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Pacific: Silicon Chips and Surfboards, Coral Reefs and Atom Bombs, Brutal Dictators, Fading Empires, and the Coming Collision of the World's Superpowers
Bestselling author Simon Winchester offers an enthralling biography of the Pacific Ocean and its role in the modern world, exploring our relationship with this imposing force of nature.
As the Mediterranean shaped the classical world, and the Atlantic connected Europe to the New World, the Pacific Ocean defines our tomorrow. With China on the rise, so, too, are the American cities of the West coast, including Seattle, San Francisco, and the long cluster of towns down the Silicon Valley.
Today, the Pacific is ascendant. Its geological history has long transformed us—tremendous earthquakes, volcanoes, and tsunamis—but its human history, from a Western perspective, is quite young, beginning with Magellan’s sixteenth-century circumnavigation. It is a natural wonder whose most fascinating history is currently being made.
In telling the story of the Pacific, Simon Winchester takes us from the Bering Strait to Cape Horn, the Yangtze River to the Panama Canal, and to the many small islands and archipelagos that lie in between. He observes the fall of a dictator in Manila, visits aboriginals in northern Queensland, and is jailed in Tierra del Fuego, the land at the end of the world. His journey encompasses a trip down the Alaska Highway, a stop at the isolated Pitcairn Islands, a trek across South Korea and a glimpse of its mysterious northern neighbor.
Winchester’s personal experience is vast and his storytelling second to none. And his historical understanding of the region is formidable, making Pacific a paean to this magnificent sea of beauty, myth, and imagination that is transforming our lives.
As the Mediterranean shaped the classical world, and the Atlantic connected Europe to the New World, the Pacific Ocean defines our tomorrow. With China on the rise, so, too, are the American cities of the West coast, including Seattle, San Francisco, and the long cluster of towns down the Silicon Valley.
Today, the Pacific is ascendant. Its geological history has long transformed us—tremendous earthquakes, volcanoes, and tsunamis—but its human history, from a Western perspective, is quite young, beginning with Magellan’s sixteenth-century circumnavigation. It is a natural wonder whose most fascinating history is currently being made.
In telling the story of the Pacific, Simon Winchester takes us from the Bering Strait to Cape Horn, the Yangtze River to the Panama Canal, and to the many small islands and archipelagos that lie in between. He observes the fall of a dictator in Manila, visits aboriginals in northern Queensland, and is jailed in Tierra del Fuego, the land at the end of the world. His journey encompasses a trip down the Alaska Highway, a stop at the isolated Pitcairn Islands, a trek across South Korea and a glimpse of its mysterious northern neighbor.
Winchester’s personal experience is vast and his storytelling second to none. And his historical understanding of the region is formidable, making Pacific a paean to this magnificent sea of beauty, myth, and imagination that is transforming our lives.
512 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 27, 2015
About the author
Simon Winchester
95 books2,100 followersSimon 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 Mel Gibson optioned the rights to a film version, likely to be directed by John Boorman.
Though Winchester still writes travel books, he 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 Whichester's 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 earthquake 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. Winchester's latest book, The Alice Behind Wonderland, was released March 11, 2011.
- source Wikipedia
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 Mel Gibson optioned the rights to a film version, likely to be directed by John Boorman.
Though Winchester still writes travel books, he 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 Whichester's 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 earthquake 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. Winchester's latest book, The Alice Behind Wonderland, was released March 11, 2011.
- source Wikipedia
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November 16, 2023
Simon Winchester takes pride in being a traveler. It was another traveler, the explorer Ferdinand Magellan, who, in 1520, gave the largest body of water on our planet the name by which we have known it ever since. After surviving a trip through the straits (now called the Straits of Magellan) at the southern tip of South America, his ships sailed into a very welcome calm sea. He named it pacific, for peaceful. And it was, no doubt, quite calm in comparison to the somewhat livelier waters of the Atlantic. It is big enough, at 59 million square miles, that you could cram all the landmass of earth into the Pacific basin and still have a couple of million square miles left over. Sucker is humongous.
The Biggest Kahuna - from vastoceans.com
Writing about the biggest piece of blue on the blue planet (No Kibbie, not where Smurfs come from) might prove a daunting challenge. Where to begin? Where to end? What to include? What to exclude? Decisions, decisions, decisions. To make his task manageable, Winchester opted to focus on the years since 1950 and look at some of the events that tell tales of lives at the edges or even in the middle of the ocean. I suppose this is like anyone’s top ten list for anything. There are always those who would grouse about the inclusion of this and such, while others would no doubt lobby for the addition of their personal favorites. Bottom line is, if you trust Winchester’s reportorial judgment, you will probably be ok with the choices he made. For those of us who have read his earlier work, this is an easy yes. I’m not saying that I necessarily agree with all his choices, but every element on which he fixes his gaze is interesting, and his well-honed tale-telling skills add that other part of a well-written work of non-fiction, making the journey he takes us on an engaging one. He is a gifted guide and while humor is not his main goal here, he does get in a chuckle or two. My favorite was of a bit of English understatement
Simon Winchester - from The Independent
Winchester’s subject choices are diverse. He is something less than radiant in his feelings about the nuclear testing done by the USA on Bikini atoll, while looking at the science involved, the politics of testing, the treatment of the locals, and of the impact on American military personnel, and the environment. He changes channels to the beginnings of SONY and the consumer electronics revolution in Japan, hangs ten with a look at the globalization of surfing culture, draws on the origin of the line that divided North from South Korea, considering both history and political implications, reaps a tale of an unanticipated legal bounty sown by a well-known ship a long, long time ago, waves goodbye as Hong Kong is restored to Chinese control, warms up to a look at climate change and its impact on storm size and frequency, tries his luck Down Under with a look at an unappreciated, visionary reformer, while telling the tale of the Sydney Opera House, noting some of the darker broom-riders in OZ, and offering a warm g’day for an entertainer of note, dives into a consideration the mind-boggling global mid-ocean ridge system, mourns the loss of species through the impact of man, and shows how a volcanic eruption contributed to a significant shift in the balance of military power in the South China Sea. Whew!
Lahaina Boards - Maui
His approach here is quite different from the one he used in writing his 2010 book, Atlantic, in which he tracked the stages in the development of the ocean itself. This one seemed more of a concept approach, like a very large issue of a smart general audience magazine like, say, Smithsonian, if it decided to do an issue on an ocean. He covers diverse subjects over a considerable span of time and subject. Winchester is a serious writer and looks into his chosen subjects with a steady gaze. There are moments, however, when some of his biases creep in. For example, in writing about the return of Chinese control to Hong Kong, Winchester writes
The number one Pariah Nation - from The Guardian
In a passage about Korea he writes
But there are far more revelations of a fascinating sort. For example, this one from 2013
Review posted – 10/23/15
Publication date – 10/27/15
=============================EXTRA STUFF
Links to the author’s personal, Twitter and FB pages
A nice overview of Winchester’s professional life can be found here
Pacific was long-listed for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction
Lots of nifty information about the Pacific on the official site of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
This is a colorized and somewhat kitschy vid of the Baker nuclear test on Bikini atoll
Here, a US propaganda film on the Crossroads nuke testing program
Sir Leslie Colin Paterson AO is a creation of comedian Barry Humphries, better known for giving the world Dame Edna Everage. Sir Leslie is a send-up of a particular Oz type. There are many vids out there of Sir Leslie. Here is sample.
Still on Oz, here is the ABC 60 Minutes Tracie Curro interview with Aussie political rising star and xenophobe Pauline Hanson
A Woods Hole lecturer on hydrothermal vents. Smoking permitted.
A NY Times Magazine piece by Jon Mooallen - Larry Ellison Bought an Island in Hawaii. Now What?
A November 2, 2015 New Yor Times article by John Schwartz, on increasing storm frequency and strength in the Pacific, The Pacific Ocean Becomes a Caldron
What China Has Been Building in the South China Sea - by Derek Watkins - NY Times - October 17, 2015 - added here December 22, 2015 - This is a subject Winchester looks at in his book with some detail and alarm
China's expansion into disputed water is the subject of another NY Times piece - Possible Radar Suggests China Wants ‘Effective Control’ in Disputed Sea - by Michael Forsythe - Feb. 23, 2016
News coverage of the South China sea as a potential flashpoint continues with this March 30, 2016 NY Times article, Patrolling Disputed Waters, U.S. and China Jockey for Dominance, by Helene Cooper
China's move to dominate the sea in its neck of the world continues apace, despite legal challenges - Ruling on South China Sea Nears in a Case Beijing Has Tried to Ignore - by Jane Perlez - July 6, 2016 - New York Times
China's land grab continues - China’s Sea Control Is a Done Deal, ‘Short of War With the U.S.’ - by Hannah Beech - September 20, 2018 - NY Times
The Biggest Kahuna - from vastoceans.com
Writing about the biggest piece of blue on the blue planet (No Kibbie, not where Smurfs come from) might prove a daunting challenge. Where to begin? Where to end? What to include? What to exclude? Decisions, decisions, decisions. To make his task manageable, Winchester opted to focus on the years since 1950 and look at some of the events that tell tales of lives at the edges or even in the middle of the ocean. I suppose this is like anyone’s top ten list for anything. There are always those who would grouse about the inclusion of this and such, while others would no doubt lobby for the addition of their personal favorites. Bottom line is, if you trust Winchester’s reportorial judgment, you will probably be ok with the choices he made. For those of us who have read his earlier work, this is an easy yes. I’m not saying that I necessarily agree with all his choices, but every element on which he fixes his gaze is interesting, and his well-honed tale-telling skills add that other part of a well-written work of non-fiction, making the journey he takes us on an engaging one. He is a gifted guide and while humor is not his main goal here, he does get in a chuckle or two. My favorite was of a bit of English understatement
Sir Eugene Goosens, the towering and talented figure of English music who, while conductor of the Sydney Symphony, had begun the process that led to the building of the Opera House, turned out to be a man of highly exotic sexual tastes. And that, to the Australia of the time, was most decidedly not on. While in Sydney, Goosens became romantically involved with a woman named Rosaleen Norton, who was a pagan, a keen practitioner of the occult. And a lady who had a liking for both flogging and unusual kinds of misbehavior with animals, mostly goats. ..Can’t you just see that being broadcast on the BeeB by an expressionless news reader? Or delivered by John Gielgud with the same dead-panache he used in Murder on the Orient Express when asked about an injury. “Yes, there is an old contusion. The result of a slight fracas in the mess, sir, with regard to the quality of a pudding known as spotted dick.”
Simon Winchester - from The Independent
Winchester’s subject choices are diverse. He is something less than radiant in his feelings about the nuclear testing done by the USA on Bikini atoll, while looking at the science involved, the politics of testing, the treatment of the locals, and of the impact on American military personnel, and the environment. He changes channels to the beginnings of SONY and the consumer electronics revolution in Japan, hangs ten with a look at the globalization of surfing culture, draws on the origin of the line that divided North from South Korea, considering both history and political implications, reaps a tale of an unanticipated legal bounty sown by a well-known ship a long, long time ago, waves goodbye as Hong Kong is restored to Chinese control, warms up to a look at climate change and its impact on storm size and frequency, tries his luck Down Under with a look at an unappreciated, visionary reformer, while telling the tale of the Sydney Opera House, noting some of the darker broom-riders in OZ, and offering a warm g’day for an entertainer of note, dives into a consideration the mind-boggling global mid-ocean ridge system, mourns the loss of species through the impact of man, and shows how a volcanic eruption contributed to a significant shift in the balance of military power in the South China Sea. Whew!
