Rating: 
Summary: Wading through material for the explosion
Review: If you heard Winchester's NPR interview in fall '03, you've heard te most exciting parts of the book. He was so good, I bought the book that night and spent days wading through the book to get to the explosion. Granted, I normally read nonfiction slower than fiction, but I couldn't work up enthusiam for tidbits who controlled the area when, when Batavia got gas lighting etc. As mentioned i nother reviews, he goes off on many tangents. More judicious editing would have helped. For all the details, the book is in many places remarkably flat and some details are missing. For example, there are wonderful maps but no real good straight-forward diagram of Krakatoa and the surrounding communities mentioned in later pages. There were plenty of details on tectonics and new developments but nothing on volcanic hot spots not located on plate edges. That said, the details of the actual eruptions and what people experienced is amazing. But for all of the minituae and tangents before the eruption was detailed, I was expecting an even more detailed description of the events of those days and felt somewhat cheated. Definitely pick up a copy if you like volcanos, plate tectonics, biology and colonial issues, just be forewarned. Somehow slightly less interesting than Professor and the Madman.
Rating: 
Summary: Rambling Detail of the Time, the Place, and the Event
Review: A great survey of nineteenth century life in colonial Indonesia, as well as the chronology of the scientific discovery that made the 1883 eruption so important to history. Yes, others have pointed out that the author doesn't hesitate to go off on tangents to discuss all mannar of peripheral facts and opinions, but I suppose that's his style. The author describes the eruption's massive human impacts on the one hand while also pointing out the geological insignificance of the whole thing. While it might be a stretch to suggest that the rise of Islam in the region was facilitated by the eruption, the author provides some great perspective on what was certainly the first recorded example of a truly global event.
Rating: 
Summary: The Earth Taketh Away
Review: For exciting reading, the aspiring bibliophile has many options. Certainly the choice of author, like Simon Winchester, plays a large role. Even the most dramatic of events might be drained of their soul by bland narrative (as all too many readers of middle school American history textbooks know). But if a good writer, like Winchester, chooses to tackle the topic of the day a piece of the Earth exploded then one would have the makings of a smash hit. Such is found in Krakatoa, The Day the World Exploded. Perhaps I'm being a tad melodramatic. In fact, a good portion of Krakatoa is related only peripherally to the subject because Winchester has given us a truly expanded picture. Although brief at first, we get a bare bones background into Dutch imperialism in south east Asia, leading us up to an image of life in the area in the late nineteenth Century. Along the way, we get entirely enjoyable and informative background into geology, botany, and subfields of plate tectonics, meteorology, and of course vulcanology. Some history of these fields is provided, and is all tied together at a previously unremarkable island chain in 1883. I picked up this wonderful book mostly on a lark. But if you need any reasons to consider this most dramatic of events in humankind's interaction with natural history, consider: the explosion of Krakatoa was among the most powerful explosion witness by humans, including that produced by nuclear weapons testing. Thirty six thousand people died. The tidal wave produced was one hundred thirty feet tall. The most distant death directly caused by the explosion was three thousand miles away. The shock wave in the air circled the globe seven times. The island of Krakatoa was pretty much wiped out of existence. I have a fondness for the apocalyptic in storytelling, so this was a wonderfully exciting tale. Winchester has kept the pace steady and strong, guiding us effortlessly a hundred stories and anecdotes, and through the awesome powers of nature. Prepare to be moved.
Rating: 
Summary: Paid by the word?
Review: I'm trying to decide if Simon Winchester gets paid by the word, or by the number of tangents he keeps straying off to. When he actually writes about the volcanic eruption and the aftermath, this is a fascinating story, unfortunately you have to wade through chapter upon chapter to get there. Do we really need to know the history of the ship that laid the telegraph cable that carried the news of the eruption? I think not. This is a great book to get on CD, so you can skip through the historical trivia to get to the main event.
Rating:
Summary: Too much background.
Review: Book does not get interesting until after 150 pages of background.
Rating:
Summary: CD version is 1st rate
Review: I checked the CD Version out from the library and it is excellent. The detail that would be off-putting in a book is fascinating if someone else is doing the reading. The history, geology, plate-techtronics trivia 'Start of Stock system' is super. Anyone with interests in any of these should run to get the CD version of this.
