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A Crack in the Edge of the World

3.72 of 5 stars 3.72 · rating details · 2,594 ratings · 359 reviews

In the early morning hours of April 18, 1906, San Francisco was overcome by the violent shocks of an enormous earthquake, registering 8.25 on the Richter scale. The tremors and rumbling, affecting a swathe of California more than 200 miles long, triggered a vast firestorm in the city, effectively destroying the gold rush capital that had stood there for half a century. Sim...more

Paperback, 512 pages

Published October 10th 2006 by Harper Perennial (first published 2005)

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Apr 01, 2009 Trevor rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: history

I have to say that I really do like this man’s books. I think the only reason I would read a book on Krakatoa is because Winchester wrote it. It is also very likely that the only reason I would read a book on an earthquake is because Winchester wrote it.

Let me tell you what there is to love about this book.

Firstly, Winchester starts off by talking about the Gaia Theory – essentially that everything is related to everything else. He does this because talk of earthquakes has only begun to make sen...more I have to say that I really do like this man’s books. I think the only reason I would read a book on Krakatoa is because Winchester wrote it. It is also very likely that the only reason I would read a book on an earthquake is because Winchester wrote it.

Let me tell you what there is to love about this book.

Firstly, Winchester starts off by talking about the Gaia Theory – essentially that everything is related to everything else. He does this because talk of earthquakes has only begun to make sense since we learnt of plate tectonics – that the continents float about the world on huge plates and that these rub up against each other and cause volcanos and earthquakes. And one of the most fascinating things about plate tectonics is that this idea has only been around in science since the 1960s. Think about that for a moment – that we have only had any real idea about the how and the way of volcanos and earthquakes for a little over forty years.

Prior to the 1960s we also had a very localised view of how these catastrophic events happened. We really didn’t have any notion that an earthquake in Tokyo might impact on a volcano in Hawaii. We still have only hints about how these two events might be related, but the fact we can even seriously ask the question now ought to send a shiver down your spine. “What a piece of work is Man… in apprehension how like a God…”

Gaia theory holds that the whole of the world is linked up by a series of complex and remarkable interconnections. And just to celebrate, Winchester writes his books in a way that brings to the fore layer after layer of beautifully observed relationships between earthquakes and racism and artists leaving for the hills and architecture and religion.

When people say things like, ‘everything is related to everything else’ I generally feel a little uncomfortable in that ‘let me get out of this conversation as quickly as I can’ kind of way. There is a scene in Douglas Adams’s Dirk Bogart’s Holistic Detective Agency where Dirk is at a complete loss what to do next and so, figuring that everything is connected to everything else, he follows a car at random, which, naturally enough, brings him to where he needs to go. This is fiction after all.

Winchester’s paths are never random. His relationships never fail to delight. His keen eye for both the fascinating and the absurd never fail him. I really am very fond of his books and this one is no exception.

There is a part of this book where he is describing the horrific fire that started as the earthquake ended. This was a city ready to burn, and the quake bursting both gas pipes and water pipes beneath the city did much to strike that particular match. There is a photo in this book taken from the top of a hill. In the distance you can see the smoke billowing and being blown into the background of the picture. How Winchester explains what you are looking at and what is about to happen in the world of this photograph is one of those moments in a book that is a pure joy. He starts off by stating what we all think – that fires move in the direction that the winds blow them. Clearly, in this photograph, the wind is blowing towards the back, so that will be the direction the fire will go. He then points out that what is in the distance behind the scene in the photograph is water and already burnt buildings. It is then that he says that city fires not only make their own winds, but that they move in the direction of the fuel that is available – not always in the direction of the wind.

One of the more fascinating connections with this earthquake was the start of the Pentecostal movement. The pastor who started the Pentecostal movement said, a mere three days before the quake and fire, that God was preparing a sign – and when God prepares signs, he provides the entire Burma Shave experience. The most Godless city in the United States virtually wiped off the map in one go. God does seem to have learnt his lesson though, as this time there are no wives being turned into pillars of salt and the only good man in the town didn’t end up getting drunk and doing a Fritzl with his two daughters. At least, at the time it seemed they only spoke in tongues – I’ve no idea when Pentecostals started getting down and dirty, but I assume it was a long time prior to when the Swaggarts and Bakers did their stuff.

I liked this one very much, but then, I’ve enjoyed every one of his books so far.
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Aug 26, 2007 Grumpus rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: history, science

This one was tough to rate. I loved Simon Winchester’s books Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1883 (P.S.) and The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary (P.S.) for their story-telling style. This one however, is written in a very scientific manner. Indeed, according to Amazon’s text stats, this book was written at 15.2 grade level as measured by Flesh-Kincaid readability—for comparison, Amazon indicates that only 9%...more

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Sep 22, 2007 Andrew rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It takes Winchester nearly 100 pages to get into the meat of the story -- the 1906 Earthquake that destroyed San Francisco. Until then, we have to wade through tales of his Oxford days and camping on Mt. Diablo. A tough read that brings little joy -- although he does capture the sense of magic we all feel when discovering, and re-discovering, San Francisco.

