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Books to read if you're planning a vacation in "Winchester", sorted by average review score:
The Road to Canterbury: A Modern Pilgrimage
Published in Paperback by Morehouse Publishing (October, 1995)
Authors: Shirley Du Boulay and Ursula Sieger
Average review score:

...entertaining anecdotes and fascinating historical details
Shirley Du Boulay's Winchester-to-Canterbury pilgrimage is the subject of her informative book, Road to Canterbury, which I found full of entertaining anecdotes and fascinating historical details, as well as being spiritually inspiring. Du Boulay's is a spiritual experience. During her 150 miles of travel (including getting lost), du Boulay considers whether it is the arrival or the journey that is most important. She relates the historical and cultural significance of landmarks and towns, churches and their namesakes across Hampshire, Surrey, and Kent as she follows the ancient Pilgrim's Way to St. Thomas a Becket's shrine in Canterbury Cathedral. And of course she tells the story of Becket's death at the hands of Henry II's knights. Time seems to take on a new dimension, becoming fluid as Du Boulay slips back and forth between descriptions and anecdotes of ancient Neolithic cultures, the Romans, mediaeval, and later peoples. Importantly, all somehow meld together and are united. At times frustrated, hungry, wet, or suffering back pain, du Boulay's almost two-week journey is a parallel of life, as she feels tempted to give up, or resists the urge to take a taxi or other short cut; she keeps walking. What does du Boulay learn? On reaching her goal, she finds "It did not matter that I had no great thoughts. For the moment gratitude was enough" (228). Even so, she wonders whether life will "ever be quite the same again?" (229). I, for one, suspect life will be different. An informative work that is both inspiring and entertaining

Essential reading for main-line Christians.
In our commercialized society, where obligatory pilgrimages are only made to Disney World or Graceland, the idea of making a trip--especially a slow, difficult one--to a religious site is truly counter-cultural. This journey, taken during a painful period of transition (widowhood) in the author's life, covers physical and spiritual ground one patient step at a time. The author at times seems a latter-day John Bunyan: we learn that there is as much signficiance to the pilgrimage walk as there is to the arrival. Cannot be recommended enough for sincere people of faith, especially those in the English traditions of Catholicism, Anglicanism/Episcopalianism, or Methodism.

Winchester Model Twelve
Published in Hardcover by Art & Reference House/Madis Books (June, 1982)
Author: George Madis
Average review score:

Winchester Model Twelve
Excellent history on the Model 12 and its variations. Repair section is an excerpt from the Winchester Model 12 Sequence Book and minimally useful if you are buying this book for repair instructions or problem diagnostics.

A good book about a great shotgun

This is the definitive book about the famous "Model Twelve" Winchester.

George Madis covers the history and background leading up to this fine gun, the standards and variations, malfunctions that can happen, their probable causes and remedies. He covers the various chamberings, markings, chokes, matting and ribs, sights available, stocks--you name it, it's in this book. And, the book is full of high-quality photography depicting the things in the text.

This shotgun, which is the direct descendant of the equally well-known Winchester model of 1897, is today a collector's item. You can imagine my delight when a relative gave me one in return for some work I did for him on his computer.

He had been on the verge of giving it to the police on gun buyback program. It has a four-digit serial number, and was actually made in 1912! It is a 16-gauge in pristine condition

Since the shotgun had already been blued once, I had it re-blued and the stock refinished. It is one of the most beautiful guns in my collection, today.

If you have a Model 12, or are just interested in them, this is a book you must have!

Joseph Pierre,
Author of THE ROAD TO DAMASCUS: Our Journey Through Eternity

The Winchester Model 52: Perfection in Design
Published in Hardcover by Krause Publications (November, 1997)
Author: Herbert G. Houze
Average review score:

A must own for winchester collectors
a great book w/ many pitchers and detailed dwgs. of the greatest .22 ever designed, my only complainte would be that there isn't enough on the year made vs. ser. number. but a great book worth every cent for the information provided.

