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KRAKATOA: The Day the World Exploded
by Simon Winchester
Harper Collins, May 2003
416 pages
$25.95
ISBN: 0066212855


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

Krakatau sat innocently a few miles away from the WEST coast of Java, belching occasionally, but not really feared. Passing mariners, in the early 1880's occasionally mentioned some activity, but it wasn't until 1:06 PM Sunday, August 26, 1883 that it started on its path of self-destruction. A series of eruptions and explosions shattered windows on nearby islands, caused pumice to rain down on the sea, caused "thudding sounds" to be heard as far away as Singapore and Penang on Sunday night. Early Monday morning, the gas lights dimmed and at 4 AM, "an enormously powerful air wave was detected at the Batavia gasworks--suggesting that something else had just happened deep within Krakatoa's heart" There were 4 more gigantic explosions, until, at 10:02 AM, the island finally blew itself to bits in an explosion so loud that it was heard 2000 miles away.

There was no dawn on Java that day; the temperatures began to fall; a cloud of pumice and dust is blown 24 miles into the air; a giant wave, which was to kill over 35.000 people, leaves the island. Volcanic dust was carried around in the upper atmosphere causing climatic changes that lasted for 5 years.

Dr. Simon Winchester's retelling of "The Day the World Exploded August 27, 1883" is a masterful story of the geology, geography, biology, and social and economic history of the region in the Indian Ocean known as the Spice Islands, with wonderful asides on the history of some of the words we use every day.

Pepper was worth its weight in gold in the days of Ancient Rome, and pepper, as well as cloves, nutmegs, and other spices, came from Cochin, Malacca, and Java by way of India. In fact, the Guild of Pepperers in England existed before 1180. They imported spices in large quantities (or gross amounts). Their members were grossari, or grocers.

Indian traders gradually gave way to the Portuguese, and then the Dutch.

During the 19th century, the great British naturalists, such as Alfred Wallace and the almost unknown Philip Sclater, were making momentous discoveries. By mapping the fauna and flora of the Malay Archipelago, it was discovered that two separate biota existed and a line separating the Australian fauna from the Indo-European fauna was clearly indicated. This discovery eventually led to the theory of Continental Drift and an explanation of the forces that cause catastrophic events on our planet. Wallace also theorized and named "survival of the fittest" as an evolutionary concept, which data he freely gave to Charles Darwin.

Most geologists I have met are people with a wide ranging interest and knowledge in fields other than their own. Dr. Winchester is no exception. KRAKATOA is not merely a book about one of the most destructive volcanic eruptions in modern times, it is an erudite discussion of how modern scientific theories were born, and also how maps came to be accurate, how the search for exotic flavorings led to exploration, and how all sciences are really intertwined, told in a most engaging manner. I have a bit of background in biology and geology but, without talking down to the reader, I think that the author makes all comprehensible to the nonscientific minded.

Reviewed by Barbara Franchi, August 2003

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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