books with particular curriculum value; YA/L, for books with a limited teenage audience; YA/M, for books best suited to mature teens.