When you read this book, you'll know why the 52 is a 10!
The book is a wonderful read on how the rifle was developed and changed over the years. I found it excellent reading (because I own several 52s). I do wish the author would have researched more on serial numbers...the current info only gives you a guess on when a certain rifle was made. For example, I own #88265 NIB and can not figure out from the book when it was made. 1955? 1956? Overall, the book is a great reference and would like to see another 52 book that focused on repair, modification, and values. If you own a 52, you'll want this one on your coffee table!

Great research tool
I acquired a Model 52 with a 2** serial number minus the receiver sight. The gunshops I spoke to didn't have a clue. I found this book on the internet, bought it and not only found out what I needed to know about the sight and where to get one, but learned a great deal about the 52. If you have a 52, this is the information to learn why it was developed and why it established a niche in 22 history.

The Fracture Zone : My Return to the Balkans
Published in Paperback by Perennial Press (October, 2000)
Author: Simon Winchester
Average review score:

Fascinating, insightful ! (but bad editing)
For someone not to well versed in the history of the recent Balkan war this is a great read. I like the author's insightful historical aspect to the book and his unbiased reporting. It is a book that gives much incentive to think about the people living in that region and the author makes a very honest attempt to be nonjudgmental. If you do not know much about the Balkans and have asked yourself why such violent confrontations have happened there over and over this is certainly a good start. The only negative about this book is the bad editing and the the convoluted sentences that sometimes have to be read over again several times to make sense.

The Balkans for beginners
Veteran journalist Simon Winchester retraces his steps through the Balkans 20 years after a brief vacation there, to rediscover a region where the geography is as dizzying as the political and ethnic agendas. His journey from Vienna to Istanbul encompasses the crisis in Kosovo and in a series of astute vignettes, Winchester meets some of the major players and the victims. All around him is a simmering cauldron of hatred which has spilled blood yet again and the issues provoke more questions than can ever be answered. Winchester has questions of his own, but he is unable to answer them in any depth. But then, most Westerners have also had trouble analysing the Balkan history of bloodshed. He is only skimming the surface here and for guidance refers to the great works of Nobel prize winner Ivo Andric, whose book Bridge On The Drina remains a classic text to understanding the background of Balkan turmoil. Unfortunately, Winchester departs Kosovo in June 1999, just after NATO enters the region to restore some semblance of calm. I wish he had remained to write about what happened next. The book fizzles a bit when he goes to Bulgaria. There is now a bewildering plethora of books on recent Balkan upheavals. Winchester's wry observations would serve well as a beginner's guide to one of the most troubled and fascinating places on earth.

History Lesson, Travelogue, War Observation, and Memory
The Fracture Zone is one of the most unusual books I have ever read. It provides a mosaic of perspectives on the former Yugoslavia centering on the UN-led end of the most recent conflicts in the region. Although the effect can be a little unsettling, the advantage of the approach is to make the experience more personal and more human than a narrower, more disciplined method would have done.

The book's premise is to share the author's experiences through the context of his former visit during peaceful times to the same region, historical perspective on why and how the tensions and conflicts have evolved, and on-the-ground insights from conversations with those who hate and those who do not.

The effect is not unlike what one's own experiences might have been like if a time machine brought us first into the year 1858 in South Carolina and then in the same area in the year 1865. Without more perspective, someone from Kosovo would not be able to understand what had happened between the two times. That is what the author has been trying to accomplish in this book.

Through flashbacks and narration, you will travel twice (once before the wars, and once after them) through the former Yugoslavia on a journey starting in Vienna and ending in Istanbul. You will have many unforgettable moments, like seeing thousands of displaced refugees squatting in a former alpine meadow while overwhelmed army forces try to save lives. You'll learn what a Sarajevo rose is (no, it's not what you think). And you will find how historical lessons can be used as excuses to fan current hatreds of those who are similar and different from oneself.

All of this has an incredible immediacy because this is like the worst of the Nazi era, being relived in many ways in our own times.

The author keeps asking, why? He poses some answers, but ultimately, it is unanswerable. Perhaps in time, we can make sense of this terrible tragedy.

Here are some cautions: Anyone who wants a serious history will not like this book. Anyone who wants a brilliant essay will be even less satisfied.

If you are open to a new approach to understanding an extremely complex circumstance, you will find this book to be interesting. It will expand your curiosity, and that will be good. We all need to ponder the lessons here, to help avoid their recurrence. Share this book with one other person, so the memory will expand.

