In Krakatoa Simon Winchester, author of The Map That Changed the World and The Professor and the Madman, focuses his considerable research powers on one of the most cataclysmic events of modern history: the volcanic eruption, in 1883, of the South East Asian island of Krakatoa, which resulted in the deaths of 36,000 people and sent shock-waves around the world. But what at the time was a mysterious, almost supernatural phenomenon has become, under the precepts of the contemporary science of plate tectonics, explicable if no less tragic.

Winchester veers between eyewitness accounts by survivors and the limited scientific measurements of the time in an attempt to describe the indescribable. The event "is still said to be the most violent explosion ever recorded and experienced by modern man", he writes. "Six cubic miles of rock had been blasted out of existence, had been turned into pumice and ash and uncountable billions of particles of dust." Yet words and numbers can barely hint at the scale of the calamity, which resulted in tsunamis that washed whole villages into the ocean and forever changed the very topography of the area.

The author also explores the social and cultural topography, noting that "Orthodox Islam, its revival in part triggered by tragic events such as the great cataclysm, was totally transformed in Java during the nineteenth century, with fundamentalism, militancy and profound hostility to non-Muslims its watchwords". At times Winchester seems to overstate his case, and the link he finds between Krakatoa and the rise of anti-Western sentiment in the Islamic world isn't especially convincing. But by weaving together the disaster with science, communications, politics, religion and economics, he has come up with a comprehensive and often fascinating glimpse into the way the world, and our perception of it, can change in an instant. --Shawn Conner, Amazon.ca

In August 1883 there was a series of volcanic eruptions on the island of Krakatoa - these were so extreme that the effects were heard and felt over ten per cent of the Earth's surface. This text uses contemporary reports to recount the events leading up to and following the cataclysm.

2007-10-05 History brought to life

This book is a fascinating examination of the eruption of Krakatoa. Simon Winchester gives a vivid account based on eyewitness testimony of the eruption itself and the destruction that the explosion of August 27, 1883 wrought upon the people living in Indonesia. The tales of ships trapped in pitch black ash, ships thrown miles into the jungle, waves 150 feet high sweeping people off cliffs that were thought to be safe, and skeletons found thousands of miles away on floating rafts of pumice all help to build a full sense of the horror and tragedy of that day. Almost 40,000 people died that day, most from the sea waves caused by the collapse of Krakatoa into the sea and Winchester's writing and use of first person sources brings the events of more than 100 years ago to life.

The book covers much more than just that one day. Winchester brings the time to life by discussing the Dutch colonizers and the Javanese who lived under Dutch rule. We get to meet the people who lived at the time of the catastrophe and experience their lives. We also get to understand how geologically dangerous the land these people lived on was (and is) by examining how volcanoes arise in the first place. There are many twists and turns in the story, some fascinating and some less so. The author looks at the post-Indonesian world, briefly discussing the massacre of some Dutch by Moslem militants but doesn't look more deeply. The last chapter looks at the new volcano that has arisen where Krakatoa once was and the return of plants and animals to the new Krakatoa and the surrounding islands.

Winchester is more than anything else a story teller and less so an educator. For example, his story of how the theory of plate tectonics was developed is very interesting but his explanation of the theory could have been clearer. Some of the book drags, for example Winchester spends 15 pages explaining how a telegram announcing the first eruption traveled from Batavia to end up in the Times of London. This was less than scintillating reading. The weakest part of the book is the diagrams, maps, and pictures. There are very few pictures of any of the main characters. The author describes the effect of the eruption on the island of Rakata in great detail but doesn't give us a photo. When describing the magnificent sunsets that occurred after the eruption, the author shows us a copy of a painting of one of these sunsets but he gives it to us in black and white. The map of the Dutch East Indies in the book does not identify any of the towns mentioned in the text and is difficult to interpret.

Overall, the book is a very engaging read and although it occasionally wanders off, it is well worth reading.