Lahaina Boards - Maui
His approach here is quite different from the one he used in writing his 2010 book, Atlantic, in which he tracked the stages in the development of the ocean itself. This one seemed more of a concept approach, like a very large issue of a smart general audience magazine like, say, Smithsonian, if it decided to do an issue on an ocean. He covers diverse subjects over a considerable span of time and subject. Winchester is a serious writer and looks into his chosen subjects with a steady gaze. There are moments, however, when some of his biases creep in. For example, in writing about the return of Chinese control to Hong Kong, Winchester writes
And Hong Kong, the British colony…was wrested from London’s hands [emphasis mine] in 1997 and is now an increasingly Chinese part of ChinaAs if the peaceful end of a lease constituted armed robbery.
The number one Pariah Nation - from The Guardian
In a passage about Korea he writes
Many military strategists have speculated that the world might have been a far safer place if postwar Korea had been divided four ways: among the United States, the Soviet Union, the Republic of China, and the United Kingdom, as was first proposed. Or if the Soviets had been given free rein to invade all of Korea, and be done with it. In this latter instance, there would have been no Korean War, for certain—merely a Leninist satrapy in the Far East that, most probably, would have withered and died, as did other Soviet satellite states.I thought this was rather cavalier of Winchester. Who is to say that a fully Sovietized Korea might not have given the USSR strategic advantages that might have impacted the development of Japan or other western leaning nations? And what of the impact on the residents?
But there are far more revelations of a fascinating sort. For example, this one from 2013
Admiral Samuel Locklear III in charge of all US forces in the Pacific…declared his belief that it was actually changes to the climate—changes that were powerfully suggested by typhoon clusterings that he and his weather analysts had observed—that posed the greatest of all security threats in the region.I guess the Admiral is just another tree-hugger. One of the things that makes a good non-fiction read is the number of times one feels impelled to follow up the material the author presents with some extra digging of one’s own. You will probably be able to construct a prairie-dog town from all the digging you will want to do while reading Pacific. I have provided a few starter holes in the EXTRA STUFF section. For me, there was much here that was news, including how the line between North and South Korea came to be, some of the specifics of the US nuke tests, and the treatment of the test area locals, Jack London’s relationship to surfing, an almost comedic story of a DMZ tree, Gough Whitlam’s exciting PM term and the current growth of xenophobia in Australia, and China’s program of expanding their territorial claims and breadth of military installations in their coastal waters. Whether these items in particular float your boat or wash it ashore, there are plenty more bits and pieces in Winchester’s Pacific that, when taken as a whole, join to form a very large and satisfying read.
“Significant upheaval related to the warming planet is probably the thing most likely to happen…and that will cripple the security environment.”
Review posted – 10/23/15
Publication date – 10/27/15
=============================EXTRA STUFF
Links to the author’s personal, Twitter and FB pages
A nice overview of Winchester’s professional life can be found here
Pacific was long-listed for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction
Lots of nifty information about the Pacific on the official site of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
This is a colorized and somewhat kitschy vid of the Baker nuclear test on Bikini atoll
Here, a US propaganda film on the Crossroads nuke testing program
Sir Leslie Colin Paterson AO is a creation of comedian Barry Humphries, better known for giving the world Dame Edna Everage. Sir Leslie is a send-up of a particular Oz type. There are many vids out there of Sir Leslie. Here is sample.
Still on Oz, here is the ABC 60 Minutes Tracie Curro interview with Aussie political rising star and xenophobe Pauline Hanson
A Woods Hole lecturer on hydrothermal vents. Smoking permitted.
A NY Times Magazine piece by Jon Mooallen - Larry Ellison Bought an Island in Hawaii. Now What?
A November 2, 2015 New Yor Times article by John Schwartz, on increasing storm frequency and strength in the Pacific, The Pacific Ocean Becomes a Caldron
What China Has Been Building in the South China Sea - by Derek Watkins - NY Times - October 17, 2015 - added here December 22, 2015 - This is a subject Winchester looks at in his book with some detail and alarm
China's expansion into disputed water is the subject of another NY Times piece - Possible Radar Suggests China Wants ‘Effective Control’ in Disputed Sea - by Michael Forsythe - Feb. 23, 2016
News coverage of the South China sea as a potential flashpoint continues with this March 30, 2016 NY Times article, Patrolling Disputed Waters, U.S. and China Jockey for Dominance, by Helene Cooper
China's move to dominate the sea in its neck of the world continues apace, despite legal challenges - Ruling on South China Sea Nears in a Case Beijing Has Tried to Ignore - by Jane Perlez - July 6, 2016 - New York Times
China's land grab continues - China’s Sea Control Is a Done Deal, ‘Short of War With the U.S.’ - by Hannah Beech - September 20, 2018 - NY Times
January 25, 2022
4 ☆
Simon Winchester's Pacific delivered more than I had expected. The GR synopsis suggested that it would be reminiscent of an anthology loosely centered around the Pacific Ocean. But my primary takeaway from Pacific is of a modern history that sets the explanatory stage for current geopolitical tensions and potential future conflicts.
And the stage is gargantuan with an estimated 64 million square miles or about one-third of the earth's entire surface, which swells to 45 percent if one only factors in water. There's nothing to see except water for more than 10,600 miles if one sets out westward from Panama to Malaysia. If one decides to go south from the Bering Strait to Antarctica, then anticipate only water for nearly 9,000 miles. For context, recall that the continental US spans 2,800 miles from west to east. The Pacific Ocean is also the deepest, as its trenches extend seven miles below. Even today, many sections of the Pacific Ocean have never been charted. I'm feeling shivers up my spine when I contemplate this ocean's vastness and its secrets.
From the opening of Pacific, Winchester defined time differently. He chose to begin his analysis of history on January 1, 1950. Since the US dropped two atomic bombs on Japan, many nations continued their own nuclear experiments. The extensive testing polluted the atmosphere with carbon-14 isotopes and marred the previously straightforward carbon-dating method. The solution by the scientific community was to re-set their calendar for radiocarbon testing purposes; New Year's day 1950 would begin their Year Zero, their standard Index Year. And since the Pacific Ocean had been changed from its "pacific" nature into an atomic one, Winchester designated 1950 as the "beginning of the present" or modern history for his analysis.
Winchester selected 10 events that occurred within the Pacific Ocean and that he believed initiated key trends. They were loosely arranged chronologically up until 2014, one year prior to the book's publication. A few chapters were dedicated to the fauna and natural environment within the Pacific Ocean. Research pods had found evidence of thriving lifeforms an astonishing two miles below the surface; clams had the ability to synthesize sulphur into carbon. On the less amazing and more dismaying side were the chapters on rising global temperatures which are killing coral reefs through ocean acidification and which are causing bigger, stronger, and thus more destructive typhoons and cyclones.
The author included a few seemingly disparate key events. They were about Japan's post-WWII economic ascension in electronics, the introduction of Hawaiian surfing to mainland US, and the transformation of Australia into its current progressive mindset. But a sizeable component of Pacific was about geopolitical clashes and their repercussions. The United States figured prominently as many military events, from the shameful (atomic testing at the Marshall Islands and its impact on the residents) to the ignominious (the capture of the USS Pueblo by the DPRK), were highlighted. His account included the changing sentiment of European colonizers as many Asian holdings - from the Korean peninsula to Indochina to Hong Kong - were relinquished to their native inhabitants. The final chapter was the most interesting to me as Winchester described China's long-term strategy for control of the Pacific and its place on the global stage. Winchester ended his book with a plea.
Simon Winchester's Pacific delivered more than I had expected. The GR synopsis suggested that it would be reminiscent of an anthology loosely centered around the Pacific Ocean. But my primary takeaway from Pacific is of a modern history that sets the explanatory stage for current geopolitical tensions and potential future conflicts.
And the stage is gargantuan with an estimated 64 million square miles or about one-third of the earth's entire surface, which swells to 45 percent if one only factors in water. There's nothing to see except water for more than 10,600 miles if one sets out westward from Panama to Malaysia. If one decides to go south from the Bering Strait to Antarctica, then anticipate only water for nearly 9,000 miles. For context, recall that the continental US spans 2,800 miles from west to east. The Pacific Ocean is also the deepest, as its trenches extend seven miles below. Even today, many sections of the Pacific Ocean have never been charted. I'm feeling shivers up my spine when I contemplate this ocean's vastness and its secrets.
From the opening of Pacific, Winchester defined time differently. He chose to begin his analysis of history on January 1, 1950. Since the US dropped two atomic bombs on Japan, many nations continued their own nuclear experiments. The extensive testing polluted the atmosphere with carbon-14 isotopes and marred the previously straightforward carbon-dating method. The solution by the scientific community was to re-set their calendar for radiocarbon testing purposes; New Year's day 1950 would begin their Year Zero, their standard Index Year. And since the Pacific Ocean had been changed from its "pacific" nature into an atomic one, Winchester designated 1950 as the "beginning of the present" or modern history for his analysis.
Winchester selected 10 events that occurred within the Pacific Ocean and that he believed initiated key trends. They were loosely arranged chronologically up until 2014, one year prior to the book's publication. A few chapters were dedicated to the fauna and natural environment within the Pacific Ocean. Research pods had found evidence of thriving lifeforms an astonishing two miles below the surface; clams had the ability to synthesize sulphur into carbon. On the less amazing and more dismaying side were the chapters on rising global temperatures which are killing coral reefs through ocean acidification and which are causing bigger, stronger, and thus more destructive typhoons and cyclones.
The author included a few seemingly disparate key events. They were about Japan's post-WWII economic ascension in electronics, the introduction of Hawaiian surfing to mainland US, and the transformation of Australia into its current progressive mindset. But a sizeable component of Pacific was about geopolitical clashes and their repercussions. The United States figured prominently as many military events, from the shameful (atomic testing at the Marshall Islands and its impact on the residents) to the ignominious (the capture of the USS Pueblo by the DPRK), were highlighted. His account included the changing sentiment of European colonizers as many Asian holdings - from the Korean peninsula to Indochina to Hong Kong - were relinquished to their native inhabitants. The final chapter was the most interesting to me as Winchester described China's long-term strategy for control of the Pacific and its place on the global stage. Winchester ended his book with a plea.
... this is a reality of today's Pacific - of the fear of a coming collision between East and West, that there is challenge in the air...
The existence of the entity we call Polynesia, with her generally peaceable past, her wealth of undiscovered skills, the long survival of her people, hints that such belief of ours, in the permanent immiscibility of far-flung peoples, is a racial assumption that need not be so.
The Pacific should perhaps not be a place, where after years of conquest and dominion, we now only fear confrontation and collision. There has to be another model.