The River at the Center of the World: A Journey Up the Yangtze and Back in Chinese Time
Published in Hardcover by Henry Holt & Company, Inc. (October, 1996)
Author: Simon Winchester
Average review score:

Excellent Dip Into Chinese History
The subtitle "A Journey up the Yangtze, and Back in Chinese Time" more or less explains this combination travelogue/history. Winchester's aim is to travel the length of the Yangtze heading upriver. In doing so, he does a superb job of explaining the importance of the Yangtze River in Chinese history by blending in all manner of history from Western gunboat diplomacy to Mao's Long March to the Rape of Nanjing to the current Three Gorges Dam project. In fact, the book isn't bad as a way to sort of dip into Chinese history for the uninitiated. The travelogue aspect is also well handled, as Winchester travels with a Chinese woman translator/problem-solver. Modern China doesn't come across very well in his description, as he encounters the usual corruption, but also amazing episodes of lethargy and apathy from the locals. At times, the technical hydrology/geology stuff gets tiresome, but overall, it's an excellent read--especially for prospective travelers to area.

Read backwards, as in China
As a compliant reader, this book opens in Shanghai where their travels start. I found this boring and a rehash of other travel books and the usual lurid history. After reading less than half of this chapter, I flipped to the last chapter about the Yangtze headwaters in the primitive Himalaya-like mountain ranges. The story is more exciting and less covered compared to most travelogs, although both Theroux and Jenkins have written similar stories. With Winchester, however, I learned much more about the geography and history as I continued reading backwards. There is enough repetition throughout the chapters that each can stand on its own.

Each chapter has a detailed submap so that the reader can follow along and not get lost. The front and back covers have a highlighted map of China so that one does loose sight of the big picture. The text and map includes a discussion of the Yellow River too, and for perspective comparisons to features in the US and UK. However, there are no tour pictures, other than his full-page mugshot on the back dustjacket, even though he brought a Leica [p32].

Winchester's book includes more than a typical travelog, he intersperses vignettes that include geography [his undergrad work is geology] and temporal history. These vignettes delve into their subject at more than cursory level in tour guides, so that the reader has a deeper understanding into the whys and wherefores. Such vignettes include Chairman Mao's swimming the river, the Three Gorges dam project, minority peoples, tea, Wuhan bridges, Precambrian Yangtze man, Chinese holocaust museum, Lu Shan, etc. Unfortunately, the vignettes are not listed as subtopics in the TOC so that it is hard to relocate them. I'd highly recommend that the author take a look at computer books for useful TOCs. There is a 9-page index and 5-page annotated suggested readings list. Quite a few pages have footnotes that help the reader recall/learn lesser-known facts, but I would have really wanted a numerical list of endnotes so that the reader could further research topics of interest. Many indented quotes and poem translations are unfootnoted. There is a pasted-in correction of the text [p260].

The author, an emancipated Brit, tries to write in an American frame of reference, but many Brit colloquialisms show through; such as lift [elevator p163], ship-breaking [-wrecking p43], railway wagons [cars p198], Perspex [Plexiglas p59], notice board [sign p140], etc.

His writing style is typical of a reporter, who exaggerates describing scenes with overly powerful and emotion-charged phrases. The reader needs to filter these excesses, as in:

"In places like these the water is not so much water as a horrifying white foam--a cauldron of tortured spray and air and broken rock that is filled with the wreckage of battered whirlpools and distorted rapids and with huge voids of green and black, the whole maelstrom roaring, shrieking, bellowing with a cannonade of unstoppable anger and terror [p 333]."

Water is a person and has anger and is afraid? Need I say more about his allegorical attempts?

Other writing issues include his freelance writer upbringings, measured by # of words, such as:

"They take this runoff from the high Himalayas and the other ranges and then, capturing river after river after river along the way--all of which do just the same, scouring their source mountains for every drop of water they can find--they cascade the entire collected rainfall from tens of thousands of square and high-altitude miles down the earth-stained waters of the East China Sea [p144-5]."