Some exerpts:

"There is a tendency common to most of us to take the more modest of our landscapes for granted. We see a wide and fertile plai...more

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Aug 28, 2007 JZ Temple rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: history

Now I'm surprised to see so many people who didn't like this book, but I'm guessing it's more a matter of style. Winchester certainly does take his time getting to the San Francisco part of this book but it is "America and the Great California Earthquake...", and like his previous book on Krakatoa he does like taking the discussion far afield. However, it's the kind of book I like, much more about "why" and "how" rather than "who" and "when". I would recommend it, especially if you liked "Krakat...more

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Jan 23, 2008 Shawn rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Geology and Non-fiction buffs

Like a train wreck, I can't look away.
The 1906 earthquake that most notably affected San Francisco is a fascinating topic, and I like books with a bit of Science in them, but oh my god! could this author be any more of a pain in the ass? I just have to prove it with a couple of examples, but truly sir: Mr. Winchester, I implore you, where are your trustworthy editors? Nowhere, mon frere. Example One in my hypothetical thesis entitled "why Simon Winchester is a pain in the ass": in one paragraph...more Like a train wreck, I can't look away.
The 1906 earthquake that most notably affected San Francisco is a fascinating topic, and I like books with a bit of Science in them, but oh my god! could this author be any more of a pain in the ass? I just have to prove it with a couple of examples, but truly sir: Mr. Winchester, I implore you, where are your trustworthy editors? Nowhere, mon frere. Example One in my hypothetical thesis entitled "why Simon Winchester is a pain in the ass": in one paragraph (pgs. 91 and 92, oh, it's a long-ass paragraph) Mr. Winchester makes use of the following words: panjandrum, lickspittle, gimcrack, gasconading. Now, I believe I have already more than proven my thesis, but two further examples for the sake of thoroughness: 2. in a book about the San Francisco quake, the quake happens in real time in the narrative on page 205; before that is background discussion of plate tectonics and other gimcrack subjects. Finally, example three has to be seen to be believed. I think I'll just put a sample paragraph here that shows the tedious, longggggg-winded, pretentious writing style (and mind you, the author seems like a good dude and all, no offense intended, he just needs a competent editor). The following paragraph, I'd hone down to five or six words if I were editing: "I went to New Madrid, Missouri." He uses 175 words:
"To begin to answer that—and geologists have been grappling for years with the vexing problem of those earthquakes that occur where they ought not to—I first had to drive some 600 miles west, to the site of one of the most remarkable earthquakes that America has ever known—by some accounts the biggest ever experienced in the Lower Forty-Eight states. I then had to travel another 400 miles westward, to a village set deep in the Midwestern plains, where a seismograph is mounted inside the general store. My second destination was a somewhat obscure and all but forgotten place, though one of some importance in explaining why America suffers earthquakes so far from the edges of the plate on which it stands. My first intended stop, however, was at a town that suffered an event that took place over a series of weeks during the winter between 1811 and 1812—a hitherto unremarkable Mississippi riverside town that has since entered the lore and the lexicon of seismologists around the world: New Madrid, Missouri." The End(less)

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Nov 27, 2007 Curtis rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Anyone

Shelves: science, history

Much of the discussion of tectonic theory and geology in Winchester's title on the Krakatoa eruption is not covered in this book for obvious reasons. I would recommend those with the interest to read that title at some point.

A fair amount of this book covers not the actual aftermath of the earthquake which most people remember as the great San Francisco earthquake of 1906 but rather events leading up to it and the nature of American and world geology.

I'm not going to write a spoiler here but I w...more Much of the discussion of tectonic theory and geology in Winchester's title on the Krakatoa eruption is not covered in this book for obvious reasons. I would recommend those with the interest to read that title at some point.

A fair amount of this book covers not the actual aftermath of the earthquake which most people remember as the great San Francisco earthquake of 1906 but rather events leading up to it and the nature of American and world geology.

I'm not going to write a spoiler here but I will touch on some points as to why this is an interesting read. To us 100 years seems a lifetime away but in geological times it's pretty much just a heartbeat. When you talk about the '06 event or the 1888 Krakatoa event it is sort of like discussing something that happened in political news just yesterday, or earlier today. It requires a perspective adjustment to see it's significance. The Earth is not on our schedule it has a timeline all it's own.