Polynesia suggests ... rather than consider competition, is something radically different. We should be learning ... malama honuma: Take care of where we live. It is all we have or will ever have. It is precious.
March 10, 2023
“The Pacific is an oceanic behemoth of eye-watering complexity.”
“A near-limitless range of human and natural conditions exists within its borders, as one would expect of something so unimaginably enormous.” In a word, its dimensions are staggering.
When I began my reading of PACIFIC, my expectations were that I would encounter something similar to its sister tome which I reviewed with the following summary:
“… , ATLANTIC moves from the tectonic formation of this vast body of water in the mists of antiquity through the various stages of its participation in the history of man upon the earth such as exploration and discovery, colonization, imperialism, warfare and violence, transportation, communication, exploitation, pollution and, as one would expect today, anthropogenic climate warming.”
Obviously, Simon Winchester reached the decision that the Pacific was simply too gargantuan and too overwhelming to attempt that type of all-inclusive approach. Instead, he picked a series of dates scattered throughout reasonably recent history that allowed him to touch on each of these topics someplace within the Pacific Ocean’s vast domain while making no attempt to be exhaustive or even particularly linear.
For me, that approach worked well and made for some interesting, informative, instructive reading on a diverse set of topics that almost read like a series of nominally related novellas. Potential readers might be interested in Winchester’s choice of topics:
1) January 19, 1950: Truman Backs Making The Hydrogen Bomb – The Great Thermonuclear Sea
2) August 7, 1955: First Japanese Transistor Radio is Made – Mr Ibuka’s Radio Revolution
3) April 10, 1959: The Surfing Movie Gidget is Released – The Ecstasies of Wave Riding
4) January 23, 1968: The USS Pueblo is Captured by North Korea – A Dire and Dangerous Irritation
5) January 10, 1972: The RMS Queen Elizabeth Sinks, Hong Kong – Farewell, All My Friends and Foes
6) Christmas Day, 1974: Australian Supercyclone Tracy Touches Down – Echoes of Distant Thunder
7) November 11, 1975: Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam is Dismissed – How Goes the Lucky Country?
8) February 17, 1977: The Submersible Alvin Spots an Abyssal Heat Source – The Fires in the Deep
9) December 12, 1981: Coral Bleaching is Seen on Great Barrier Reef – A Fragile and Uncertain Sea
10) June 15, 1991: Mount Pinatubo Erupts, Philippines – Of Masters and Commanders
11) June 2, 1976: The Hawaiian Canoe Hokule’a Completes Her Maiden Voyage – Epilogue: The Call of the Running Tide
Aside from the chapter on surfing which I thought to be fatuous and, quite frankly, boring to tears, the stories ranged from interesting and informative to jaw-dropping, worrisome, and head-shaking. That said, perhaps that chapter on surfing was intended to show up the oft-times silly proclivities of US culture and to contrast with the self-interested, bombastic, and imperialistic manner in which the US destroyed so many lives and contaminated so much territory with toxic nuclear fallout during the 1950s nuclear development program.
PACIFIC ultimately, in my opinion, is a rather sad book that, given global climate warming and the political head-butting that we are seeing today with China and North Korea, leaves one with a worried outlook as to what our future in the second half of the 21st century might look like. Read it, enjoy it, learn from it, and reach your own decisions. Definitely recommended.
Paul Weiss
Strictly an afterthought, but I was struck by two extended quotations that I thought particularly insightful and downright ingenious. (The jealous wannabe writer in me turns green with envy and admiration)!
The first is an extended outrageous and absolutely hilarious description of Sir Leslie Colin Patterson, a memorable Australian diplomat:
"He was by all appearances overfed; was often overcome with what appeared to be libation-triggered tiredness and emotional excess; and to judge from his utterances, was evidently wildly oversexed. His outbursts caused many of his more sensitive listeners to recoil. His favorite nonsexual pastime, which he often indulged in while giving the very speeches that so marked his career, seemed to be either nasal excavation and gastronomy or competitive wind breaking. He was a caricature, in short, ... "
The second is a closing fervent wish that the USA and China can come to a peaceful understanding of each other's desire for hegemony in the vast expanse of the Pacific:
"Instead of aircraft carriers and pollution, garbage gyres and coral bleaching being the bywords of our presence, there should now be a fresh kind of lexicon. Respect, reverence, accommodation, admiration, and awe for much that the East stands for - all these should now be the new watchwords. For from these ancient calming cultures, there is very much more to learn and absorb than there is to fear and resist. The benefits of Western modernity are quite obvious and should be sought after by all. But the wise benefits of antiquity should not be discounted, either ..."
“A near-limitless range of human and natural conditions exists within its borders, as one would expect of something so unimaginably enormous.” In a word, its dimensions are staggering.
When I began my reading of PACIFIC, my expectations were that I would encounter something similar to its sister tome which I reviewed with the following summary:
“… , ATLANTIC moves from the tectonic formation of this vast body of water in the mists of antiquity through the various stages of its participation in the history of man upon the earth such as exploration and discovery, colonization, imperialism, warfare and violence, transportation, communication, exploitation, pollution and, as one would expect today, anthropogenic climate warming.”
Obviously, Simon Winchester reached the decision that the Pacific was simply too gargantuan and too overwhelming to attempt that type of all-inclusive approach. Instead, he picked a series of dates scattered throughout reasonably recent history that allowed him to touch on each of these topics someplace within the Pacific Ocean’s vast domain while making no attempt to be exhaustive or even particularly linear.
For me, that approach worked well and made for some interesting, informative, instructive reading on a diverse set of topics that almost read like a series of nominally related novellas. Potential readers might be interested in Winchester’s choice of topics:
1) January 19, 1950: Truman Backs Making The Hydrogen Bomb – The Great Thermonuclear Sea
2) August 7, 1955: First Japanese Transistor Radio is Made – Mr Ibuka’s Radio Revolution
3) April 10, 1959: The Surfing Movie Gidget is Released – The Ecstasies of Wave Riding
4) January 23, 1968: The USS Pueblo is Captured by North Korea – A Dire and Dangerous Irritation
5) January 10, 1972: The RMS Queen Elizabeth Sinks, Hong Kong – Farewell, All My Friends and Foes
6) Christmas Day, 1974: Australian Supercyclone Tracy Touches Down – Echoes of Distant Thunder
7) November 11, 1975: Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam is Dismissed – How Goes the Lucky Country?
8) February 17, 1977: The Submersible Alvin Spots an Abyssal Heat Source – The Fires in the Deep
9) December 12, 1981: Coral Bleaching is Seen on Great Barrier Reef – A Fragile and Uncertain Sea
10) June 15, 1991: Mount Pinatubo Erupts, Philippines – Of Masters and Commanders
11) June 2, 1976: The Hawaiian Canoe Hokule’a Completes Her Maiden Voyage – Epilogue: The Call of the Running Tide
Aside from the chapter on surfing which I thought to be fatuous and, quite frankly, boring to tears, the stories ranged from interesting and informative to jaw-dropping, worrisome, and head-shaking. That said, perhaps that chapter on surfing was intended to show up the oft-times silly proclivities of US culture and to contrast with the self-interested, bombastic, and imperialistic manner in which the US destroyed so many lives and contaminated so much territory with toxic nuclear fallout during the 1950s nuclear development program.
PACIFIC ultimately, in my opinion, is a rather sad book that, given global climate warming and the political head-butting that we are seeing today with China and North Korea, leaves one with a worried outlook as to what our future in the second half of the 21st century might look like. Read it, enjoy it, learn from it, and reach your own decisions. Definitely recommended.
Paul Weiss
Strictly an afterthought, but I was struck by two extended quotations that I thought particularly insightful and downright ingenious. (The jealous wannabe writer in me turns green with envy and admiration)!
The first is an extended outrageous and absolutely hilarious description of Sir Leslie Colin Patterson, a memorable Australian diplomat:
"He was by all appearances overfed; was often overcome with what appeared to be libation-triggered tiredness and emotional excess; and to judge from his utterances, was evidently wildly oversexed. His outbursts caused many of his more sensitive listeners to recoil. His favorite nonsexual pastime, which he often indulged in while giving the very speeches that so marked his career, seemed to be either nasal excavation and gastronomy or competitive wind breaking. He was a caricature, in short, ... "
The second is a closing fervent wish that the USA and China can come to a peaceful understanding of each other's desire for hegemony in the vast expanse of the Pacific:
"Instead of aircraft carriers and pollution, garbage gyres and coral bleaching being the bywords of our presence, there should now be a fresh kind of lexicon. Respect, reverence, accommodation, admiration, and awe for much that the East stands for - all these should now be the new watchwords. For from these ancient calming cultures, there is very much more to learn and absorb than there is to fear and resist. The benefits of Western modernity are quite obvious and should be sought after by all. But the wise benefits of antiquity should not be discounted, either ..."
November 30, 2015
Simon Winchester has been on my radar for a while now. I love history, geography and science, so it was bound to happen eventually. By why did it take this long? On my last trip to my favourite bookstore in Sydney I noticed that his new book was out. Why not?
Well I enjoyed this read immensely. Each chapter revolves around one theme of the Pacific. For example, the first chapter looks at nuclear testing in the Pacific and relates it to world politics at the time. Simon also uses this as a springboard for the whole book. It concentrates on history proceeding the 1st of January 1950, the "now" as all radioisotope dating measurements are made from. The second chapter looks at the rise of surfing culture in the U.S. and then the rest of the world and the other chapters are just as fascinating.
There are so many wonderful little stories in this book. Interesting people, connections and facts to be read about. You'll come away with a greater understanding of modern history, how Korea was split, post-WWII Japan, Australian politics. Also, a greater appreciation for the native cultures and people of the Pacific. I am definitely going to read as much Simon Winchester as I can get my hands on.
Well I enjoyed this read immensely. Each chapter revolves around one theme of the Pacific. For example, the first chapter looks at nuclear testing in the Pacific and relates it to world politics at the time. Simon also uses this as a springboard for the whole book. It concentrates on history proceeding the 1st of January 1950, the "now" as all radioisotope dating measurements are made from. The second chapter looks at the rise of surfing culture in the U.S. and then the rest of the world and the other chapters are just as fascinating.
There are so many wonderful little stories in this book. Interesting people, connections and facts to be read about. You'll come away with a greater understanding of modern history, how Korea was split, post-WWII Japan, Australian politics. Also, a greater appreciation for the native cultures and people of the Pacific. I am definitely going to read as much Simon Winchester as I can get my hands on.
December 23, 2019
Winchester has outdone himself with Pacific. I enjoyed this even more than his many other works I have read, and I put that down to his clever selection of stories, and ability to weave complex situations into readable narrative.
His prologue is excellent, and I have quoted various passages which explain aspects of this book. His Authors Note on carbon dating is also excellent for a simple explanation of the radio carbon dating of fossils and how nuclear testing has put a date limit on this. And following that, his ten chapters, each telling different stories of the Pacific.
from P21, Winchesters description of the Pacific
From p25-26 - his process in preparing for this book:
The ten stories Winchester chose are:
1/. The story of Bikini Atoll, in the Marshall Islands and the nuclear testing there.