I kid you not but here is a 70-word sentence, part of a two-sentence paragraph. He'd flunk English 1B in any university class. Clearly this book had no editors as this is his typical writing style.

And this book is full of excessively erudite phrases, such as:

"Trading companies are crammed into dusty art deco palaces and crumbling godowns; there are real estate brokers and paging firms and couriers where once there were more classically Chinese functionaries, 'likin' officials, octroi collectors and compradors [p208]."

Hint, there is no glossary.

Curiously, from the world's outcry on the demographic moves, and cultural and environmental damage alleged due to the 3 Gorges dam, the geocentric author does not show a dotted outline that the resulting 360 mile long reservoir would cover although the author claims to have detailed DoD secret topographic maps [p xii].

Overall, however, this book is a compelling read. One just hope it is all true [p xiv]?? Since the 2008 Peking Olympics is in the works perhaps a 2nd edition is forthcoming? [page# refer to hard cover edition]

Cruising the Yangtze
This is an excellent book for anyone planning a cruise on the Yangtze. It reads like a novel. I loved it because it describes the cities and the river, but also the history and the people. Winchester must be incredibly brave (or stupid) because he traveled the Yangtze from China into Tibet with one female guide. He also has a very good chapter on the Three Gorges Dam and why it should not be built. This book is a good read for anyone interested in history, travel, adventure or China.

From Winchester to Cedar Creek: The Shenandoah Campaign of 1864
Published in Hardcover by South Mountain Pr (December, 1987)
Author: Jeffry D. Wert
Average review score:

Overrated Study
Wert's books are generally overrated by Civil War readers. He is not a great researcher, but rather plays to the popular reader. If you want to read underresearchered, popular history Wert is your boy; if you want in-depth perceptive analysis then look elsewhere. If you hold him up to the stardard of Richard Summers, John Hennessey or Harry Pfantz then reading Wert is like eating candy: fun but easily forgotten. A list of the sources he did not consult when writing this book might be as long as his text.

Very good study with a few omissions
This is a very good, useful close study of the Valley campaign in the fall and winter of 1864. Wert primarily focuses on studies of the major battles, giving enough first-person quotes to keep the narrative interesting. Occasionally his descriptions of the battlefield action are confusing, but that's probably a characteristic of the available sources. His discussion of the controversy over plundering at Cedar Creek is good, although I'm not entirely convinced. I find it a little surprising that, in discussing Early's failure to use his cavalry effectively, he does not mention the general's refusal of Mosby's offer of help, something which he brings up in his bio of Mosby. Also, in analyzing Early as a general, it might have been appropriate to mention the absolutely scathing and, in my view, entirely inappropriate speech which Early made to his troops after Cedar Creek blaming them for the defeat. Overall, this book has to be considered the canonical work on the campaign.

Best book on 1864 Valley Campaign
This is the best book on the Valley Campaign of 1864 and features lots of research on the 4 battles that occured during the campaign. The book is well-written, but I found that it could be dry at times. However, this is still a very good book. One of the best points about this book is Wert's analysis of Sheridan's and Early's generalship. Wert gives well-reasoned and sound conclusions on the analysis of the two generals. The book also features a terrific chapter on John Mosby and his Rangers role in the campaign and features a pretty good look at the role the campaign played in Lincoln's 1864 reelection campaign. All in all a very good book, but due to the amount of detail and research perhaps only Civil War and history buffs will enjoy this book.

The Essential Arthritis Cookbook: Kitchen Basics for People With Arthritis, Fibromyalgia and Other Chronic Pain and Fatigue
Published in Hardcover by Appletree Press (November, 1995)
Authors: Sarah L. Morgan, University of Alabama at Birmingham Arthritis Center, University of Alabama at Birmingham Dept. of Nutrition Sciences, University of Alabama Research Foundatio, Faith Winchester, and Linda Hachfeld
Average review score:

I have mixed feelings about this book.
I perused this book carefully because I want information on diet and FMS. There are good definitions of FMS, but the info and recipes seem to be geared toward reducing the "inflamation" of arthritis. As I understand it, FMS is not a condition of inflamation. Thus, my confusion. For forms of inflamatory arthritis conditions it looks excellent. I'd like to note that I have seen other books that tag FMS on to Arthritis in their titles or covers and don't seem to have much specific to FMS. A selling technique, I suppose. This book is attractive and seems very good for arthritis, but not specific for FMS.

