tani reviewed A Crack in the Edge of the World: America and the Great California Earthquake of 1906 on
Helpful Score: 2
A fascinating and comprehensive account with several maps and lots of photographs.
tani reviewed A Crack in the Edge of the World: America and the Great California Earthquake of 1906 on
Helpful Score: 2
A fascinating and comprehensive account of the great San Francisco earthquake.
Seymour P. reviewed A Crack in the Edge of the World: America and the Great California Earthquake of 1906 on
Helpful Score: 1
Simon Winchester has a way of putting you in the middle of what he's writing about. With this book, you almost feel the shock and can easily imagine yourself at the scene and part of what's going on. I think of "A Crack in the Edge of the World" as an elaborate news report rather than a piece of historical writing.
John O. (buzzby) -
Full of interesting geological and not-so-geological information about California. Like most of his books, Winchester wanders all over the place in telling about the earthquake, so you learn about other places and times, as well.
Betty O. (wvflatlander) reviewed A Crack in the Edge of the World: America and the Great California Earthquake of 1906 on + 86 more book reviews
For non-geologist readers this is a very interesting and entertaining way to learn more about the 1906 S.F. earthquake and also about the major possible earthquakes on the North American Plate.
Cindy W. reviewed A Crack in the Edge of the World: America and the Great California Earthquake of 1906 on + 14 more book reviews
To be honest, I got this book as a gift from someone and have never read it. It's about the great California earthquake in 1909, and I have seen good reviews for it on Amazon.com - it just is not a book for me.
Jamie L. (geegee) reviewed A Crack in the Edge of the World: America and the Great California Earthquake of 1906 on + 7 more book reviews
This is a hardcover book. It has a couple of small places on the front cover that were torn a little when someone took off the sticker price, I think. One small tear in cover on back cover. Otherwise, in good shape itself. The below review is NOT mine. This is NOT an advanced reader's copy. This book 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 look at the tumultuous subterranean world that produces earthquakes, the planet's most sudden and destructive force. In the early morning hours of April 18, 1906, San Francisco and a string of towns to its north-northwest and south-southeast were overcome by an enormous shaking that was compounded by the violent shocks of an earthquake, registering 8.25 on the Richter scale. Lasting little more than a minute, the earthquake wrecked 490 blocks, toppled a total of 25,000 buildings, broke open gas mains, cut off electric power lines throghout the Bay Area, and effectively destroyed the Gold Rush capital that had stood there for a half century. Perhaps more significant than the tremors and rumbling, which affected a swath of California more than 200 miles long, were the fires that took over the city for three days, leaving chaos and horror in their wake. The human tragedy included the deaths of upwards of 700 people, with more than 250,000 left homeless.
Jennifer M. (JenCooper923) reviewed A Crack in the Edge of the World: America and the Great California Earthquake of 1906 on + 10 more book reviews
This is not hardcover. It is an advanced reader's copy that I won in a raffle at Border's.