2/. The invention of the transistor radio in Japan, and subsequent formation of the Sony corporation.
3/. The introduction of surfing to Hawaii and thus the world, and the people who gave it its birth.
4/. North Korea's capture of the warship USS Pueblo from North Korean waters where it was spying.
5/. The story of colonial retreat - the British from Hong Kong, and the French from Indochina.
6/. Cyclone Tracey's destruction of Darwin, and the wider weather generation of the Pacific.
7/. Australia and it's evolution as a colony from 1975, when Prime Minister Gough Whitlam was sacked by the Governor General.
8/. The 'Alvin' manned submarine and its Pacific discoveries fueling scientific advancements.
9/. The discovery of coral bleaching on the Great barrier Reef.
10/. China's rise as a sea power, the cat and mouse game of challenging the USA.
There is then an Epilogue - again a masterclass, about historical Polynesian navigation, and the efforts to regain this knowledge before it dies out.
Thorough in it's story telling. Well researched, without gaps and a pleasure to read. For me it was one of those books you want to read sparingly - that you don't want to finish, so that you can just keep on enjoying it.
Obviously 5 stars.
And to finish, my new favourite fun fact, from P30, discussing new years day 1950:
His prologue is excellent, and I have quoted various passages which explain aspects of this book. His Authors Note on carbon dating is also excellent for a simple explanation of the radio carbon dating of fossils and how nuclear testing has put a date limit on this. And following that, his ten chapters, each telling different stories of the Pacific.
from P21, Winchesters description of the Pacific
Thanks to the dominant cultural bias of modern history, there is a topsy-turveydom inherent in any description of the (Pacific) rim. On its western side are the eastern peoples: Chinese, Koreans, Japanese, Indonesians, Filipinos, and countless more if one chooses to push the ocean's frontiers westward towards Indochina and India. On the eastern side are the national admixtures of the various migrated and now notionally Western peoples: Canadians, Americans, Central Americans, Colombians, Ecuadoreans, Peruvians, Chileans. Around the south and beyond to Oceania are the more newly settled outsiders of modern New Zealand and Australia. The aboriginal peoples - Native Americans, Aleuts, Inuit, Maori, Australian indigenes, the Canadian First Nation, and a host of others, all genetically Pacific peoples as we now know - remain dotted around or within the rim, where their recent experiences have become conjoined with those of the Polynesian islanders, the inhabitants of Melanesia and Micronesia, and so have been protected or decimated, exploited or revered (but never left alone), as the various histories of newcomers have unfolded.
From p25-26 - his process in preparing for this book:
So I made a list. I scoured newspapers and history books and databases and academic papers, and came up with some hundreds of more or less notable occurrences between January 1, 1950, and the time I began to write this book, in the summer of 2004...
In the end, I chose just ten singular events, some of them portentous, some more trivial, but each appearing to me to herald some kind of trend.
The ten stories Winchester chose are:
1/. The story of Bikini Atoll, in the Marshall Islands and the nuclear testing there.
2/. The invention of the transistor radio in Japan, and subsequent formation of the Sony corporation.
3/. The introduction of surfing to Hawaii and thus the world, and the people who gave it its birth.
4/. North Korea's capture of the warship USS Pueblo from North Korean waters where it was spying.
5/. The story of colonial retreat - the British from Hong Kong, and the French from Indochina.
6/. Cyclone Tracey's destruction of Darwin, and the wider weather generation of the Pacific.
7/. Australia and it's evolution as a colony from 1975, when Prime Minister Gough Whitlam was sacked by the Governor General.
8/. The 'Alvin' manned submarine and its Pacific discoveries fueling scientific advancements.
9/. The discovery of coral bleaching on the Great barrier Reef.
10/. China's rise as a sea power, the cat and mouse game of challenging the USA.
There is then an Epilogue - again a masterclass, about historical Polynesian navigation, and the efforts to regain this knowledge before it dies out.
Thorough in it's story telling. Well researched, without gaps and a pleasure to read. For me it was one of those books you want to read sparingly - that you don't want to finish, so that you can just keep on enjoying it.
Obviously 5 stars.
And to finish, my new favourite fun fact, from P30, discussing new years day 1950:
The Japanese, still busy repairing their country and still occupied by American forces, had some small reason for good cheer that day with the ending of their custom of declaring children to be one year old at birth, and of everyone adding one year to his or her age on January 1. This change meant that all 80 million Japanese would not become numerically older on this day: a forty year old would wait until his next actual birthday before becoming forty-one. For a brief while that morning, all Japanese were said to have suddenly felt younger.
April 19, 2022
I'm not sure why Simon Winchester's books leave me so cold. For the most part, this book is highly readable and educational, but there are enough pedantic intrusions to seriously distract me. This has been true of each of his books I've read.
In this particular book, he's decided to make a case that the Pacific is the most wonderful ocean on earth. Biggest! Deepest! Most fish! Hottest volcanoes! etc. etc. He mentions all sorts of interesting historical events, and concludes by saying something like, "It's no coincidence that this event took place in the most awesome of the world's oceans -- the Pacific". As if we had somehow forgotten his central thesis in the dozen or so pages since the last time he'd mentioned it. This sort of thing just drives me nuts, and really weakens what would have otherwise been a fine effort.
In this particular book, he's decided to make a case that the Pacific is the most wonderful ocean on earth. Biggest! Deepest! Most fish! Hottest volcanoes! etc. etc. He mentions all sorts of interesting historical events, and concludes by saying something like, "It's no coincidence that this event took place in the most awesome of the world's oceans -- the Pacific". As if we had somehow forgotten his central thesis in the dozen or so pages since the last time he'd mentioned it. This sort of thing just drives me nuts, and really weakens what would have otherwise been a fine effort.
November 28, 2015
Simon Winchester’s latest book, PACIFIC: SILICON CHIPS AND SURFBOARDS, CORAL REEFS AND ATOM BOMBS, BRUTAL DICTATORS, FADING EMPIRES, AND THE COMING COLLISION OF THE WORLD’S SUPERPOWERS reinforces why I am such a fan and admirer of this eclectic social scientist. No matter what topic Mr. Winchester takes on he has the uncanny ability to unwind what is a standard interpretation or history of a well-known topic and ferret out little known details to make something that is quite interesting, fascinating. The list of Winchester’s books are impressive, whether he is exploring the history of the Atlantic, the men responsible for the creation of the English Oxford Dictionary, the annihilation of the volcano island of Krakatoa, or the story of the geologist, William Smith and how he geologically mapped the underside of the earth, and many more, the reader emerges educated and entertained by a master story teller.
In his current venture, Winchester explores historical aspects of the Pacific Ocean or in contemporary parlance the Pacific Rim. Winchester is a social scientist par excel lance, employing history, political science, geography, and geology as he explores his diverse topics. Where else can a reader learn about such a conglomeration of stories? He begins his journey by describing a flight over the Pacific beginning in Hawaii and immediately provides a history of the international dateline and the importance of this massive ocean on our daily lives. The blue expanse of the Pacific dominates the planet and encompasses one-third of the earth’s surface and forty-five percent of the planet’s surface waters. Despite its beauty and hidden treasures Winchester describes how the Pacific has been a dumping ground throughout modern history. America and its allies have conducted nuclear tests in the Marshall and Gilbert Islands among other locations. Biological testing has contaminated numerous islands and two million gallons of Agent Orange are stored near the Johnson Atoll Islands and rockets carrying atomic weapons have exploded in the region. What has been created is an ecological nightmare in many places. It is a shame as Winchester correctly points out that “the Pacific Ocean is the inland sea of tomorrow’s world,” much in the same way the Mediterranean Sea was in the Ancient world, and the Atlantic Ocean was for the modern world. Therefore improving our knowledge of the ocean and preserving it as best we can is so important.
Winchester concentrates his narrative from 1950 to 2014 as he describes the Pacific Ocean as an “atomic ocean” because of all the nuclear testing. The narrative of events that he presents in each chapter seem unrelated, but taken as a whole we witness an important history of the Pacific. Winchester’s first self-contained chapter describes the story of the Bikini Islands and the effects of the testing of the hydrogen bomb. He then moves on to the invention of the transistor radio in the 1960s and its impact on society. Winchester then introduces us to the film Gidget as an introduction to the importance of surfing and the industry it spawned to the Pacific culture. We next meet the “hermit kingdom” of North Korea and revisit the Pueblo Affair of 1968 and other incidents that make the Pyongyang government so dangerous, even today. Those interested in Australia will visit her history and her evolution from a backward, racist society to a more enlightened one in the 1970s and its reversion to its former “Crocodile Dundee” reputation after 1989 as it can’t seem to make up its mind as to whether it wants to be a Pan Pacific version of Canada and the United States or a backward mulish and racist country that cannot decide if it wants to accept non-whites as immigrants for their country. Another issue that is extremely important for Australia is its approach to its coral reefs that have been damaged and are threatened with disappearance sooner than scientists ever imagined. As Winchester aptly points out, the Australian government must decide what is more important, mining interests or the natural ecology of its coastline.
Winchester dissects weather patterns, natural resources, plant life, tectonic mayhem, ecology, i.e.; describing areas of the Pacific as “garbage gyres,” through various discoveries and how they affect us. Of course, no history of the Pacific could be complete without a discussion of China’s evolution into a major economic and military power and what that means for the future of the Pacific region and the planet in general. This evolution is reported in pure Winchesteresque manner as the author relates the Mount Pitubo volcanic eruption in the Philippines on June 15, 1991, the second largest volcanic eruption of the last century, to the decline of the American naval presence in the Pacific to the emergence of the Chinese goal of projecting a deep blue water navy. The eruption resulted in the loss of the Subic Bay Naval and Clark Airforce bases in the region and created a military vacuum that the Chinese have been eager to fill. Winchester describes numerous examples of how the Chinese have projected their newly acquired naval power in the South China Sea, the Yellow Sea, and the East China Sea and what it has meant to its Asian neighbors and has resulted in a number of close encounters with American ships and planes.
There are so many interesting and insightful tidbits that Winchester puts forth in the narrative, that readers of many different interests will be satiated. The role of the Soviet spy Klaus Fuchs and President Truman’s decision to allow thermonuclear testing in the Pacific in 1950 and its implication for our world is most important. Winchester’s descriptions of the Marshallese people and the destruction of their culture is never talked about by historians. As a young boy I used to listen to New York Yankee baseball games on a small Sony transistor radio under my pillow never thinking about how it got there. The chapter on Akio Morita and Masaru Ibuka and their discoveries that morphed into the Sony Corporation is fascinating as the consumer electronics industry that was born in Tokyo is detailed and finally explains what was hidden under my pillow for many baseball calendars. With the transistor radio in hand Winchester moves on to the art of surfing. Known as “wave gliding” for over a century Winchester describes how the release of an “unexceptional film” in conjunction with the discovery of new materials created the polyurethane surf board that took a Polynesian invention and transformed it into a worldwide sport and industry. Perhaps one of the most important aspects of the book is Winchester’s discussion of the relationship between the creation of the 38trh parallel after World War II separating North and South Korea, the seizure of the USS Pueblo, and the sinking of the RMS Queen Elizabeth and how their intertwining leads the reader to the explanation of the end of the colonization of Hong Kong and its emergence under Chinese control in 1997. The Alvin, a three person submersible is described as it allowed scientists from Woods Hole, MA to locate many of the most significant deep-seas structures and assisted in the undersea mapping of the Pacific’s mid-ocean range system causing armies of geophysicists to uncover amazing discoveries. Along the way Winchester introduces us to many inventors, political figures, scientists, and everyday people that have impacted our daily lives, yet most of us will have never run across them. These and many other aspects of the book, particularly Winchester’s discussion of the interplay between Polynesian culture and the west will provide hours of entertainment and thought for any reader.