Good, Helpful, and Tasty!
I got this book, and I liked it very much. I am 14 and have JRA, OA, and Fibro. This book was very helpful, and the recipes were good. I would recommend it. I've read many books, and this is one of the better ones. I enjoyed the food much!!

Very helpful
This book has a lot of great suggestions for those dealing with arthritis. It provides techniques for cooking with less pain and effort and has recipes, too! I found it very helpful as a person who works with helping older adults cook and care for themselves. I highly recommend it for anyone with arthritis.

Winchester's Finest: The Model 21
Published in Hardcover by Krause Publications (April, 1991)
Author: Ned Schwing
Average review score:

Definitive work on the finest shotgun ever made
Winchester's Model 21 has generated more then its fair share of controversy since it first came out in 1931. There were those who considered it the finest side by ever made. They based this up the superiority of the design and strength of the steel used. Then again, there were those who couldn't stand it. They said it was too heavy and was over priced. Be that as it may, it has made its mark on the shooting public. It was the closing chapter in a long list of great American shotguns; Parkers, L.C. Smiths, Ithacas, etc. The author has compiled a book that traces its history through its development and early years to when it was production line mode and finally to when it was relegated to the custom shop. If it hadn't been for John Olin it would have been dropped altogether in late 1959, instead of being made into a custom gun. Nothing is left to chance. The chapter on the custom made 21s is especially well done, as it goes into great detail regarding the differences between the various grades. I was impressed with the photographs of the engraving. Winchester's engravers were some of the best in the business. I wish there had been a chapter explaining the building of one of these guns from start to finish, with photographs included. It would give the reader a better appreciation. Overall, this is a very well written book that should be in the library of those who appreciate fine shotguns.

The definitive history on the finest shotgun ever made
Winchester's Model 21 was the last in a long series of side by double barrel shotguns to be built in this country Parker, L.C. Smith, Ithaca, just to name a few that preceded it. It came out during the midst of the Great Depression and when Winchester was about ready to go bankrupt. A very inauspicious time to bring out what would be the finest and most strongest shotgun ever made. Here was the modern double barrel shotgun that was made with superior steel and design, that could withstand maximum proof loads that would cause any other gun to fail. The Model 21 made its reputation based upon its strength in the duck blind, going after upland game, or even on the trap and skeet line. It lived up to its reputation. Incidentially, it was one of John M. Olin's favorites. He was the one who kept it going on a custome made basis, after it had been discontinued. The authors have gone to great length researching the history and development of the gun. They start off with the earliest models, which sported double triggers and a splinter forearm to the custom model which were made starting in 1960 up until the late 1980s when USRAC stopped making them. Nothing has been left to chance and the photographs of the engraving and stockwork, while very well done, unfortunately, does not come close to the book on the Browning Superposed. Still, this is a book to buy for those who, either, own one or like to entertain hopes of buying a used one. Be forewarned, that while they are available, they are rather expensive. One closing item and that is the gentleman who is making the Fox side by, Tony Galazan, bought up all of the parts for the 21, along with tools. He is prepared to either repair Model 21s and even make them.

The Professor and the Madman
Published in Hardcover by HarperCollins (September, 1998)
Author: Simon Winchester
Average review score:

A great story; suffers just a bit in the telling
The fascinating, appalling, sad tale of the lunatic American, John Minor, who became one of the most prolific contributors to the Oxford English Dictionary as it was being created by its learned Scottish editor, James Murray --- while Minor dwelt in an asylum for murder. An amazing tale, well worth telling, even if Winchester pads it with purple prose and much tangential material. Perhaps the most important part of the book is the debunking of the myth that told how Murray and Minor met, and how Murray was only then clued in to Minor's position (in fact the Scot was told before by a friend). Oddly, this myth is reprinted, as fact, on the dust jacket. Winchester also adds drama to the tale, which is like painting the lily; he tries, for example, to force a sort of parallelism on Minor's work on the OED and improvement in his condition, though the story he tells doesn't support that; Minor just stopped contributing as he declined, though the OED continued apace. I would have liked to read more on Murray's prodigal depth of learning and his method of work --- but this is mostly Minor's story, and it's an enthralling one.

