Krakatoa

The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1883

By: Simon Winchester

Narrated by: Simon Winchester

The bestselling author of The Professor and the Madman and The Map That Changed the World examines the enduring and world-changing effects of the catastrophic eruption off the coast of Java of the earth's most dangerous volcano -- Krakatoa.

The legendary annihilation in 1883 of the volcano-island of Krakatoa -- the name has since become a byword for a cataclysmic disaster -- was followed by an immense tsunami that killed nearly forty thousand people. Beyond the purely physical horrors of an event that has only very recently been properly understood, the eruption changed the world in more ways than could possibly be imagined. Dust swirled round die planet for years, causing temperatures to plummet and sunsets to turn vivid with lurid and unsettling displays of light. The effects of the immense waves were felt as far away as France. Barometers in Bogotá and Washington, D.C., went haywire. Bodies were washed up in Zanzibar. The sound of the island's destruction was heard in Australia and India and on islands thousands of miles away. Most significant of all -- in view of today's new political climate -- the eruption helped to trigger in Java a wave of murderous anti-Western militancy among fundamentalist Muslims: one of the first outbreaks of Islamic-inspired killings anywhere.

Simon Winchester's long experience in the world wandering as well as his knowledge of history and geology give us an entirely new perspective on this fascinating and iconic event as he brings it telling back to life.

Tedious

The first 3 or 4 hours were very difficult to wade through. After that the narrative picked up and was quite enjoyable. Loaded with facts and somewhat tedious to listen too.

One of the best books ever

I've listened to this book several times. Winchester's voice is hynotic. He describes the history of Indonesia, pepper, Dutch colonialsim, tsunamis, early telegraph communication, the London Times, and the discovery of plate techtonics. It is a really wonderful book - well-researched and topical.

Tremendous

The reader is excellent and the background information the author gives you is incredible. This author gives you details from the basics of geology and why the volcano is there in the first place to the general placement of animals and plants in the archipeligo to first hand accounts of the mountain's demise and the after effects on the population. The accounts are vivid and personal. I would highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in science and how it affects the larger world.

Exploring Krakatoa

Any additional comments?

Krakatoa is an exceptionally well researched work about the doomed volcano in modern day Indonesia, the eruption of which was one of the largest in the history of the world. However, I probably would have enjoyed this book in print more than the audio version, as I was not (and am not) a fan of Winchester's reading. Though Winchester's pronunciation was infallible, I was at times annoyed with pretentiousness of his tone. Even though I learned English in England, I find scholarly British English to be dry and I prefer American readers (or even Irish, or Australians).

On the other hand, the book flowed well for the most part. There was a part in which Winchester seems to give the entire history of the telegraph cable, and its laying on the bottom of the ocean floor that made me almost give up the book. I'm glad I didn't, as it was informative and easy to imagine.

Recommended; and if you like British accents - highly recommended.

Great True Story!

Would you consider the audio edition of Krakatoa to be better than the print version?

I have not read the print version.

What did you like best about this story?

It was so interesting to learn about the epic scale of this eruption.