Simon Winchester not only is an excellent social scientist, he is a wonderful stylist and his writing is very easy to digest as your eyes fly across the pages. PACIFIC is a fascinating work of many social sciences and is the type of book that should produce a wide audience, I give it five stars!
In his current venture, Winchester explores historical aspects of the Pacific Ocean or in contemporary parlance the Pacific Rim. Winchester is a social scientist par excel lance, employing history, political science, geography, and geology as he explores his diverse topics. Where else can a reader learn about such a conglomeration of stories? He begins his journey by describing a flight over the Pacific beginning in Hawaii and immediately provides a history of the international dateline and the importance of this massive ocean on our daily lives. The blue expanse of the Pacific dominates the planet and encompasses one-third of the earth’s surface and forty-five percent of the planet’s surface waters. Despite its beauty and hidden treasures Winchester describes how the Pacific has been a dumping ground throughout modern history. America and its allies have conducted nuclear tests in the Marshall and Gilbert Islands among other locations. Biological testing has contaminated numerous islands and two million gallons of Agent Orange are stored near the Johnson Atoll Islands and rockets carrying atomic weapons have exploded in the region. What has been created is an ecological nightmare in many places. It is a shame as Winchester correctly points out that “the Pacific Ocean is the inland sea of tomorrow’s world,” much in the same way the Mediterranean Sea was in the Ancient world, and the Atlantic Ocean was for the modern world. Therefore improving our knowledge of the ocean and preserving it as best we can is so important.
Winchester concentrates his narrative from 1950 to 2014 as he describes the Pacific Ocean as an “atomic ocean” because of all the nuclear testing. The narrative of events that he presents in each chapter seem unrelated, but taken as a whole we witness an important history of the Pacific. Winchester’s first self-contained chapter describes the story of the Bikini Islands and the effects of the testing of the hydrogen bomb. He then moves on to the invention of the transistor radio in the 1960s and its impact on society. Winchester then introduces us to the film Gidget as an introduction to the importance of surfing and the industry it spawned to the Pacific culture. We next meet the “hermit kingdom” of North Korea and revisit the Pueblo Affair of 1968 and other incidents that make the Pyongyang government so dangerous, even today. Those interested in Australia will visit her history and her evolution from a backward, racist society to a more enlightened one in the 1970s and its reversion to its former “Crocodile Dundee” reputation after 1989 as it can’t seem to make up its mind as to whether it wants to be a Pan Pacific version of Canada and the United States or a backward mulish and racist country that cannot decide if it wants to accept non-whites as immigrants for their country. Another issue that is extremely important for Australia is its approach to its coral reefs that have been damaged and are threatened with disappearance sooner than scientists ever imagined. As Winchester aptly points out, the Australian government must decide what is more important, mining interests or the natural ecology of its coastline.
Winchester dissects weather patterns, natural resources, plant life, tectonic mayhem, ecology, i.e.; describing areas of the Pacific as “garbage gyres,” through various discoveries and how they affect us. Of course, no history of the Pacific could be complete without a discussion of China’s evolution into a major economic and military power and what that means for the future of the Pacific region and the planet in general. This evolution is reported in pure Winchesteresque manner as the author relates the Mount Pitubo volcanic eruption in the Philippines on June 15, 1991, the second largest volcanic eruption of the last century, to the decline of the American naval presence in the Pacific to the emergence of the Chinese goal of projecting a deep blue water navy. The eruption resulted in the loss of the Subic Bay Naval and Clark Airforce bases in the region and created a military vacuum that the Chinese have been eager to fill. Winchester describes numerous examples of how the Chinese have projected their newly acquired naval power in the South China Sea, the Yellow Sea, and the East China Sea and what it has meant to its Asian neighbors and has resulted in a number of close encounters with American ships and planes.
There are so many interesting and insightful tidbits that Winchester puts forth in the narrative, that readers of many different interests will be satiated. The role of the Soviet spy Klaus Fuchs and President Truman’s decision to allow thermonuclear testing in the Pacific in 1950 and its implication for our world is most important. Winchester’s descriptions of the Marshallese people and the destruction of their culture is never talked about by historians. As a young boy I used to listen to New York Yankee baseball games on a small Sony transistor radio under my pillow never thinking about how it got there. The chapter on Akio Morita and Masaru Ibuka and their discoveries that morphed into the Sony Corporation is fascinating as the consumer electronics industry that was born in Tokyo is detailed and finally explains what was hidden under my pillow for many baseball calendars. With the transistor radio in hand Winchester moves on to the art of surfing. Known as “wave gliding” for over a century Winchester describes how the release of an “unexceptional film” in conjunction with the discovery of new materials created the polyurethane surf board that took a Polynesian invention and transformed it into a worldwide sport and industry. Perhaps one of the most important aspects of the book is Winchester’s discussion of the relationship between the creation of the 38trh parallel after World War II separating North and South Korea, the seizure of the USS Pueblo, and the sinking of the RMS Queen Elizabeth and how their intertwining leads the reader to the explanation of the end of the colonization of Hong Kong and its emergence under Chinese control in 1997. The Alvin, a three person submersible is described as it allowed scientists from Woods Hole, MA to locate many of the most significant deep-seas structures and assisted in the undersea mapping of the Pacific’s mid-ocean range system causing armies of geophysicists to uncover amazing discoveries. Along the way Winchester introduces us to many inventors, political figures, scientists, and everyday people that have impacted our daily lives, yet most of us will have never run across them. These and many other aspects of the book, particularly Winchester’s discussion of the interplay between Polynesian culture and the west will provide hours of entertainment and thought for any reader.
Simon Winchester not only is an excellent social scientist, he is a wonderful stylist and his writing is very easy to digest as your eyes fly across the pages. PACIFIC is a fascinating work of many social sciences and is the type of book that should produce a wide audience, I give it five stars!
July 22, 2016
I'll admit: I'm not a Winchester fan. But I'll also admit a deep (ha!) interest in the history, politics and science of the Pacific Ocean.
I'll admit: this may be among Winchester's best books. But it left me cold. His writing is so fussy and pedantic--it's big and important; you should be paying attention--and repetitious. Not to mention ass-backwards. This is a 2.5 - 3 star book.
Who else but Winchester would *start* with a huge chapter devoted to atomic and hydrogen bombing? As it happens, I briefly have been to Kwajalein, and although I have no reason to doubt the continued uninhabitability of Bikini, Kwajalein is boring, not atom-baked. The whole chapter felt as if the author wanted to set readers 100 feet underground on a racial guilt trip--with only a brief mention of all the testing done in Nevada, U.S., and no hint of the unnecessary fatal cancers such tests caused to people such as John Wayne. Stupid, sure; racist, no.
The chapter about Sony is nothing new. What caught my eye was what Winchester left out. Morita-san may have been "worldly, sophisticated [and] patrician," but wrote an autobiography mocking Americans for being too "fat" and "lazy" to build good products. Quite ironic given Sony's market share, and the near absence of electronics manufacturing jobs in today's Japan.
Although much would come back to anyone who saw The Endless Summer and Gidget, the chapter on surfing (and Hobie and Clark) may have been best--because Winchester was content to tell a simple, good story, without imparting any unnecessary political spin.
There followed about four undistinguished and indistinguishable chapters about global warming and/or pollution. It was good to see the midget submarine Alvin again (I had a tour when I was a teen, thanks to an uncle who worked at Woods Hole Oceanographic). And there's something undeniably beautiful about the Pacific "smoker" vents of hot gasses at the ocean's bottom, making possible all sorts of weird marine life in fearful darkness and pressure.
But, most of the writing felt like a tongue-lashing. Even if rats, not man, largely are responsible for the extinction of Pacific seabirds--16 out of 300 species since Captain Cook's time: hardly a huge number. Interestingly, however, Winchester admits nothing will be done about warming (if it exists) because any attempt to reduce carbon emissions would condemn the Global South into perpetual third-world status.
I confess Winchester intrigued me in his final chapter, tying the dangerous clash over international waters and airspace in the South China Sea (China's nonsensical "Nine Dash Line" map) to the eruption of Philippine volcano Mt. Pinatubo in mid 1991. The explosion buried the U.S. bases at Clark Field and, even more important, Subic Bay Naval Base, under a foot or more of mud, making each unusable. America withdrew its forces--and Winchester, not implausibly, theorizes China's military entered this volcanic power vacuum.
Still, Winchester feels too much like a stem-winder preacher. For those interested in the Pacific Ocean, I recommend an altogether different book: Walter McDougall's "Let the Sea Make a Noise", which I've reviewed. You won't get the cool technology. But you will get a cool (if odd) author, with much to say about politics. There's preaching--but in interstitial Platonic dialogues, which can be read or skipped, as the reader chooses.
I'll admit: this may be among Winchester's best books. But it left me cold. His writing is so fussy and pedantic--it's big and important; you should be paying attention--and repetitious. Not to mention ass-backwards. This is a 2.5 - 3 star book.
Who else but Winchester would *start* with a huge chapter devoted to atomic and hydrogen bombing? As it happens, I briefly have been to Kwajalein, and although I have no reason to doubt the continued uninhabitability of Bikini, Kwajalein is boring, not atom-baked. The whole chapter felt as if the author wanted to set readers 100 feet underground on a racial guilt trip--with only a brief mention of all the testing done in Nevada, U.S., and no hint of the unnecessary fatal cancers such tests caused to people such as John Wayne. Stupid, sure; racist, no.
The chapter about Sony is nothing new. What caught my eye was what Winchester left out. Morita-san may have been "worldly, sophisticated [and] patrician," but wrote an autobiography mocking Americans for being too "fat" and "lazy" to build good products. Quite ironic given Sony's market share, and the near absence of electronics manufacturing jobs in today's Japan.
Although much would come back to anyone who saw The Endless Summer and Gidget, the chapter on surfing (and Hobie and Clark) may have been best--because Winchester was content to tell a simple, good story, without imparting any unnecessary political spin.
There followed about four undistinguished and indistinguishable chapters about global warming and/or pollution. It was good to see the midget submarine Alvin again (I had a tour when I was a teen, thanks to an uncle who worked at Woods Hole Oceanographic). And there's something undeniably beautiful about the Pacific "smoker" vents of hot gasses at the ocean's bottom, making possible all sorts of weird marine life in fearful darkness and pressure.
But, most of the writing felt like a tongue-lashing. Even if rats, not man, largely are responsible for the extinction of Pacific seabirds--16 out of 300 species since Captain Cook's time: hardly a huge number. Interestingly, however, Winchester admits nothing will be done about warming (if it exists) because any attempt to reduce carbon emissions would condemn the Global South into perpetual third-world status.