How the heck did they write that HUGE dictionary?
Simon Winchester answers this question with a story of violence, passion, tragedy, and sympathy. What more could you want in a story about a dictionary? I love books that shine with the author's enthusiasm for the subject. _The Professor and the Madman_ is just that type of book. Winchester obviously loves language and word origin. He gives the reader a look at etymology that is detailed enough to make you feel like a scholar, but selective enough so that you aren't overwhelmed with the rather dry science of language. But this is only the secondary plot. The main story, that of the obsession of the scholarly but homicidally deranged Dr. W.C. Minor, the focused and driven brilliance of Dr. James Murray, and the Oxford English Dictionary that brought them together is thrilling and tragic. Winchester does a great job of sharing with the reader the sadness and regret of Dr. Minor's amazing intellect trapped inside his deranged mind. If you've ever had a relative or friend succumb to Alzheimer's or another mental disease, you can understand the tragedy of such an intruguing person losing a battle with sanity. The story is so unique that it could only be true, and Winchester seems to have researched it thoroughly and accurately. I highly recommend it.

A fun read, but somewhat flawed
The Professor and the Madman deals with the role of asylum inmate Dr. William Minor in the development of the Oxford English Dictionary, and with the relationship of Dr. Minor to James Murray, the OED's longtime editor. The book's main strength, and also its primary emphasis, is its treatment of Minor's downward psychological spiral, beginning with his traumatic experience as a surgeon in the US Civil War, continuing through the murder that landed him in the asylum, followed by his extremely productive years as a volunteer researcher for the OED, and finally through his severe sickness in his later years, when he no longer channeled his energies into the OED and slipped even further into insanity in the absence of the obsession that had linked him to the outside world. The book deals with many tangential matters as well, giving a brief but interesting history of the dictionaries predating the OED and going into some detail regarding the development of the OED itself and the lives of its primary editors, notably Murray.

Especially near the beginning of the book, I felt that Winchester was going off on a few too many tangents, as though he thought he needed filler to give the subject a book-length treatment; for example, he spends nearly four pages discussing the definition of the word "protagonist," and, after telling us that in Shakespeare's time there weren't any English dictionaries, proceeds to do nothing but restate that fact for the next two or three pages. His tangents are, admittedly, written in a charming style, but they can be frustrating for those of us who might like Winchester to simply get to the point. Another thing that disappointed me was that Winchester spent very little time speculating on why it was that Minor chose to obsess himself with the OED, and why his contributions tapered off around the turn of the century. Of course Minor was bored and had relatively few options because of his detainment in the asylum, but clearly most people in his position found other things with which to busy themselves. The fact that both Minor and one of the other greatest volunteer contributors to the OED, Fitzedward Hall, were Americans with psychological problems is an interesting fact. Considering that Winchester was audacious enough to speculate that Minor's autopeotomy near the end of his life may have been a result of his shame over romantic feelings or possibly even acts involving the widow of the man he murdered, it's disappointing that Winchester didn't spend much time considering the much more central question of why the OED attracted Minor so.

Despite these weaknesses, The Professor and the Madman is an interesting book and on the whole does a very good job dealing with Minor's schizophrenia. Short and written in an engaging style, it's a quick read and was well worth my time.

Krakatoa : The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1883
Published in Hardcover by HarperCollins (01 April, 2003)
Author: Simon Winchester
Average review score:

