A Crack in the Edge of the World: America and the Great California Earthquake of 1906

by Simon Winchester

A Crack in the Edge of the World: America and the Great California Earthquake of 1906

book data

302 ratings, 3.61 average rating, 87 reviews (more data...)

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published

October 2005 (first published 2003) by Sound Library

binding

Audio CD - Narrated by Simon Winchester

isbn

0792737652 (isbn13: 9780792737650)

description

Geologically speaking, 1906 was a violent year: powerful, destructive earthquakes shook the ground from Taiwan to South America, while in Italy, Mount...more

[close] Geologically speaking, 1906 was a violent year: powerful, destructive earthquakes shook the ground from Taiwan to South America, while in Italy, Mount Vesuvius erupted. And in San Francisco, a large earthquake occurred just after five in the morning on April 18--and that was just the beginning. The quake caused a conflagration that raged for the next three days, destroying much of the American West's greatest city. The fire, along with water damage and other indirect acts, proved more destructive than the earthquake itself, but insurance companies tried hard to dispute this fact since few people carried earthquake insurance. It was also the world's first major natural disaster to have been extensively photographed and covered by the media, and as a result, it left "an indelible imprint on the mind of the entire nation."

Though the epicenter of this marvelously constructed book is San Francisco, Winchester covers much more than just the disaster. He discusses how this particular quake led to greater scientific study of quakes in an attempt to understand the movements of the earth. Trained at Oxford University as a geologist, Winchester is well qualified to discuss the subject, and he clearly explains plate tectonics theory (first introduced in 1968) and the creation of the San Andreas Fault, along with the geologic exploration of the American West in the late 19th century and the evolution of technology used to measure and predict earthquakes. He also covers the social and political shifts caused by the disaster, such as the way that Pentecostalists viewed the quake as "a message of divine approval" and used it to recruit new members into the church, and the rise in the local Chinese population. With many records destroyed in the fire, there was no way to distinguish between legal and illegal immigrants, and thus many more Chinese were granted citizenship than would have otherwise been. Filled with eyewitness accounts, vivid descriptions, crisp prose, and many delightful meanderings, A Crack in the Edge of the World is a thoroughly absorbing tale. --Shawn Carkonen [close]

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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 499)

All ratings | 5 stars (44) | 4 stars (126) | 3 stars (80) | 2 stars (29) | 1 star (6) | avg 3.61

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Grumpus

Grumpus rated it:

(review of isbn 0060571993)

08/26/07

bookshelves: history, science

Read in August, 2007

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 th...more

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JZ rated it:

(review of isbn 0060571993)

08/28/07

bookshelves: 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&quo...more

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Curtis

Curtis rated it:

(review of isbn 0060572000)

11/27/07

bookshelves: history, science

Read in October, 2007

recommends it for: Anyone

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 bu...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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Andrew

Andrew rated it:

(review of isbn 0060571993)

09/22/07

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 an...more

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Sarah

Sarah rated it:

(review of isbn 0060572000)

12/01/07

bookshelves: 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... o...more

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Jennifer

Jennifer rated it:

(review of isbn 0060572000)

08/14/07

bookshelves: history

Read in September, 2007

recommends it for: Anyone interested in history/earthquakes

Similar to Erik Larson, Simon Winchester is able to carefully and meticulously render a significant historical event so that it reads like great fiction. A few chapters are little heavy on the geography side, but stick with it because it lays a great foundation for the reasons behind the 1906 San Francisco quake.

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Ora

Ora rated it:

03/30/08

Read in April, 2008

The beginning of the title sums up the book: Crack. This book is more a geology book than about the destruction of San Francisco. The whole first half of the book deals with the geology of the United States and the recent history of geology as a science.

Once the book gets into the destruction, it reads much as you would expect. He follows up the destruction with how it affected Religion, Art and Architecture in San Francisco.

Although the author doesn't make the correlation, I was stuck b...more

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Charley

Charley rated it:

(review of isbn 0060572000)

02/29/08

Read in February, 2008

A friendly and place-sensitive story, rather more loosely framed around the San Francisco earthquake than the title and the dust jacket suggest. There are many, many detours down California roads and other byways. Most of them are enjoyable to those who get a kick out of California geography and history (any Kevin Starr fans out there?). The geological lessons are clear and engaging, and I'm thankful.

Three things mar it: sloppiness in details, personal meandering, and overreaching. By slopp...more A friendly and place-sensitive story, rather more loosely framed around the San Francisco earthquake than the title and the dust jacket suggest. There are many, many detours down California roads and other byways. Most of them are enjoyable to those who get a kick out of California geography and history (any Kevin Starr fans out there?). The geological lessons are clear and engaging, and I'm thankful.