I confess Winchester intrigued me in his final chapter, tying the dangerous clash over international waters and airspace in the South China Sea (China's nonsensical "Nine Dash Line" map) to the eruption of Philippine volcano Mt. Pinatubo in mid 1991. The explosion buried the U.S. bases at Clark Field and, even more important, Subic Bay Naval Base, under a foot or more of mud, making each unusable. America withdrew its forces--and Winchester, not implausibly, theorizes China's military entered this volcanic power vacuum.
Still, Winchester feels too much like a stem-winder preacher. For those interested in the Pacific Ocean, I recommend an altogether different book: Walter McDougall's "Let the Sea Make a Noise", which I've reviewed. You won't get the cool technology. But you will get a cool (if odd) author, with much to say about politics. There's preaching--but in interstitial Platonic dialogues, which can be read or skipped, as the reader chooses.
September 7, 2016
It is hard not to enjoy the popular history and travels that Simon Winchester writes. At his best he is a page turner. Pacific at its best is that. It was also not what I expected as I grabbed my copy a few days prior to heading to the tropical beaches of Fiji with the thought that I was reading an entire history of the ocean itself. That will teach me to not read up on what I am about to read.
In the end we have a book that consists of almost essay like vignettes of various events that have happened in the Pacific since the 1950's with the majority of them seemingly in the major countries that surround the Ocean itself. Most are very interesting in themselves and for someone who has lived a few and in close proximity they brought back memories. But one can learn things. The destruction of The Queen Elizabeth for example. More news of the day at the time but I did find its sad history and demise an interesting read all these years later. The Whitlam dismissal was also one that had the memory banks ticking over to my youth. A couple of chapters that covered the natural world left me reading long into the night.
Yep! a nice read all-round.
In the end we have a book that consists of almost essay like vignettes of various events that have happened in the Pacific since the 1950's with the majority of them seemingly in the major countries that surround the Ocean itself. Most are very interesting in themselves and for someone who has lived a few and in close proximity they brought back memories. But one can learn things. The destruction of The Queen Elizabeth for example. More news of the day at the time but I did find its sad history and demise an interesting read all these years later. The Whitlam dismissal was also one that had the memory banks ticking over to my youth. A couple of chapters that covered the natural world left me reading long into the night.
Yep! a nice read all-round.
August 31, 2016
Saimons Vinčesters, manuprāt, ir viens no labākajiem non-fiction autoriem. Viņa stāstiem varbūt nepiemīt Braisona humors, bet toties ir ļoti dziļas zināšanas par apskatāmo tēmu. Es melotu, ja teiktu, ka esmu izlasījis visas viņa grāmatas. Viena, kura veltīta Ķīnai, man plauktā jau stāv gadus septiņus. Šo grāmatu es iegādājos janvārī, bet izlasīju tikai pēc astoņiem mēnešiem. Iemesls - viņa tika nobāzta augšējos grāmatskapja plauktos un nebija acu priekšā.
Klusais okeāns ir milzīgs, un tikpat milzīgs ir ar to saistīto notikumu apjoms. Autors ir nolēmis savus stāstus izvēlēties tādus, ar kuriem identificēties varētu mūsdienu cilvēks. Viņa izvēlētais laika intervāls ir ļoti mazs - no 1950. gada līdz mūsdienām. Kādēļ tāds gads? Šajā gadā kodolsprādzienu rezultātā atmosfērā nonāca tik daudz radioaktīvā materiāla, lai padarītu turpmāko radioaktīvā oglekļa datēšanas metodi par diezgan piņķerīgu procesu.
Grāmata tiek atklāta ar visiem zināmu lietu - Bikini atolu un tās salinieku likteni. Te autors pamanījies aprakstīt atomieroču izmēģinājumus Klusajā okeānā kontekstā ar iezemiešu kultūru, ASV stratēģiskajām interesēm, un visas nelaimes un laimes, ko šis process radīja. Tālāk seko stāsts par Japānas okupāciju, tranzistoriem un Sony korporāciju, jauks ieskats Japānas uzņēmējdarbības vēsturē un pēckara ekonomikas niansēs. Tad sekoja Džeks Londons un sērfošana. Katrs, kas lasījis Džeka Londona kopotos rakstus, zinās, ka puisis ļoti aizrāvās ar sērfošanu un šīs lietas popularizēšanu. Bet īstais bums sākās pēc kādas filmas. Iespējams, ka šī ASV subkultūras vēstures lapaspuse ne visiem šķitīs interesanta, bet uzrakstīts ļoti labi.
Nodaļa par Ziemeļkoreju un USS Pueblo ir jau no militārisma sfēras, lai gan visi šīe stāsti ir vairāk vai mazāk saistīti ar teritorijas kontroli. Kas to būtu domājis, ka divas Korejas radās kādam cilvēkam štābā novelkot marķieri uz kartes un bez nekāda pamatojuma un dziļākas domas. Ziepes ievārītas uz gadu desmitiem. Tad seko stāsts par impēriju sabrukšanu, par to kā lielvalstis zaudēja spēju kontrolēt savas bijušās kolonijas, par reģiona varas pārdali un problēmām, kuras šis process radīja.
Grāmata par Kluso okeānu nebūtu pilnīga, ja netiktu aizķerta Austrālija. Te autors īsi pavēsta, kā īsti radusies mūsdienu Austrālija, ka viņi vienmēr ir centušies būt Rietumu kultūras bastions un nekad nav pievērsušies Āzijai. Protams, ir arī par Sidnejas operu, tās arhitektu un idejas reklamētāju. Idejas virzītājam gan bija visnotaļ interesantas seksuālās noslieces (kazas un tā).
Noslēdzošās nodaļas ir veltītas ģeopolitikai, ekoloģijai un polinēziešu kultūrai. Galvenais vēstījums – mēs, rietumnieki, vienmēr esam uzskatījuši, ka tikai pie mums ir noticis progress, un pārējās kultūras ir tādi pusmežoņi, kuri paši neko lāga nav spējuši. Polinēziešu kultūra kristietības un kolonizācijas rezultātā ir iznīcināta tik pamatīgi, ka daudzas lietas vairs nekad nebūs uzzināmas. Taču šis tas ir vēl palicis. Piemēram, okeāna navigācija bez navigācijas instrumentiem, šī pusaizmirstā metode ir lēnām atgūst savu popularitāti un palīdz cilvēkam satuvoties ar okeānu, izprast to un neuztvert to kā naidīgu spēku, kurš obligāti jāpakļauj.
Noteikti iesaku izlasīt - 10 no 10 ballēm. Izcili, daudz vēstures un interesantas informācijas. Protams, nav iespējams uzrakstīt visu par Kluso okeānu, tas ir neaptverams darbs. Grāmatā iekļautie stāsti ir tikai sīka daļa no Klusā okeāna vēstures. Taču, manuprāt, tie ir izvēlēti ļoti veiksmīgi un meistarīgi sarakstīti.
Klusais okeāns ir milzīgs, un tikpat milzīgs ir ar to saistīto notikumu apjoms. Autors ir nolēmis savus stāstus izvēlēties tādus, ar kuriem identificēties varētu mūsdienu cilvēks. Viņa izvēlētais laika intervāls ir ļoti mazs - no 1950. gada līdz mūsdienām. Kādēļ tāds gads? Šajā gadā kodolsprādzienu rezultātā atmosfērā nonāca tik daudz radioaktīvā materiāla, lai padarītu turpmāko radioaktīvā oglekļa datēšanas metodi par diezgan piņķerīgu procesu.
Grāmata tiek atklāta ar visiem zināmu lietu - Bikini atolu un tās salinieku likteni. Te autors pamanījies aprakstīt atomieroču izmēģinājumus Klusajā okeānā kontekstā ar iezemiešu kultūru, ASV stratēģiskajām interesēm, un visas nelaimes un laimes, ko šis process radīja. Tālāk seko stāsts par Japānas okupāciju, tranzistoriem un Sony korporāciju, jauks ieskats Japānas uzņēmējdarbības vēsturē un pēckara ekonomikas niansēs. Tad sekoja Džeks Londons un sērfošana. Katrs, kas lasījis Džeka Londona kopotos rakstus, zinās, ka puisis ļoti aizrāvās ar sērfošanu un šīs lietas popularizēšanu. Bet īstais bums sākās pēc kādas filmas. Iespējams, ka šī ASV subkultūras vēstures lapaspuse ne visiem šķitīs interesanta, bet uzrakstīts ļoti labi.
Nodaļa par Ziemeļkoreju un USS Pueblo ir jau no militārisma sfēras, lai gan visi šīe stāsti ir vairāk vai mazāk saistīti ar teritorijas kontroli. Kas to būtu domājis, ka divas Korejas radās kādam cilvēkam štābā novelkot marķieri uz kartes un bez nekāda pamatojuma un dziļākas domas. Ziepes ievārītas uz gadu desmitiem. Tad seko stāsts par impēriju sabrukšanu, par to kā lielvalstis zaudēja spēju kontrolēt savas bijušās kolonijas, par reģiona varas pārdali un problēmām, kuras šis process radīja.
Grāmata par Kluso okeānu nebūtu pilnīga, ja netiktu aizķerta Austrālija. Te autors īsi pavēsta, kā īsti radusies mūsdienu Austrālija, ka viņi vienmēr ir centušies būt Rietumu kultūras bastions un nekad nav pievērsušies Āzijai. Protams, ir arī par Sidnejas operu, tās arhitektu un idejas reklamētāju. Idejas virzītājam gan bija visnotaļ interesantas seksuālās noslieces (kazas un tā).
Noslēdzošās nodaļas ir veltītas ģeopolitikai, ekoloģijai un polinēziešu kultūrai. Galvenais vēstījums – mēs, rietumnieki, vienmēr esam uzskatījuši, ka tikai pie mums ir noticis progress, un pārējās kultūras ir tādi pusmežoņi, kuri paši neko lāga nav spējuši. Polinēziešu kultūra kristietības un kolonizācijas rezultātā ir iznīcināta tik pamatīgi, ka daudzas lietas vairs nekad nebūs uzzināmas. Taču šis tas ir vēl palicis. Piemēram, okeāna navigācija bez navigācijas instrumentiem, šī pusaizmirstā metode ir lēnām atgūst savu popularitāti un palīdz cilvēkam satuvoties ar okeānu, izprast to un neuztvert to kā naidīgu spēku, kurš obligāti jāpakļauj.
Noteikti iesaku izlasīt - 10 no 10 ballēm. Izcili, daudz vēstures un interesantas informācijas. Protams, nav iespējams uzrakstīt visu par Kluso okeānu, tas ir neaptverams darbs. Grāmatā iekļautie stāsti ir tikai sīka daļa no Klusā okeāna vēstures. Taču, manuprāt, tie ir izvēlēti ļoti veiksmīgi un meistarīgi sarakstīti.