There is a great deal of research in the area of studying earthquakes but as yet no real way to know when and where one will hit. This book however gives you an idea of how they work and of the different types. Not all earthquakes are the same and his focus is on those occurring along the faults in North America. The book delves into events on the East Coast, the Midwest, and of course the West Coast. It also discusses the role of volcanism in North America including the Super Volcano that is Yellowstone National Park.

Again the Gaia theory of a world that is essentially a big ecosystem or machine is touched upon. Winchester is not an apostle of this hypothesis rather he lays out cooly for the reader. Interesting in 1906 there were a number of significant geological events that occurred ranging from volcanic eruptions to major earthquakes in South America. Is the result of the continual churning of the continents as pressure is released in one area and built up elsewhere? Movement in one region of the world perhaps leading to slippage in another? It is an hypothesis.

Without writing a spoiler I'll provide one very contemporary observation he touches on. In 2002 there was a major earthquake in Alaska that thankfully didn't hurt too many people as it may have. Interestingly a change was observed in the geysers of Yellowstone some 1500+ miles away. Normally erupting in a very precise timetable it has apparently been shown that the timing change at precisely the time the shockwaves came in from Alaska. Of course it doesn't matter where on earth you are or if you feel them, earthquake vibrations can be recorded.

Interesting in that Yellowstone is one of roughly ten volcanoes known by the new term Super Volcano (coined by the BBC in the late 1990s I believe). To perk you interest more? If you have ever been to Yellowstone it's not like other volcanoes with the crater on top of mountain peak. The crater there is essentially an indentation in the tectonic plate, that is the entire park roughly 40 miles wide is the crater. The lava chamber stretches under three states. If it goes you have to think about a nuclear ice age type of thing.

Oh and it's a thousand years overdue :)

So just when you thought it was crazy to live in California and that a 1906 earthquake was an interesting but irrelevant historical fact right?

The gist: the big earthquake also due in California could conceivably effect the magma chamber etc of the largest volcano in the Western Hemisphere if not the world.

Another interesting note. We are seeing some effects of global warming in the weather. About 7/8 of the worlds tectonic plate surface is underwater. What effect might the warming of the oceans have on a interrelated system per the Gaia hypothesis. The amount of energy the warming creates is astounding.

That last isn't in Winchester's book, just an observation of my own.
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Jan 06, 2009 Kevin rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: history, non-fiction

Wow, Mr. Winchester had a lot of time on his hands. I was expecting a different book, more concise regarding the earthquake in San Fran in the early 20th century. I wasn't expecting to learn about the Louisana purchase, and the myriad other little details that he discusses. It seemed as if in every CD the author goes off on a tangent. My wife listened in on a couple of CD's and without me prompting her, made the comment "this guy is all over the place." The last third really gets down to busines...more

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Dec 01, 2007 Sarah rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: audiobook

I LOVE Simon Winchester. The guy's voice is like audiobook crack: he's British and he's perfect. If you want to read his other works, definitely listen to them. Start with Krakatoa; it blew my mind.

This book is almost as good as Krakatoa. I learned a lot and couldn't believe how my public school education failed to educate me on history. I did get a little bored on the 9th CD, but the 10th picked up when he recounted his trip to Alaska and then back to Yellowstone. Certainly a must-read... or be...more

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Jan 13, 2009 Carrie rated it 4 of 5 stars

This was the perfect book for me to read on my vacation. Like so many of us, I love to read about the places I am traveling to while I am there, and this time I forgot to pack a California book. So, when my lovely parents-in-law gave me a copy of this book about the 1906 San Francisco earthquake I was psyched. I read the book as we were wending our way towards the City – perfect timing, because much of the book concerned the geologic causes of the earthquake, and discussed the very areas we had...more

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Jan 02, 2013 Curtis Edmonds rated it 2 of 5 stars

Let us suppose that you are to take a flight from New York to California. You book the flight, make time to head out to the West Coast, and make your way to JFK. Only when you arrive, you find that your flight had been cancelled. The only flight available is out of Newark Airport, and it routes through some airline hub out in the middle of the country – Houston or Dallas or Chicago or Cincinnati, take your pick.

So you get on a shuttle bus and head for Newark, and board your new flight, and settl...more Let us suppose that you are to take a flight from New York to California. You book the flight, make time to head out to the West Coast, and make your way to JFK. Only when you arrive, you find that your flight had been cancelled. The only flight available is out of Newark Airport, and it routes through some airline hub out in the middle of the country – Houston or Dallas or Chicago or Cincinnati, take your pick.