Rating:
Summary: Wrong topic for this eccentric writer
Review: Simon Winchester is truly a first-rate writer with a distinctive style. He comes across as kind of a Victorian professor, a tone which is perfect for some of his other works such as "The Professor and the Madman" and his history of the Oxford English Dictionary. However, I don't think his style works for the subject matter at hand here. I doubt there is another recent work of natural history which contains more instances of the words "splendid" and "delightful." Winchester never met a tangent that he didn't find fascinating, and again, while that approach works with other subject matter, it is distracting here.
Rating:
Summary: A Good Read - but tries to hit too many points.
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed The Professor and the Madman and expected more of the same from Krakatoa. It is good and worth reading, but falls short of his previous best-seller. The maps are atrocious. His explanation of plate tectonics theory is cumbersome (and it does not stress that it is still only a theory, as all our musings about science are). The narratives of the explosion are, however, wonderful and should not be missed. If this book were only two-thirds the size, it would have rated an 'excellent'.
Rating:
Summary: Completely Captivating . . . You Won't Want To Turn It Off!
Review: _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ I say you won't want to "turn it off" because I bought the CD version. Normally I prefer an actual book I can set down and get comfortable with, but these days I'm doing a lot of driving and, not wanting to get in a wreck while reading, I chose this option. I can honestly say, however, that even if you have time for a more traditional "read" you should strongly consider the CD version of this book - especially if you haven't done audio before. The reason is quite simply Simon Winchester's delightful and hypnotic very British accent! It adds a completely different dimension to his book. The 10 CDs are unabridged so you're not getting a whittled down version, the listening time is twelve hours. From the onset Mr. Winchester shows his talent for digging up even the minutest of details on this largest of geologic events in comparatively recent recorded history. Some of the reviews here have taken exception to this "habit" of his, saying that he looses focus and strays too much from the subject at hand. I very much take issue with this. I have found his to be a typically "British" teaching method, one which "some" Americans might view as too meandering, wandering and redundant. Not so! All of these wonderful points of interest are like taking us on so many exhilirating fieldtrips, all related and leading up to Krakatoa, and all interwoven into the fabric of this cataclysmic adventure/tragedy. They include such stops along the way as the history and prehistory of the Krakatoa region, including past eruptions; historical developments in the science of plate tectonics; Wallace's biogeographical line which bisects Indonesia; the development and adaptation of species, which have been brought about, in part, by geological processes over time; the Earth's polar/magnetic changes; volcanically active regions of the earth and the types of volcanism and how they differ; national/economic/cultural/religious differences among the peoples that lived around Krakatoa and how they played a part in the "event" and its aftermath (and how they are playing a similar global part in today's world); Winchester's own personal geologic excursions to other parts of the world (this man is an Oxford geologist) and his and his colleague's findings that are related to Krakatoa; historical news footage, weather reports, tidal measurements, sound and shock wave patterns; projected and likely future geologic activity for the region; etc. - all richly stirred into a superbly flavored narrative. It sounds like so much, and it is, but Mr. Winchester has a gifted way of making it all interesting and tying it in to the subject of his book: Krakatoa. If you like a good mystery and have a keen interest in science, look no further. I highly recommend this intriguing book, and once again, get the CD version!
Rating:
Summary: Good, but not great
Review: I had heard a lot about Mr. Winchester's books so Krakatoa was quite anticipated. I was interested in reading pages and pages of information detailing the size of the eruption, the amount of magma, ash, the depth and size of the magma chamber below, and if there is any link to Krakatoa and the mysterious "supervolcanoes" that are now being discovered. Instead, I got a history lesson. Now if someone asks me about Krakatoa, I'll be able to tell them that Dutch colonists were not very well liked by the natives, that they spent the majority of their time indoors drinking genever and smoking cigars, that they generally were morbidly self-righteous and Krakatoa seemed to have given them a well-placed boot to the backside. Winchester could have cut a lot from this. For instance, at the height of his chronicle of the eruption, one of the men discovers that a telegraph cable has been cut by a schooner tossing about in the harbor. Instead of simply telling us what happens next, Mr. Winchester goes into a three-page dissertation on what was used to make the telegraph cable and why it broke. He could have used those pages for a more detailed description of what's left of Krakatoa, in particular a lot more detail of the design left on the blasted half of Rakata. It must be fascinating to see a perfect cross-section of a volcano -- Winchester denies us this when he sums up the description in two or three sentences. Also the maps are poor and difficult to read. I found myself constantly taking out my old World Atlas to see where Batatia and Melak were. A good effort (the plate tectonics information was particularly engrossing) but he could have cut at least 50 pages (if not more) of the political backstory.
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