Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1883 (Paperback)

Winchester is a master of elegant digression. "Krakatoa" chronicles the Portuguese and Dutch exploitation of the East Indies, the spread of Islam as a political force in Indonesia, plate tectonics, subduction zones, the ice in Greenland, the post-eruption growth and re-vegetation of Anak Krakatoa (the "child of Krakatoa"), the evolutionary theories of Alfred Russell Wallace and Charles Darwin, and a host of interesting topics and characters in between. In its amiable style, "Krakatoa" reminded me of Nicholas Clapp's "Road to Ubar" and "Sheba"--although neither have anything to do with volcanoes, both books resemble "Kraktoa" in that they are travelogues that explore history in a well-written and entertaining way. It's all in the journey, not in the destination.

If you are looking for a book about how volcanoes blow up and destroy the things around them, you'll probably enjoy only a few chapters of Winchester's book (although I think you will enjoy them a great deal). For those who want to learn about how volcanoes have changed history (which is at least part of Winchester's thesis), check out David Keys' "Catastrophe" and the fascinating companion video of the same name, as well as De Boer & Sanders, "Volcanoes in Human History" and Pellegrino's "Unearthing Atlantis." For a book about the destruction wrought by volcanoes, try "Vulcan's Fury: Man Against the Volcano," by Alwyn Scarth.

It isn't until page 233 of this 390-page hardback that the narrative arrives at 10:02 AM on August 27, 1883, when the volcanic island of Krakatoa, situated in the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra, blew up. The explosion was heard 2,968 miles away - roughly the distance between Philadelphia and San Francisco, ejected enough dust into the upper atmosphere to color sunsets worldwide for the next three years, and generated waves strong enough to register on tide gauges on England's south coast. Of the Earth's volcanic blasts known to history, this was the fifth largest.

In the preceding 232 pages, Winchester skims a fascinating array of relevant subjects that should appeal to any reader of eclectic interests: the evolution of the Dutch East India Company and its spice trade, Darwinism, the Wallace Line, continental drift, convection currents inside the Earth's mantle, plate tectonics, paleomagnetism, subduction zones, the development of underwater telegraph cables, evidence for Krakatoan eruptions in earlier centuries, and the observed paroxysms of the doomed island in the months, days, and hours before the final cataclysm. While many of the subjects may sound dry, the author's treatment of them isn't.

10:02 AM on August 27 went by in an instant. The pages following describe the series of ocean waves, the last over 100 feet high by the time it hit nearby coasts, that killed all but 1,000 of the 36,000+ who died in the calamity. After the waters subside and the ashes settle, Winchester closes with a discussion of the art inspired by years of glorious, dust-mediated, sunsets. And the re-emergence of a new volcanic island, Anak Krakatoa, on the site of the old, including the establishment of plant, insect and animal life on its barren, steaming surface.

The author bases his story on a multitude of scientific and historical sources, many of which involve eyewitness accounts of events. These, plus Winchester's dry humor, make for an engaging read. There's one chapter, however, which the book's editor should've advised tossing, i.e. the one unconvincingly postulating that the 1883 disaster sparked the revolt of the Islamic native population against their Christian Dutch overlords, which resulted in the latter being sent packing from Indonesia in 1949. Hmm. Perhaps it was just because the Dutch colonial administration wasn't warm and cuddly. You think? Also, though the volume is interspersed with useful photos and drawings, Winchester's own visit to Ana Krakatoa is visually unrepresented - a sorry lapse.

Ana Krakatoa translates as "Son of Krakatoa". The history of the island suggests it may also mean, "I'm back, and you'll be sorry!" Surfers at some future time may have another opportunity to catch a Monster Wave.