So you get on a shuttle bus and head for Newark, and board your new flight, and settle in for a long siege. You’ve seen the in-flight movie. You’ve finished your novel well before you reach your intermediate destination. And then there’s a long layover, and you get back on another plane, with the same in-flight magazine and discarded USA TODAY sections and nothing else to read. And somewhere, over Kansas, you speculate that you are still a long, long way from San Francisco.

Readers of A Crack in the Edge of the World: America and the Great California Earthquake of 1906, can relate, and more than you know. Author Simon Winchester is (metaphorically speaking) headed for San Francisco, but it takes a damnably long time to get there, and there are more detours along that route than even the most unfortunate airline reader will ever encounter, much less countenance.

To give you an idea – just an idea – of where A Crack in the Edge of the World is going, the book starts in Wapakoneta. Ohio, known primarily as the home of Neil Armstrong, who has nothing to do at all with the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 that anyone, even the multitalented Winchester, can reveal. This is in the prologue, which introduces the Gaia Hypothesis and the New Geology and the rest of the science stuff. After that, Winchester gets near San Francisco – interjecting himself into the narrative by means of a story about his a camping trip to a nearby mountain – but it doesn’t take him long to get back to plate tectonics all over again.

About every other chapter in Winchester’s book is noted as a “Chronicle”, and these chapters hew to what a reasonable expectation of what a primarily historical book about the San Francisco earthquake would be about. These are the short chapters. The long chapters are long indeed. One of them, “From Plate to Shining Plate”, is a first-person disquisition of a lengthy, and largely pointless, tour of the North American Plate. Highlights of this include a trip to Iceland (where the North American Plate begins), New Madrid, Missouri (where a devastating earthquake took place in 1811), and the Wichita Mountains of Oklahoma (where another fault is to be found). None of this, except by comparison, has anything to do with San Francisco, or 1906, or anything much of anything else.

And the travelogues (there’s another one in the vicinity of the San Andreas Fault, and yet another up to Alaska at the book’s close) are at least marginally interesting. The scientific disquisition of the geology that underlines San Francisco is explained with a degree of depth that is only surpassed by its complete lack of clarity. (Anyone who has read, and enjoyed, John McPhee’s Annals of the Former World will recognize the shortcomings in Winchester’s book.) Winchester covers ophiolites, and strike-slip faulting, and epicenters, all before telling us anything in-depth about San Francisco and 1906 and the human scope of the disaster.

Eventually, Winchester does get his reader to San Francisco. The earthquake, when it happens – that’s on page 243 of my version – is arresting, and powerful, and has a human impact. Winchester introduces us to the famous figures in San Francisco – Enrico Caruso, and Jack London, and the young Ansel Adams – and the ordinary people displaced by the tragedy. He focuses, admirably, on the fate of San Francisco’s Chinatown, and the fight made by nativist Californians to relocate its residents elsewhere. Winchester handles the historical sections with a grace and aplomb that’s totally missing from the first half of the narrative – in part by the simple action of taking himself out of the story, but mostly to his skill as a storyteller.

A Crack in the Edge of the World is a perfectly reasonable choice for any seasoned airline traveler to bring along – not least because the reader has the power to skip over the more impenetrable sections. Unfortunately, there’s still no easy and simple way to skip over long layovers at O’Hare.
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Jun 13, 2012 James Peavler rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012

This book only gets a three from me because I felt it was falsely advertised. As a Bay Area native, earthquakes have always held a strong fascination for me. I experienced a fairly large one in 1989, and my memories are still as strong today as they were then. So when I pick up a book that gives me an impression that its about the year 1906, and the seismic activity that occurred all around the world that year, ending with the ultimate seismic event near the shores of San Francisco, it was disco...more

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May 16, 2012 Breanne rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

While I was expecting this to be mainly about the events of the San Francisco earthquake of 1906, there are several other central topics in this book. There is a lengthy discussion and explanation of geology, including the history of many of the geological disturbances here in the United States, with background going as far back as the earliest discernible movements of the earth's plates (and I didn't realize that is a very, very, very long way back. Like, WAYY past Pangea). There is also a leng...more While I was expecting this to be mainly about the events of the San Francisco earthquake of 1906, there are several other central topics in this book. There is a lengthy discussion and explanation of geology, including the history of many of the geological disturbances here in the United States, with background going as far back as the earliest discernible movements of the earth's plates (and I didn't realize that is a very, very, very long way back. Like, WAYY past Pangea). There is also a lengthy history of the surrounding area of San Francisco as well as the settlement and progression of the city up to the quake. There is, of course, a riveting description of the earthquake itself and illustration of the origins and movements of the fires that caused so much damage. And there is also some discussion of the aftermath, rebuilding, and current-day circumstances, not only for San Francisco, but other quite vulnerable cities along the San Andreas Fault (heck, along the entire edge of the Pacific plate).