November 12, 2023
Simon Winchester has hit upon an enviable business model: find a topic that interests him and write a book about it. However, a topic as broad (literally and figuratively) as the Pacific Ocean can not possibly be dealt with as intensely as Mr. Winchester likes. He has therefore picked a dozen or so topics related to the Pacific and wrote a detailed essay on each, resulting in the non-fiction equivalent of a collection of short stories by the same author. You might disagree with his selection of topics as not being the most germane in telling the story of the Pacific Ocean, but his treatment of each topic is enjoyable and has a knack of reminding you of things you once knew, but had forgotten.
December 24, 2020
The Not Always Peaceful Pacific
Simon Winchester's book is a wealth of information on the history, culture, geography, and resources of the Pacific Ocean. From the nuclear-ization of the Marshalls at Bikini post WWII in what became the Pacific Proving Grounds, to the Chinese expansion into the South China Sea; he follows the change in flags across the Pacific's myriad islands. Pacific moves with ease and intelligence from the history of the pariah state of North Korea to impending war between China and Japan due to China's projected expansion.
But, there is so much more than politics. Winchester covers the sea life on the ocean floor, the deep sea vessels that explore the Mid Pacific Ridge, and the Science gained from the study of the world's largest ocean... which covers a third of the Earth's surface. He also covers the people and cultural aspects, like the rise of surfing on the Pacific coasts and Larry Ellison, the billionaire sea-loving founder of the Oracle Corporation. He details the current and projected mining efforts of the Pacific's wealth of mineral resources, and how Canadians began efforts to mine the metal-laden ruins of old black smokers down below. He talks about the rich bird life around the ocean and the Great Pacific 'Garbage Gyre' in the ABNJs (Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction or 'the high seas'). He describes the eruption of Mount Pinatubo, a highly damaging 1991 volcanic eruption in the northern Philippine islands.
The beginning of the Japanese electronic century, the invention of the transistor radio and tape recorders, the rise of Sony, and Japan's return after the aftermath of WWII are discussed in detail; all of which lead into the development of new industries on the Pacific Rim. The book covers international trade and shipping container services. Much is here about storms, typhoons, and weather systems, to illustrate that the Pacific Ocean is the principal generator of the world’s weather. Individual countries are discussed in quite a bit of summary detail.
I think the politics were most informative and enlightening to me. I had not known about the Pacific Proving Grounds, though I knew about those state-side and the nuclear waste buried across the continent. This part is really appalling to read, though the author does not seem unduly critical or judgemental. It was not surprising though, considering the way the native Americans were forcibly removed from their own lands. I also learned quite a bit about how China has created several military outposts throughout the South China Sea. It becomes clear that, just as predicted, China took America's place as she was easing herself out of the region. Winchester explains the Nine-Dash Line, the First Island Chain, to help understand current Chinese Doctrine.
I read this book for my stop in Kiribati, my penultimate stop on my Journey Around the World in 2019-2020. Kiribati is a small chain of islands that appears to be drowning. Good thing I stopped here now. I read it in the Kindle Whisper-sync, which I enjoyed immensely. My next stop will be Peru, where I will end my Journey for this year. After that, I plan to read the huge backlog of books I have been dying to read, but stacked to the side while I was on my journey, including a few books on prominent individual cities around the world. This book in particular has been on my Kindle bookshelf for months, begging to be read, but waiting for me to reach this point in my destination. I was not disappointed.
Simon Winchester's book is a wealth of information on the history, culture, geography, and resources of the Pacific Ocean. From the nuclear-ization of the Marshalls at Bikini post WWII in what became the Pacific Proving Grounds, to the Chinese expansion into the South China Sea; he follows the change in flags across the Pacific's myriad islands. Pacific moves with ease and intelligence from the history of the pariah state of North Korea to impending war between China and Japan due to China's projected expansion.
"...the Senkaku Islands—claimed by the Chinese, a new hot spot in the coming collision between the world’s superpowers (since the United States is pledged to come to Japan’s side if the latter’s territorial sovereignty is impugned)..."
But, there is so much more than politics. Winchester covers the sea life on the ocean floor, the deep sea vessels that explore the Mid Pacific Ridge, and the Science gained from the study of the world's largest ocean... which covers a third of the Earth's surface. He also covers the people and cultural aspects, like the rise of surfing on the Pacific coasts and Larry Ellison, the billionaire sea-loving founder of the Oracle Corporation. He details the current and projected mining efforts of the Pacific's wealth of mineral resources, and how Canadians began efforts to mine the metal-laden ruins of old black smokers down below. He talks about the rich bird life around the ocean and the Great Pacific 'Garbage Gyre' in the ABNJs (Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction or 'the high seas'). He describes the eruption of Mount Pinatubo, a highly damaging 1991 volcanic eruption in the northern Philippine islands.
"The unexpected eruption of the hitherto peaceable Mount Pinatubo smothered two critical U.S. bases nearby—one of them a navy headquarters—with enough ash and mud to cause their abandonment."
The beginning of the Japanese electronic century, the invention of the transistor radio and tape recorders, the rise of Sony, and Japan's return after the aftermath of WWII are discussed in detail; all of which lead into the development of new industries on the Pacific Rim. The book covers international trade and shipping container services. Much is here about storms, typhoons, and weather systems, to illustrate that the Pacific Ocean is the principal generator of the world’s weather. Individual countries are discussed in quite a bit of summary detail.
"Typhoon Tip, the deepest of them all, recorded an eye-watering low pressure of just 870 mbar—and enjoyed the unique distinction of being both the deepest and the widest of all tropical storms on record..."
I think the politics were most informative and enlightening to me. I had not known about the Pacific Proving Grounds, though I knew about those state-side and the nuclear waste buried across the continent. This part is really appalling to read, though the author does not seem unduly critical or judgemental. It was not surprising though, considering the way the native Americans were forcibly removed from their own lands. I also learned quite a bit about how China has created several military outposts throughout the South China Sea. It becomes clear that, just as predicted, China took America's place as she was easing herself out of the region. Winchester explains the Nine-Dash Line, the First Island Chain, to help understand current Chinese Doctrine.
"Woody Island is now the city of Sansha, and it serves proudly as the administrative capital of all China’s supposed properties in the entirety of the South China Sea."
I read this book for my stop in Kiribati, my penultimate stop on my Journey Around the World in 2019-2020. Kiribati is a small chain of islands that appears to be drowning. Good thing I stopped here now. I read it in the Kindle Whisper-sync, which I enjoyed immensely. My next stop will be Peru, where I will end my Journey for this year. After that, I plan to read the huge backlog of books I have been dying to read, but stacked to the side while I was on my journey, including a few books on prominent individual cities around the world. This book in particular has been on my Kindle bookshelf for months, begging to be read, but waiting for me to reach this point in my destination. I was not disappointed.
"Kiribati ...the only nation that occupies all four hemispheres, its islands and atolls being scattered north and south of the equator, and east and west of the International Date Line..."
October 30, 2021
Writing an entire book organized around the Pacific Ocean may seem a particularly ambitious undertaking. How do you structure such a thing? What do you include? What do you leave out? While this may not be the "Pacific" you're thinking of, Simon Winchester does an admirable job of — if not delivering a comprehensive account of the world's largest ocean, at least writing nicely about some of it.
To be clear, despite the book's subtitle, "The Ocean of the Future," Winchester's exploration into the topic is mostly a history, with the odd bit of speculation thrown in — mostly with regards to what China's role in and around the region will be. Winchester goes back as far as Magellan and Captain Cook's exploration of the Pacific, but most of his book is centered on what's happened post-1950.
There's a chapter on Japan, largely dominated by the role Sony played in revitalizing that nation's economy, another on Hong Kong, and a good deal of talk about the various other island nations dotted around that most vast of oceans. But the lion's share of attention is on China. For a book largely about the Pacific world post-World War II, this is perhaps as it should be, although China is likely not the nation that immediately comes to mind when thinking of the Pacific. At least, not to mine.
This is a solid history, even if those aforementioned speculative sections will ultimately leave this feeling somewhat dated at some indeterminate point in the not-too-distant future. Though it was published in only 2015, there were moments when I found myself suppressing a groan at Winchester's inability to foresee the role Trump would play in ratcheting up tensions between the world's two largest economies. This, along with an increased crackdown on democratic freedoms in Hong Kong in recent years and a handful of other things, would seem to require a new edition of "Pacific," or at least an updated foreword accounting for these events.
Nevertheless, if it's a brief but well-written modern history of the region you're seeking, "Pacific" is certainly worth diving into.
To be clear, despite the book's subtitle, "The Ocean of the Future," Winchester's exploration into the topic is mostly a history, with the odd bit of speculation thrown in — mostly with regards to what China's role in and around the region will be. Winchester goes back as far as Magellan and Captain Cook's exploration of the Pacific, but most of his book is centered on what's happened post-1950.
There's a chapter on Japan, largely dominated by the role Sony played in revitalizing that nation's economy, another on Hong Kong, and a good deal of talk about the various other island nations dotted around that most vast of oceans. But the lion's share of attention is on China. For a book largely about the Pacific world post-World War II, this is perhaps as it should be, although China is likely not the nation that immediately comes to mind when thinking of the Pacific. At least, not to mine.
This is a solid history, even if those aforementioned speculative sections will ultimately leave this feeling somewhat dated at some indeterminate point in the not-too-distant future. Though it was published in only 2015, there were moments when I found myself suppressing a groan at Winchester's inability to foresee the role Trump would play in ratcheting up tensions between the world's two largest economies. This, along with an increased crackdown on democratic freedoms in Hong Kong in recent years and a handful of other things, would seem to require a new edition of "Pacific," or at least an updated foreword accounting for these events.
Nevertheless, if it's a brief but well-written modern history of the region you're seeking, "Pacific" is certainly worth diving into.
December 29, 2020
I am glad I reread this book with GR Non Fiction Book Club. Winchester always finds deeper meaning through multi-field nonfiction perspectives as we approach an Asia-Pacific experience, including oceanography, meteorology, military and political history.
Those of us who recognize and honor the Earth as a living being/organism may appreciate this information: The ridges of the eastern Pacific section of the Mid-Oceanic Ridge system, ridges are held together by a web of fibers which resemble stitches of a skull. Horrifying and Beautiful. Horrifying what we are doing to what even more so appears to be a sentient being, one who gives us life. Beautiful because stitches are delicate, intentional, artistic choices. . . .
This book is not an easy read. I find myself more and more perplexed at what to do about the problems we humans create. . . . . Then I remember that spiritual warriors wake up every day and daily change the world just a bit. We grow in number. We grow in strength. Spiritual Warriors wear armour and wield weapons most cannot see. We and our friends will reclaim the Earth. That is a Promise.
---------------
2016 review.
This book is a must-read for all who interested in learning or following paradigm change.
Those of us who recognize and honor the Earth as a living being/organism may appreciate this information: The ridges of the eastern Pacific section of the Mid-Oceanic Ridge system, ridges are held together by a web of fibers which resemble stitches of a skull. Horrifying and Beautiful. Horrifying what we are doing to what even more so appears to be a sentient being, one who gives us life. Beautiful because stitches are delicate, intentional, artistic choices. . . .