A total hoot!
I greatly enjoyed this sly, somewhat disorganized, tongue in cheek discussion of perhaps-the-most-famous-volcanoe-yet. Winchester is clearly highly knowledgeable about various aspects of geology & writes in a way that made this layman really want to go out & learn more. His endless tangents and footnotes were almost always entertaining and worthwhile forays into new knowledge, and while they did break up the stream of narrative at times they also served to humanize what is otherwise a truly Humongous event. The book does an excellent job with scale -one actually gets a sense of just how big things were, from explosions to tsunamis- and the eye-witness accounts of the aftermath of the eruption were truly horrific. Some of the early speculation on the possible impact of a pre-Krakatoa Krakatoa Event seemed to be on (dare I say it?) shaky ground, but when Winchester cuts to the know historical record of the eruption he seems rock solid. I felt that the attempt to "bring the book up to the present minute" by discussing the putative impact of Krakatoa on the rise of Islamic extremism in Indonesia & the hint that the bombing in Bali last year might be yet another (cultural) aftershock of the eruption a bit forced (If you ever do a second edition Simon, I'd kill that whole chapter). These complaints aside I frankly couldn't put the book down, went straight back to school & recommended it to my students & friends & will be watching for Winchester's next production with cheerful anticipation.

The death and re-birth of an island.
'Popular Science' has a slightly pejorative ring to it that is undeserved, as good examples serve to increase general awareness and dispel urban myths - this book is one of those good examples.
Written in Mr. Winchester's energetic, entertaining style, this book is well-researched and peppered with neat little snippets of information and pertinent anecdotes, backed up with solid evidence.

He goes into much historical detail about the East Indies and its importance in world trade and politics during the run-up to the cataclysmic explosion that devastated the island.
One quibble; in extolling the virtues of Batavia, he forgets that the place was reviled by seamen in the 18th C (Anson, Cook, Dampier, Davis et al) as a suffocating hell-hole of disease, stench and filth.

He examines the explosion of scientific theories that arose in the aftermath of the event, and the small part he played in proving that plate tectonics works (the chapter on The Wallace Line contains the most lucid crash course on plate tectonics I've seen).

Most of this has been said before, but the difference here is he attributes the area's political and religious changes directly to the explosion.

Some of this information seems extraneous to the main thrust of the book, (e,g, Wallace and Darwin), but it has a purpose ... It serves to underline the tremendous, slow forces that drive plate tectonics (unheard of then), and the devastating results of any blockage.

Given all this background data it should come as no surprise to learn that Krakatoa has exploded many times in the geologically recent past (60,000 years), and most assuredly will in the future.
Eruptions are an everyday occurence, but this gigantic 'throat-clearing' was the first global-scale event to be reported within minutes of it happening, and Mr. Winchester draws on many first-hand accounts to describe in horrendous detail the titanic scale of the event.

The explosion shook the world to its core, both physically and metaphorically; long-held beliefs of the solidity of the Earth and Man's significance were blown away. Religious and scientific establishments had to re-think their stances; but amazingly, some still clung (and cling now!) to the old immutable doctrines, even in the light of such solid evidence.
The sterile islands that formed in the wake of the explosion were a clean sheet for Nature, and observations of new life colonising them became the new focus of scientific study, in a less human-controlled way than E.O. Wilson did in the Florida Keys.

As with most of Mr. Winchester's books, this is a very instructive and entertaining read, thoughtfully & thankfully containing an appendix on further reading, which I recommend to any popular science/history fan. *****

My review of Krakatoa
This is a well written well researched book that I enjoyed very much. I loved reading about the geography, geology, history, and legacy of the world's most destructive volcano. The creation of the news agency Reuters and the telegraph machine with the advent of Morse Code helped the spread the news of this disaster to the world within moments of the eruption in 1883. I also learned that the Dutch enslaved the people of Java for over two centuries. The rebellion by the Indonesians against the Dutch was ignited by the eruption of Krakatoa and is detailed well in this book. Indonesia now has the largest population of people of Islamic faith in the world because of Dutch rule. Winchester does an excellent job of describing the devastation Krakatoa caused as more than 35,000 people died mostly as the result of the 60 mile a hour tidal waves the eruption caused.

The cause of the eruption of Krakatoa in the book is very complex. It is a process called subduction in which a heavier and colder tectonic plate collides with a lighter warmer one. There are many helpful drawings and captions to describe the technical geological concepts. Winchester even rates volcanos with an explosivity index which is based on the amount of material ejected in an eruption and the height the material reaches in the air. I found these concepts about volcanos to be very interesting.

There is a lot of information in this book, and it should be read slowly to understand and appreciate it. If you like to read books about history and earth science, or geography you will enjoy this book.

Related Vacation Book Subjects: Connecticut
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