While the San Francisco quake seems to have provided the motivation for this book, the real star seems to be geology itself. It makes sense when you realize, after a quick Wikipedia search, that Winchester is a renowned geologist, and luckily quite an apt journalist and author.

I feel that Simon Winchester makes some classic writing mistakes with this book. Run-on sentences, long tangents that are unnecessary to the main topics of the book, and some pretty dry subjects (there is a LOT of geology). And yet, he completely makes up for them with imaginative writing and an illustrative and evocative vocabulary that he twists to bring to life the movement of the earth in a way that makes it seem as though you are standing right on the brink as it rips apart. Also, as I listened to the audiobook, his lively and entertaining performance brought everything to life even more. He has a sonorous Oxford accent, and a drama and passion in his reading that I have never heard from a nonfiction narrator.

I think it's a little tempting to complain about how this turned out to be more about Geology (and other tangential topics) than the SF earthquake itself. I think those complaints are justified, but for me personally, it was done in such an eloquent and fun-to-listen-to way, I really enjoyed it.(less)

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Oct 04, 2011 Gerald Curtis rated it 3 of 5 stars

I chose this book because I was interested in the 1906 earthquake that destroyed San Francisco. That subject turned out to be less than 20% of the book’s content, which could be viewed as a benefit or a curse, depending on one’s interest in geology.

Not content to merely relate “what happened” in San Francisco during and after the earthquake, the book relates the details of world-wide tectonic plate science as it evolved over the centuries, along with earthquake and volcanic eruptions all over t...more

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Oct 02, 2011 Elvis Brown rated it 5 of 5 stars

Review of the Audio Book.

Simon Winchester has one of those voices that can really get up your nose. I find him tedious and slightly patronising and smug. I've tried several of his other works and given up on them. I don't know why but this one worked for me.

I found it engaging and put across in a way that held my interest. I liked they way that he sprinkles factoids here and there and his little digressions I found filled in details in this huge canvas. I liked his systematic approach to the sci...more

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Nov 22, 2010 Schmacko rated it 2 of 5 stars

Boy howdy, Simon Winchester sure knows his geology! And while he’s telling you about it, he’ll also throw in a long tangent about camping on Mount Diablo. And then he’ll tell you about the Gaia theory. And then he might get distracted by a story from his college days. And then he FINALLY arrives – 205 pages into this book – at the Great San Francisco Earthquake, the theme of this book. But then – and I want to strangle him for this - he’ll forsake all the human lives of the city and their storie...more

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May 16, 2012 Caroline rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: american-history

This book was not quite what I was expecting, or if I'm honest, hoping for. I was looking for a history of the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906. And this is that history, but only if you start about 150 million years ago. I suppose I was looking for a social history, and what I got was mostly a geological history!

I learned more than I ever wanted to about New Geology, seismology, plate tectonics, fault lines, slip-strike lines, seismographs - but what I really wanted was the personal histories,...more

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Feb 11, 2013 Beth Cato rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013, history, science, research, central-california

I read this book for research purposes. While I did fill it with sticky notes and found the read overall quite rewarding, I was also left with a strong sense that it could have been a much better book.

Winchester is a very knowledgeable fellow. The book is framed around his own travels to places like Iceland and then across North America, from Charleston, to New Madrid, and on westward to San Francisco. His goal is to explore tectonic theory and how the San Andreas Fault fits into the larger sche...more

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Jan 10, 2012 April Brown rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: history, science, reference

What ages would I recommend it too? – Twelve and up.

Length? – Three or Four evening read.

Characters? – Many historical characters

Setting? – Globally, focuses mostly on California and how geology influences lives and politics.

Written approximately? – 2006.

Does the story leave questions in the readers mind? – How have those influences changed since the 1906 quake. Has the politics improved, or is the town just as likely to be severely damaged by earthquake and fire today.

Any issues the author (or...more

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Feb 05, 2009 Bookmarks Magazine added it · review of another edition

Winchester's latest work is a lesson in unfulfilled expectations. Though he presents the book as a history of the San Francisco quake, over the first 200 pages Winchester offers an abbreviated version of John McPhee's Annals of the Former World. Where McPhee made clear his intentions to write a comprehensive geological history of the North American continent, critics feel duped by Winchester, or by the publisher's marketing department. Many reviewers are dismayed to see him reusing information f

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Oct 12, 2009 Melissa rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: history-stuff

I had really high hopes for this book. . .
I loved his earlier book, The Professor and the Madman
Generally speaking, I enjoy disaster history (Isaac's Storm, The Children's Blizzard, etc).
But the science bits, explaining plate tetonics and exactly what kind of earthquake hit San Francisco in 1906 too far too long. I ended up skimming quite a bit of it, something I rarely do. His trip across the US, checking out fault lines, also got skimmed.
The stuff about the actual disaster was good--there jus...more