Three things mar it: sloppiness in details, personal meandering, and overreaching. By sloppiness I mean things like confusing Azusa with Azusa Street (a misstated connection that Winchester uses to riff on the rise of Pentecostal Christianity), repeatedly messing up the names of missions (Mission San Jose is not in San Jose, as the most cursory research points out) and compass points (Lancaster is north of Los Angeles, not "east of the easternmost suburbs") and an utterly puzzling way of bollixing up large figures: Alaska as 600,000 acres?! (It's supposed to be square miles). Perhaps his map was tilted and his calculator set to a different unit of measurement.

By meandering I mean putting in too much about his road trips (the campsite raccoons that begged for food, the anticlimactic visit to the Meteor Crater, the truck-stop waitress with the alluring, uh, pie).

And finally, he has a habit of stringing too many dubious capital-C conclusions out of the quake. Such as: Los Angeles beat San Francisco to greatness because of the quake? Well, not entirely. LA also had other massive natural advantages, not least of which were multiples more space to grow and better rail links. The Pentecostal revival that was kindled in inner-city LA was already getting pretty hot by the time of the quake, and the quake wasn't that big in its growth. Pat Robertson may be the Pentecostals' fault, but he's not San Andreas's (ha). A digression on Angel Island and Chinese immigrants ... well ... interesting, good for a few graphs on post-quake records reconstruction or defiance, but not as a chapter that limps into view after the main event itself, purporting to describe the entire Chinese-American character.

But these were irritants, honestly. The overall story is California cities and their (at the moment) suspended death sentence. Clearly, coolly, vividly expressed in Winchester's telling. The killer San Andreas snakes past just a few miles west of where I sit now, slithering alongside my evening commute home. I've been casting nervous glances in its direction all week....less

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Robert

Robert rated it:

(review of isbn 0060572000)

01/12/08

recommends it for: Urban history, geological history, San Francisco history, American social policy...

No matter which side of the global warming argument you stand on, here's a terrific account of how natural events in distant places can come home to roost very close to our front yards.

More than just an account of the Great Earthquake/San Francisco Earthquake of 1906, this narrative is a chilling reminder of what happens when our great urban centers are hit by natural calamities--all too timely a tale in the wake of recent tsunamis, other more recent earthquakes, and of course the devastatio...more

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Shawn

Shawn rated it:

(review of isbn 0060572000)

01/23/08

Read in January, 2008

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...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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Enterprise

Enterprise rated it:

(review of isbn 0060572000)

01/18/08

Read in January, 2008

My first Simon Winchester book, and I can't say I'm too impressed. I think that's more because it didn't do what I expected it to do -- talk about the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. Instead, Winchester spent a lot of time getting us acquainted with continental drift & plate tectonics, different earthquakes such as the one at New Madrid, and very annoying footnotes that sometimes bear no relation to the questions at hand. I'm also not impressed by Winchester's writing style or his tendenc...more

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Jennifer

Jennifer rated it:

(review of isbn 0060572000)

12/28/07

bookshelves: nonfiction

Read in November, 2007

I was one of Simon Winchester's students when he was a guest professor at San Jose State University while he was researching this book. It was my last semester as an undergraduate, and my writing benefited immensely from his guidance. So obviously I have a bit of a bias!

I am not as fascinated by tectonic plates as I am by people. However, Winchester is a trained geologists, and he describes geological events with clear analogies that help non-science-minded people like myself understand the ...more

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Jason

Jason rated it:

(review of isbn 0060571993)

11/07/07

Read in January, 2006

First off, the subject matter of Simon Winchester's book is a subject that most anyone will find fascinating. Who would not be impressed by the fury nature is able to unleash, and by the sheer desperation that these all too harrowing events can leave in their wake? Natural disasters are especially poignant considering the many disasters we've all been witness to in recent times; i.e. the great Sumatran tsunamis, hurricane Katrina and so forth. The book itself, though, is rife with problems of an...more First off, the subject matter of Simon Winchester's book is a subject that most anyone will find fascinating. Who would not be impressed by the fury nature is able to unleash, and by the sheer desperation that these all too harrowing events can leave in their wake? Natural disasters are especially poignant considering the many disasters we've all been witness to in recent times; i.e. the great Sumatran tsunamis, hurricane Katrina and so forth. The book itself, though, is rife with problems of an editorial nature.

