The Victorian Big Boom (and you thought I forgot!)

Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1883 - Simon Winchester

Simon Winchester, for all of his mad ramblings and somewhat obsessed detail is quite an engaging writer. The Professor and the Madman was brilliant, if at times disturbing for it's ironic attention to obscure detail. Krakatoa, as it's title suggests is about a big explosion of the non-nuclear variety. The volcano Krakatoa rose ominously in the Java straight in the late 1800's it's cloudy top foretelling a dark future in store for the locals. Well, its foreboding was not in vain because one day in late August, 1883 - Ka-blooey - the island disappeared. The explosion was heard in Hawaii and had a drastic (Al Goreish) type effect on the climate. Hundreds of thousands of people died in the explosion and ensuing tsunami, and the winter of 83-84 was particularly hard - world-wide. This was the first real explosion of note in the industrial age - and it will not be the last. Winchester's detail makes this a rich and dark tale of what nature can do on her bad days. I read this shortly after the recent Asian tsunami, and the telling was oh so prescient.

Rating B+

Related
A Crack the Edge of the World - same author
Earth in the Balance - Al Gore