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Oct 21, 2009 Garrett rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: science, history

Winchester writes about the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. He began with some accounts of the quake, launches into some geology, and begins describing a trip he made to California. Yawn. For all of this, his writing style seemed over dramatic. Then he spent a few chapters giving a good little geology lesson. If not for his dramatic voice, this would have been dull indeed. Instead it was quite interesting. He follows that with a history of California and the SF area. Eventually he gets to the...more

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Mar 19, 2013 Susan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Despite my rating of three stars, this is a must-read -- or a must-avoid -- for anyone living in San Francisco or anyone with loved ones or friends living in San Francisco. Same goes for those planning a visit to Yellowstone or with loved ones or friends planning a visit there.

The nonfiction book’s subject is the California earthquake of 1906…and so much more. As usual with nonfiction, I was glad to have my book group at the Naples library, led by my friend Claudia, to discuss after reading. I w...more Despite my rating of three stars, this is a must-read -- or a must-avoid -- for anyone living in San Francisco or anyone with loved ones or friends living in San Francisco. Same goes for those planning a visit to Yellowstone or with loved ones or friends planning a visit there.

The nonfiction book’s subject is the California earthquake of 1906…and so much more. As usual with nonfiction, I was glad to have my book group at the Naples library, led by my friend Claudia, to discuss after reading. I would have given up if I hadn’t had the discussion group as a goal for finishing.

Simon Winchester is a genius writer. Through the first eight chapters, I felt like I was deep into a geology seminar in a graduate program at a top-notch university with the supreme geology guru.

However, at times I just wanted to “get on” with the story. For those who are really into geology – or even science in general – Winchester’s detail about world geology and its impact on U.S. earthquakes -- and potential earthquakes -- is amazing.

A science buff in my book group who LOVED the book, said it read like having a wonderful, nonstop conversation with Winchester.

I, however, wanted to get to the “people stories.” (My reason for the 3-star rating.) That’s the way I feel when I read James Michener, too. But finally – like Michener – Winchester gets to the “people stories” and then he can refer back to the facts he established earlier. And I’m glad I waded through all the background. It works.

I learned lots I didn’t know about tectonic plates and the world’s interconnectedness and the living, breathing monster at the core of the earth…and so much more.

Readers find out about Enrico Caruso and John Barrymore and Ansel Adams and lots and lots of common folk. We find out insurance companies haven’t changed much since 1906 and how the San Francisco postmaster reached out to those who couldn’t afford a stamp and forwarded letters for free. We discover the arts community pretty much abandoned the city after the disaster and how the entire nation rallied to support the westernmost city in the U.S. We learn the role of the Pentecostals from Los Angeles. And so much more.

Winchester’s premise is cause for reflection: “…this fragile planet, suspended in the blackness of space, is now something to be considered as an immense whole, with all of its elements interlinked and interconnected, the one happenstance triggering another and another and another, for as long as the world exists. The butterfly effect, written into the rocks of the American West, and into the rest of the world as well.” (383)

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Sep 30, 2012 Michael rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: american-history, nature, fires, non-fiction

Ok.... this book is NOT about the San Francisco earthquake. Well... at least the first half isn't. That's as far as I made it. I put this book down 4 times to read others, so I gave it a go. The first half of this book is plate tectonics lesson along with a journal of the authors travels to plate tectonics related areas in western North America. NOT about the earthquake! This man is obviously very intelligent and should be a plate tectonics professor if he isn't already. I bought this book to le...more

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Sep 08, 2012 Carolinecarver rated it 2 of 5 stars

Having loved two previous Simon Winchester books I had read, I picked up this book on the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and expected great things. What I didn't expect ws to have to wade through more than two hundred pages to even get to the quake. Nor did I expect it to be all about Simon Winchester. More than a little self-indulgent, the author takes us on a geological survey of the world which includes his travels, camping trips, college courses and insight into things both interesting and no...more

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Feb 09, 2011 Marcelo rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Very good book, and worth reading. It does take a bit to get going on the specifics of the San Francisco quake, since he first explains the whole science behind plate tectonics, prior quakes in the US, and the overall context of the California of the times. But I found that getting to know this information to better understand what really happens when the earthquake hits. if you are looking for a book trying to cover every little human anecdote of the quake, this is not it - while Winchester doe...more

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Jul 26, 2011 Bonnie rated it 2 of 5 stars

A Crack in the Edge of the World is, supposedly, about the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake. At least this is what I surmised from it's subtitle, America and the Great California Earthquake of 1906. Unfortunately, the greater part of the book is about the geology and science of earthquakes. It wasn't uninteresting but I admit a lot of it went way over my head. I would've preferred more on the earthquake itself and the human element of the tragedy. Instead, it felt like that part of the story was re...more

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Feb 13, 2009 Audra rated it 4 of 5 stars

Don't think that because I am giving this book four stars, it is an easy read. It took me six months - six PERSISTENT months - to get through it. And I loved it.

