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A Crack in the Edge of the World
by
The international bestselling author of The Professor and the Madman and Krakatoa vividly brings to life the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake that leveled a city symbolic of America's relentless western expansion. Simon Winchester has also fashioned an enthralling and informative informative look at the tumultuous subterranean world that produces earthquakes, the planet's mos
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Paperback, 419 pages
Published
October 10th 2006
by Harper Perennial
(first published October 4th 2005)
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Tom Darrow
If lack of maps is your major problem with this book, the paperback edition (2005) of it which I read had maps.
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Start your review of A Crack in the Edge of the World
”The planet very briefly shrugged”
1906...the shrug.
We have all had those professors who have spent a lifetime sticking interesting facts into their heads. These facts may be pertinent to their particular line of enquiry for which they are considered an expert, or they might be random interesting tidbits of knowledge that have been squirrelled away for future research. They might even be just fascinating stories that may have very little to do with anything else.
Except of course that everyth ...more
1906...the shrug.
We have all had those professors who have spent a lifetime sticking interesting facts into their heads. These facts may be pertinent to their particular line of enquiry for which they are considered an expert, or they might be random interesting tidbits of knowledge that have been squirrelled away for future research. They might even be just fascinating stories that may have very little to do with anything else.
Except of course that everyth ...more
The story of how I started reading this book begins outside San Antonio, as I guided my Subaru Outback onto Interstate-10, set the cruise control, and settled back for the long, empty ride to El Paso. It was August 2010, and my wife and I were midway through our Great 2010 Unplanned Battlefield Tour Road Trip Extravaganza. After visiting Shiloh, Vicksburg, San Jacinto and the Alamo, I acquiesced to my wife’s plea that we see the Grand Canyon since a) it was the Grand Canyon and b) it wasn’t a ba
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This is a fascinating but also frustrating book about the devastating San Francisco earthquake and fire of 1906.
Simon Winchester has a passion for geology, which makes him a good person to write about this topic. However, his passion is such that he gets carried away on long tangents, and in truth, this book meandered so much that I nearly abandoned it in frustration.
The meandering starts early, with a long prologue about Neil Armstrong and how his trip to the moon affected the way scientists ...more
Simon Winchester has a passion for geology, which makes him a good person to write about this topic. However, his passion is such that he gets carried away on long tangents, and in truth, this book meandered so much that I nearly abandoned it in frustration.
The meandering starts early, with a long prologue about Neil Armstrong and how his trip to the moon affected the way scientists ...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 sen ...more
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
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%
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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
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
I am 150 pages from the end of this tome, and you know what? I am going to DNF hard. I just dont care about it anymore. I really tried, I really did, but Winchester hasnt even started talking about THE ACTUAL EARTHQUAKE YET. I just have too many other books to read before I due to continue on with this self-absorbed shit.
This was my last attempt with Winchester. He simply isn't an engaging author. I find him pompous and his books horribly bloated and lacking in any energy, connection, or emotion ...more
This was my last attempt with Winchester. He simply isn't an engaging author. I find him pompous and his books horribly bloated and lacking in any energy, connection, or emotion ...more
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
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I hate these science books by Winchester, he wreaks havoc on my Book Challenge because I cannot zip through it. I have to slow down and really enjoy it. Yeah, giving A Crack in the Edge of the World: America and the Great California Earthquake of 1906 5 Stars for making plate tectonics interesting. Seriously. You don’t get to the San Francisco part of the story until page 230. The SF story is more interesting for the attempt by politicians and others to remake the 1906 event into a slight tremor
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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
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 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
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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
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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
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
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 sett ...more
So you get on a shuttle bus and head for Newark, and board your new flight, and sett ...more
This book is a bit slow and meandering, with more geological factoids than I needed to know, but still I enjoyed it.
I lived in sparkling San Francisco for a summer, on beautiful Beach Street, which took a hit during the Loma Prieta quake of 1989. But that recent quake was nothing compared to the 1906 disaster Winchester portrays here. He bases his account on first-hand journal entries, letters, diaries, newspaper articles by James Hopper, and the bleak photographs that made Genthe famous.
Winche ...more
I lived in sparkling San Francisco for a summer, on beautiful Beach Street, which took a hit during the Loma Prieta quake of 1989. But that recent quake was nothing compared to the 1906 disaster Winchester portrays here. He bases his account on first-hand journal entries, letters, diaries, newspaper articles by James Hopper, and the bleak photographs that made Genthe famous.
Winche ...more
Simon Winchester can be a bit too much sometimes. This was my second attempt to read this book, the first one bogging down in so much detail and personal travelogue and not really reaching the actual earthquake until 200 pages in (aside from a teaser at the beginning, of course). Nevertheless, this time I persevered and am glad that I did.
The 1906 San Francisco earthquake was devastating to the city. Not only did the shaking (7.9 or 8.3 depending on the estimates) of the earth destroy many poorl ...more
The 1906 San Francisco earthquake was devastating to the city. Not only did the shaking (7.9 or 8.3 depending on the estimates) of the earth destroy many poorl ...more
Feb 01, 2017
Chana
rated it
it was amazing
Shelves:
american,
environmental,
science,
history,
recommended,
immigration,
non-fiction,
political,
travel-diaries,
california
Great book!