Winchester discusses in good detail certain aspects of geology, plate tectonics, and even earthquake history in such little known places as New Madrid, MO and Meers, OK. The reader will come away with a better appreciation for the beginning of geological time and the formation of such pre-modern supercontinents like Rodina and Pangea. Part of the problem, though, in reading through these pages is you never get a clear sense of where Winchester is going with this. He starts talking about geology only to switch gears to something else in haphazard fashion. At other times the writer's tone begins to take on a technical droning-on fashion as if he is so seriously interested in the topic himself he forgets to make it pleasing to the reader. It reads like a geological textbook and you start thinking isn't this supposed to be about the great 1906 San Franciscan earthquake? For all practical purposes the actual earthquake the book professes to be about is not talked about nearly enough. If the reader can make it through these tedious parts the book gets a little better when Winchester eventually gets to the San Francisco earthquake after about 200 plus pages. We learn how San Francisco is situated ever so precariously along the San Andreas fault-line and how in the city's hasty construction it was ill prepared to handle the ground shaking it endured. To my pleasure, Winchester also spent a little time discussing Chinatown and how it was affected throughout all of this. It was nice to hear of a different perspective for a change as opposed to the usual Americancentric view so commonly espoused. With all these factors considered the pros certainly outweigh the cons in this book. Simon Winchester, in my opinion, is a good writer but this book hopped around too much for my liking. A much better editing job was needed to make this the kind of book it deserved to be. Worth your time but caveat lector, as Winchester says.
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mandy

mandy rated it:

(review of isbn 0060572000)

08/27/08

Read in August, 2008

so I didn't actually read it....I listened to the first 3 discs of the audiobook (out of 10, I think). Even after almost a third of the book, there was very little discussion of the San Francisco earthquake for which the book is named.

Things that were discussed instead included: Neil Armstrong and the moon landing, plate tectonics, the authors 1960's trip to Iceland, and sodomy. Apparently, much like Pat Robertson's claim that Sept 11th was divine punishment for America's immoral way...more

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Tracey

Tracey rated it:

(review of isbn 0060572000)

11/21/07

bookshelves: audiobook, libraryread, stalled

Read in July, 2006

It's main topic is the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, but he's managed to discuss all sorts of semi-related (but interesting) things so far... and I'm only in chapter 2! It's a 10-hr audiobook that I'll probably be listening to mostly while working, so not sure how much I'll actually absorb; I think I do better while reading & taking notes.
...
Up to Chapter 5 - he's spent an amazing amount of time on geology & plate tectonics, various & sundry other earthquakes of the 1800's, as ...more

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Frederick

Frederick added it (review of isbn 0060571993)

07/17/07

bookshelves: history, winchester--simon

Read in January, 2007

recommends it for: Those interested in the San Francisco earthquake of 1906, fans of Simon Winchester.

I actually haven't read this. But I want to draw attention to what I consider to be one of the best dust-jackets in recent publishing history. The book's about the earthquake, so the jacket is folded, three or four times, to resemble tectonic plates. Take the jacket off the cover and unfold it. It becomes a wall poster. The lettering and the photograph have the look of a newspaper from 1906. It's quite something.
Barnes and Noble is currently (the current moment being July, 2007) selling this ...more

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Terryw

Terryw rated it:

(review of isbn 0060572000)

04/24/08

Read in April, 2008

Reading a Simon Winchester book is like reading a really long article in a magazine like Smithsonian magazine. He picks scientific and/or historical subjects and explores everything about them. The thing I like is that in a book about the San Francisco earthquake I learn not only about plate tectonics and the colonization of California but also all sorts of interesting tidbits about everything from the history of Iceland to the personal habits of opera singer Caruso. I found a few things irri...more

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Cat

Cat rated it:

(review of isbn 0060572000)

07/21/07

Read in July, 2007

recommends it for: Lovers of US Western historical trivia

A book that deals with plate tectonics, geological and seismological history, and a host of historical trivia. It does actually describe the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, and its subsequent fire - after 242 pages of rambling narrative, pedantic lectures concerning plate tectonics, and interminable asides into historical and geological trivia.

The author, and Englishman, alternately rhapsodizes and denigrates, in a style of prose reminiscent of Conan Doyle's descriptions of the US in his She...more

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D'artagnan

D'artagnan rated it:

(review of isbn 0060572000)

08/22/08

Read in August, 2008

recommended to D'artagnan by: Candida Norton
recommends it for: San Franciscans, Immigrants, Insurance Agents, Actors

My knowledge as a Professional Geologist registered in the deliciously golden state of California not withstanding, this was a fun read for me, if you don't count the lengthy and detailed appendices. Winchester has great talent for breaking complicated stuff down, but not in a concise way. The science of the book was not the main attraction for me. Rather, the excerpts of writings from the time, and the anecdotes about famous people were what evoked the most time-travelly feelings in me, and ...more

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Windy2go

Windy2go rated it:

(review of isbn 0060572000)

06/30/08

Read in May, 2008

recommended to Windy2go by: Jessica Eicher

Well written, though sometimes the author lapsed into a bit of pretension. And I thought the book would be about the great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906, but it started with a long walk through geology and the history (surprisingly short!) of plate techtonics. Did you know that the theory of plate techtonics only got going in the 1970s? I mean, I thought humankind ALWAYS understood about the continents breaking apart and moving, but I guess it was a highly controversial theory as early as ...more

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