Simon Winchester graduated from Oxford University with a degree in geology, and he ABSOLUTELY writes like a British geologist. Sometimes the writing is dense, sometimes he gets off on brilliant tangents (loaded with remarkable trivia; one footnote took a half page), but his devotion to the story of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake is cl...more

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Aug 03, 2011 Michael rated it 3 of 5 stars

Fresh back from a San Francisco trip I picked this up hoping for a social history of the Great Quake. What I've got is a book on geology with sprinkling of useless information such as a description of Neil Armstrong's Ohio hometown (huh?) and the fact that the word "muckraking" came into use in 1906.

Like Bill Bryson, Winchester is both discursive and digressive but not nearly so entertaining. In fact I would call him humorless, even with the inherently risable subject of rocks (I can't even thin...more

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Jan 26, 2010 Christopher rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: history, cartography-maps

Not Winchester's best book. I found myself constantly comparing this book to to Krakatoa (which I enjoyed immensely) in my mind.

Winchester spends much more time in this book explaining plate tectonics, including an over-arching travel thread from one end of the North American Plate (in Iceland) to the other (in California and Alaska). While I really do find plate tectonics fascinating (gotta love that the first supercontinent was named Ur), I found the shifting between the travelogue, the San F...more

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May 01, 2013 Richard rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: california, history, san-francisco, science

This is a mostly delightful tour of geology, earthquakes and plate tectonics, with an emphasis on California's infamous San Andreas Fault and the 1906 earthquake that devastated San Francisco. I can highly recommend it.

Much to the delight of info gluttons, Winchester as always ranges widely from the nominal focus of the book. Any reader looking for an in-depth history of the whys and wherefores of the earthquake and fire will be more than satisfied, as well anyone wondering about the broader sur...more This is a mostly delightful tour of geology, earthquakes and plate tectonics, with an emphasis on California's infamous San Andreas Fault and the 1906 earthquake that devastated San Francisco. I can highly recommend it.

Much to the delight of info gluttons, Winchester as always ranges widely from the nominal focus of the book. Any reader looking for an in-depth history of the whys and wherefores of the earthquake and fire will be more than satisfied, as well anyone wondering about the broader surrounding topics.

Of course, if you want your author to go straight to the heart of the matter, this isn't your book and, furthermore, you really should forego any of Winchester's books.

By the way, this book was more personal to me than to most of you out there: I've lived in San Francisco for almost my entire adult life, and I'm a third-generation Californian (and almost a third-generation San Franciscan). I've backpacked for many years in the Sierras, thrown up millions of years ago by the mechanisms he describes in the book, and I felt connected to every scene he describes in the city.

Still, my reaction to this book isn't unalloyed praise. I think there were several false notes. The more obvious one was the connection to Pentecostalism. I agree it was an important phenomena of the time — actually, I wouldn't be here if my mother's parents hadn't found each other while attending a Pentecostal church during the depression. But the movement almost certainly would have taken off with or without San Francisco's earthquake; that kind of exuberant religiosity seems to be a fundamental part of U.S. culture. Despite the specific anecdotes that tie the two stories together, I felt it was really a post hoc, ergo propter hoc kind of connection, and detrimental to the book's focus.

The other significant annoyance was that several times the author referred to San Francisco and other places in close proximity to the fault as "very dangerous". Now, maybe when the Big One hits I'll change my tune, but substantially fewer than 1000 Californians have died in earthquakes in the past century. As I'm writing this at the end of April 2013, and the New York Times just reminded me that three years after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake (which killed 63 in the region), Los Angeles lived through the Rodney King riots, which killed 54. And, of course, at least 15 (and possibly many more) have just died in the explosion of a fertilizer company in Texas. Frankly, life is dangerous; everyone dies in the end.

Living in an earthquake zone does certainly raise the likelihood of dying prematurely (or being seriously injured), but there are many, many other factors that affect mortality rates even more. Coastal California — right along the San Andeas Fault — has a famously benign climate, for example. I suspect the overall health of the locals is higher because of it, and probably lengthens their life expectancy more than the earthquake risk shortens it. Winchester even makes fun of the residents of Portola Valley, a town that lies directly upon the fault line — amused at how they argue endlessly about whether and where to move this building or that, only to go back to sipping their sauvignon blanc. He agrees that their "way of life [is] quite unrivaled in its quality anywhere in the world", yet still thinks that there can be "no greater monument to hubris" that the choose to live there.