I bought it for my 9th grader to read as part of her homeschooling program, but I read it before her. At first I thought I would never get through it. His writing is stilted and boring at the beginning, even as he describes the miracles of our astounding planet. And because I am not a student of geology, I was falling asleep over the technical talk.
Soon he picks up speed and his language starts to flow, I start using my dictionary to gain an understanding of his geology terms, and we ...more
I bought it for my 9th grader to read as part of her homeschooling program, but I read it before her. At first I thought I would never get through it. His writing is stilted and boring at the beginning, even as he describes the miracles of our astounding planet. And because I am not a student of geology, I was falling asleep over the technical talk.
Soon he picks up speed and his language starts to flow, I start using my dictionary to gain an understanding of his geology terms, and we ...more
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
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Wondered about the focus on the moon landing at the beginning about the SF earthquake, but it did all tie together. A lot of this book goes way beyond San Francisco and covers the history of geology and the ”geological revolution—that is central to this story."
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Though this book wasn't quite what I thought it would be, it was an excellent entree into the writing of Simon Winchester. I expected a social history of the events in San Francisco, instead this is a geological history of plate tectonics and earthquakes and its effects, specifically on April 18, 1906. I enjoyed the travelogue experience of accompanying him on his journey around the world and the U.S., exploring its beauty and its precariousness. Selected for my October book discussion group, I
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Okay. Read the blurb for this book and tell me--what do you think this book is about? The 1906 earthquake maybe?
Well, we'll see. Let's check out the first sentence:
He goes on to paint the town as a quaint, worried old man or woman taking pride in their mechanical work and sucking their teeth with worry over "such ...more
Well, we'll see. Let's check out the first sentence:
Some while ago, when I was half-idly browsing my way around the Internet, I stumbled across the home page of an obscure small town in western Ohio with the arresting name of Wapakoneta.
He goes on to paint the town as a quaint, worried old man or woman taking pride in their mechanical work and sucking their teeth with worry over "such ...more
This book is about more than the San Francisco Earthquake. It is about 15 hours of
a) History of Geological theory, including the introduction of tectonic plate theory
b) History of tectonic plate movements from the beginning of earth's formation
c) History of the North American Plate, including the ongoing origin story out of Iceland and recent historical intraplate activities esp those in the New Madrid seismic zone
d) Geological cluster events, including volcanic eruptions
e) History of CA from ea ...more
a) History of Geological theory, including the introduction of tectonic plate theory
b) History of tectonic plate movements from the beginning of earth's formation
c) History of the North American Plate, including the ongoing origin story out of Iceland and recent historical intraplate activities esp those in the New Madrid seismic zone
d) Geological cluster events, including volcanic eruptions
e) History of CA from ea ...more
This book made me unexpectedly angry. For starters, the cover is a fucking lie--as is the flyleaf--all 6 paragraphs about the SF Earthquake with but one clue I see now for what was in store for me: "But Winchester's achievement is even greater: he positions the quake's significance along the earth's geological timeline and shows the effect it had on the rest of twentieth-century California and American history."--because yeah, he sure as hell tries to do that. For starters this book is NOT about
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I have to first start out by saying I'm not a science-y person by any means, so a lot of his book went over my head, even though it's written for a layman. On the positive side, it is chock full of information about earthquakes: what causes them, why and when they happen, what each of the waves feels like, and some of the worst historical earthquakes and the damage they wreaked on human beings, structures and geography. It's also full of very interesting details about the San Francisco earthquak
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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
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
Winchester's exhaustive look at the geology behind the 1906 San Francisco earthquake was quite edifying, but it was a bit short on the drama of the event itself and the aftermath.
I've been looking for a good book on the disaster for a little while now, and when I came across A Crack in the Edge of the World I was thrilled. I'd read Winchester's Atlantic a couple of years ago and enjoyed it. However, the jacket copy is a bit misleading here. True, the book is about the 1906 earthquake, but I was ...more
I've been looking for a good book on the disaster for a little while now, and when I came across A Crack in the Edge of the World I was thrilled. I'd read Winchester's Atlantic a couple of years ago and enjoyed it. However, the jacket copy is a bit misleading here. True, the book is about the 1906 earthquake, but I was ...more
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
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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| Book Club Questions | 5 | 27 | Dec 10, 2012 01:16AM |
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 publ
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“It was as though the art, instead of being permitted to bubble up naturally through the cracks in the wrecked pavement, was being briefly boosted by the chamber of commerce, or the Lions Club, or the Kiwanis—with the 1915 Pan-Pacific Exposition that was staged as an official celebration of the city’s rebirth all a part of this relentless boosterism. Artists generally prefer to work at their own pace, with their own instincts, gathering themselves into groups and movements and schools at their own behest. Though there are exceptions,† artists generally do not care much to create at the whim of officialdom.”
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