I suppose he really thinks they'd be better off somewhere else, but I think there's a lot of hubris in his assertion that he is right and several million residents of the San Francisco Bay Area are being irrational. Perhaps he should have asked the scientists at the Menlo Park's USGS — the same folks he thanks for helping in his studies. After all, their office is on alluvial soil about eight miles from Portola Valley, and they undoubtedly live in the area. It apparently did not occur to Winchester to ask them what they feel about that risk.

I'll take the certitude of a quake and its consequent increase in my mortality over living elsewhere, thank you.
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3 likes · like · see review

Mikey B. Great Review!!!
Good that you point out that practically every area of the world has its ups and downs.
May 01, 2013 02:33pm

Richard Mikey B. wrote: "... ups and downs."

Hah hah! Well, ours are mores backs-and-forths. Transverse fault, y'know. I guess some parts of the world are geol...more
May 01, 2013 02:45pm

Mikey B. And today in Montreal its' a beautiful 75 Fahrenheit (25 C) and we are basking in this. Wore shorts for the first time since mid-October!! So weather...more
May 01, 2013 04:27pm

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About Simon Winchester

Simon Winchester, OBE, is a British writer, journalist and broadcaster who resides in the United States. Through his career at The Guardian, Winchester covered numerous significant events including Bloody Sunday and the Watergate Scandal. As an author, Simon Winchester has written or contributed to over a dozen nonfiction books and authored one novel and his articles appear in several travel publi...more Simon Winchester, OBE, is a British writer, journalist and broadcaster who resides in the United States. Through his career at The Guardian, Winchester covered numerous significant events including Bloody Sunday and the Watergate Scandal. As an author, Simon Winchester has written or contributed to over a dozen nonfiction books and authored one novel and his articles appear in several travel publications including Condé Nast Traveler, Smithsonian Magazine, and National Geographic.

In 1969, Winchester joined The Guardian, first as regional correspondent based in Newcastle upon Tyne, but was later assigned to be the Northern Ireland Correspondent. Winchester's time in Northern Ireland placed him around several events of The Troubles, including the events of Bloody Sunday and the Belfast Hour of Terror.

After leaving Northern Ireland in 1972, Winchester was briefly assigned to Calcutta before becoming The Guardian's American correspondent in Washington, D.C., where Winchester covered news ranging from the end of Richard Nixon's administration to the start of Jimmy Carter's presidency. In 1982, while working as the Chief Foreign Feature Writer for The Sunday Times, Winchester was on location for the invasion of the Falklands Islands by Argentine forces. Suspected of being a spy, Winchester was held as a prisoner in Tierra del Fuego for three months.

Winchester's first book, In Holy Terror, was published by Faber and Faber in 1975. The book drew heavily on his first hand experiences during the turmoils in Ulster. In 1976, Winchester published his second book, American Heartbeat, which dealt with his personal travels through the American heartland. Winchester's third book, Prison Diary, was a recounting of his imprisonment at Tierra del Fuego during the Falklands War and, as noted by Dr Jules Smith, is responsible for his rise to prominence in the United Kingdom. Throughout the 1980s and most of the 1990s, Winchester produced several travel books, most of which dealt with Asian and Pacific locations including Korea, Hong Kong, and the Yangtze River.

Winchester's first truly successful book was The Professor and the Madman (1998) published by Penguin UK as The Surgeon of Crowthorne. Telling the story of the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary, the book was a New York Times Best Seller, and the rights to a film version were optioned by Mel Gibson; likely to be directed by John Boorman.

Though he still writes travel books, Winchester has repeated the narrative non-fiction form he used in The Professor and the Madman several times, many of which ended in books placed on best sellers lists. His 2001 book, The Map that Changed the World focused on geologist William Smith and was his second New York Times best seller. The year 2003 saw Winchester release another book on the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary, The Meaning of Everything, as well as the best-selling Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded. Winchester followed Krakatoa's volcano with San Francisco's 1906 earth quake in A Crack in the Edge of the World. The Man Who Loved China (2008) retells the life of eccentric Cambridge scholar Joseph Needham who helped to expose China to the western world. Simon Winchester's latest book The Alice Behind Wonderland was released March 11, 2011.[22](less)

More about Simon Winchester...

Books by Simon Winchester

The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary

The Map That Changed the World: William Smith and the Birth of Modern Geology

The Meaning of Everything: The Story of the Oxford English Dictionary

The Man Who Loved China: The Fantastic Story of the Eccentric Scientist Who Unlocked the Mysteries of the Middle Kingdom

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