This book is not an easy read. I find myself more and more perplexed at what to do about the problems we humans create. . . . . Then I remember that spiritual warriors wake up every day and daily change the world just a bit. We grow in number. We grow in strength. Spiritual Warriors wear armour and wield weapons most cannot see. We and our friends will reclaim the Earth. That is a Promise.
---------------
2016 review.
This book is a must-read for all who interested in learning or following paradigm change.
July 29, 2016
Pacific is really a set of essays by the author about historical events and people centered around the Pacific Ocean. Winchester takes us on a chronological journey starting with the testing of a-bombs at the Bikini Atoll in the 40s and 50s and ending with the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in the Philippines in 1991, leaving the area defenseless at a time when China was wielding its strong arm of power. Along the way we learn about such things as the rise of Sony Corporation, the influence of surfing on island culture, the bleaching of coral reefs and how the Earth's weather patterns begin and end in Polynesian paradise. Pacific is primarily historical, but covers environmental concerns, and military/political events.
I enjoyed this book and the individual stories. Some peaked my interest more than others, but overall I found it to be an intriguing book.
I enjoyed this book and the individual stories. Some peaked my interest more than others, but overall I found it to be an intriguing book.
June 25, 2015
A pleasure read with surprising moral heft and geopolitical insight. Popular history at its finest.
January 16, 2016
Just finished listening to this on Audible. Not only is Winchester a pleasure to listen to (there is some of that "well, he has a British accent, so he must be educated" air about his diction), but he is a great storyteller. Not as much as a book about a specific thing, but a collection of rather good New Yorker or (heh) The Atlantic length magazine articles, held together by their connection to the Pacific Ocean. He jumps from the US A-Bomb tests, to the origins of the Sony Corporation, to surfing, deep-sea mining, Hawaiian Royal feather cloaks, the Sydney Opera House, and Chinese military expansion and holds attention throughout. A delightful book (and listen).
May 17, 2016
Mr. Winchester is amazing. His reading enthralls, as does the subject matter. He thoroughly covers countries, politics, ecology, & on & on, yet manages it elegantly.
February 12, 2021
I love well-researched but readable and accessible histories. This is one of them.
Broken up into long-article length chapters (Winchester says this "structural vade mecum" was inspired by a book by Stefan Zweig, most recently translated with the title Shooting Stars. A "slender collection of ten ruminative essays...about what Zweig considered to be seminal moments in the tide of human experience.")
Pacific is not slender but it is ruminative and I would agree that most of the 10 incidents Winchester chose could be considered seminal.
I learned how carbon dating works.
I learned that the bikini is called the bikini not because natives wore something similar on the Bikini Atoll, as I had always assumed, but because of the nuclear testing there; "Like the bomb, the bikini is small and devastating."
I learned that the Japanese concept of mentsu probably had a role in limiting scientific progress. "The socially lethal consequences of losing face (mentsu) or, more dangerously, of causing others to lose it, may well have inhibited certain kinds of scientific progress, in large part because such consequences militate against experimentation, which invariably embraces failure, even public failure. Picking oneself up and beginning again, making the experiment subtly different, and performing many experiments until one finally works--such is the essence of scientific advance. And this was not always an easy concept for Asian scientists to accept."
I learned that the founder of Patagonia might be considered the founder of flex time. "Let my people go surfing. None of us ever dreamed of working in a normal business environment, so we hired self-motivated and independent folks; surfers and climbers. We leave them to decide when and how to do their jobs. So far it has worked out very well."
I learned some of the vagaries and odditites of the colonial ideal in the Pacific islands; near the end WWII, a British commander in Vietnam, commanding an infantry of kukri-wielding Gurkah battalions from Nepal, armed imprisoned Japanese soldiers and compelled them to fight the Viet Minh nationalists who were actually rebelling against French colonial rule. "The notion that Japanese troops would be armed by those who had recently vanquished them and that they would then be compelled to fight under a British flag alongside Nepalese soldiers for a French colonial ideal against a Vietnamese force that was demanding its own people's independence is well-nigh incomprehensible."
Or in the New Hebrides, there were two bureaucracies; one French and one British. "Since 1906, these islands had been run for complicated reasons by a condominium of two uninvited European powers, the British and the French...the French official in charge of drains in Port-Vila, for example, had a British counterpart who was charged with exactly the same task. The language of New Hebridean administration had to be translated twice, Canadian style, and sometime thrice, since the doubly colonized citizens actually spoke a third, Creole tongue called Bislama...Two police forces, their officers wearing different uniforms, did their best to keep civil order in turns, performing their respective duties on every other day...National holidays were so numerous and so keenly celebrated in the perpetually torrid climate that little work was performed anyway--and in time, the whole unholy and intractable mess of governance exhausted everyone, collapsed internally, and was finally called to a halt in 1980..."
Or the surreal reality of the Korean DMZ. "At the time of the signing of the 1953 armistice, a group of supposedly neutral countries agreed to monitor the cease-fire. The North had nominated as its two countries Poland and Czechoslovakia; the South had selected Sweden and Switzerland." But in recent times, the monitoring system had become "comically absurd...Absurd mainly because of what had happened since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, and the abandonment of communism by the North's two chosen neutral nations, Poland and Czechoslovakia (and the division of the latter into two brand-new and entirely capitalist countries). North Korea had responded to the apostates by kicking their observers out of the country, leaving only the Swiss and the Swedes to maintain the monitoring. Except that the Poles kept on trying to send at least one delegate to maintain the fiction that the commission still existed...each Tuesday the countries' representatives meet in formal session--about thirty-five hundred meetings have taken place since the cease fire in 1953--and discuss and take notes of all the various alleged breaches of the cease-fire and other such matters (tunnel diggings heard, snips in the barbed wire noticed), and write a report. They place these written reports in a mailbox marked KPA, for Korean People's Army. But since 1995 no North Korean has ever picked up the mail, and so every six months an official from the commission empties the overflowing mailbox and puts all the reports into a file cabinet, just in case Pyongyang ever demands to see them. As it happens, the door of the commission's hut opens directly into North Korean territory, and for a while the Swiss general would unlock it and wave the latest report at the soldiers a few yards away. They turned their backs and ignored him, never came to collect the document, and later complained that the waving constituted an offensive gesture."
I learned, or re-learned, that "...if the Pacific Ocean is the principal generator of the world's weather, then the ultimate source of all the Pacific's extreme meteorological behavior is the initial presence of its massive aggregation of solar-generated heat. This changes the long-term phenomenon we know as the climate. The climate in turn brings about the short-term phenomena we know as weather." Winchester is not a denier of environmental and climate change but he's not an alarmist, either; "Locally, there will be mayhem. Globally, less so. The planet, perhaps, will manage to heal itself. The world and its creatures will survive, and all will eventually allow itself to come back into balance, just as the geologic record shows that it survived and returned to balance after any number of previous cycles of excess and danger. And once that happens, the Pacific Ocean will be seen, uniquely, for what many climatologists are coming to believe it to be: a gigantic safety valve, essential to the future of the planet."
Broken up into long-article length chapters (Winchester says this "structural vade mecum" was inspired by a book by Stefan Zweig, most recently translated with the title Shooting Stars. A "slender collection of ten ruminative essays...about what Zweig considered to be seminal moments in the tide of human experience.")
Pacific is not slender but it is ruminative and I would agree that most of the 10 incidents Winchester chose could be considered seminal.
I learned how carbon dating works.
I learned that the bikini is called the bikini not because natives wore something similar on the Bikini Atoll, as I had always assumed, but because of the nuclear testing there; "Like the bomb, the bikini is small and devastating."
I learned that the Japanese concept of mentsu probably had a role in limiting scientific progress. "The socially lethal consequences of losing face (mentsu) or, more dangerously, of causing others to lose it, may well have inhibited certain kinds of scientific progress, in large part because such consequences militate against experimentation, which invariably embraces failure, even public failure. Picking oneself up and beginning again, making the experiment subtly different, and performing many experiments until one finally works--such is the essence of scientific advance. And this was not always an easy concept for Asian scientists to accept."
I learned that the founder of Patagonia might be considered the founder of flex time. "Let my people go surfing. None of us ever dreamed of working in a normal business environment, so we hired self-motivated and independent folks; surfers and climbers. We leave them to decide when and how to do their jobs. So far it has worked out very well."
I learned some of the vagaries and odditites of the colonial ideal in the Pacific islands; near the end WWII, a British commander in Vietnam, commanding an infantry of kukri-wielding Gurkah battalions from Nepal, armed imprisoned Japanese soldiers and compelled them to fight the Viet Minh nationalists who were actually rebelling against French colonial rule. "The notion that Japanese troops would be armed by those who had recently vanquished them and that they would then be compelled to fight under a British flag alongside Nepalese soldiers for a French colonial ideal against a Vietnamese force that was demanding its own people's independence is well-nigh incomprehensible."
Or in the New Hebrides, there were two bureaucracies; one French and one British. "Since 1906, these islands had been run for complicated reasons by a condominium of two uninvited European powers, the British and the French...the French official in charge of drains in Port-Vila, for example, had a British counterpart who was charged with exactly the same task. The language of New Hebridean administration had to be translated twice, Canadian style, and sometime thrice, since the doubly colonized citizens actually spoke a third, Creole tongue called Bislama...Two police forces, their officers wearing different uniforms, did their best to keep civil order in turns, performing their respective duties on every other day...National holidays were so numerous and so keenly celebrated in the perpetually torrid climate that little work was performed anyway--and in time, the whole unholy and intractable mess of governance exhausted everyone, collapsed internally, and was finally called to a halt in 1980..."
Or the surreal reality of the Korean DMZ. "At the time of the signing of the 1953 armistice, a group of supposedly neutral countries agreed to monitor the cease-fire. The North had nominated as its two countries Poland and Czechoslovakia; the South had selected Sweden and Switzerland." But in recent times, the monitoring system had become "comically absurd...Absurd mainly because of what had happened since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, and the abandonment of communism by the North's two chosen neutral nations, Poland and Czechoslovakia (and the division of the latter into two brand-new and entirely capitalist countries). North Korea had responded to the apostates by kicking their observers out of the country, leaving only the Swiss and the Swedes to maintain the monitoring. Except that the Poles kept on trying to send at least one delegate to maintain the fiction that the commission still existed...each Tuesday the countries' representatives meet in formal session--about thirty-five hundred meetings have taken place since the cease fire in 1953--and discuss and take notes of all the various alleged breaches of the cease-fire and other such matters (tunnel diggings heard, snips in the barbed wire noticed), and write a report. They place these written reports in a mailbox marked KPA, for Korean People's Army. But since 1995 no North Korean has ever picked up the mail, and so every six months an official from the commission empties the overflowing mailbox and puts all the reports into a file cabinet, just in case Pyongyang ever demands to see them. As it happens, the door of the commission's hut opens directly into North Korean territory, and for a while the Swiss general would unlock it and wave the latest report at the soldiers a few yards away. They turned their backs and ignored him, never came to collect the document, and later complained that the waving constituted an offensive gesture."
I learned, or re-learned, that "...if the Pacific Ocean is the principal generator of the world's weather, then the ultimate source of all the Pacific's extreme meteorological behavior is the initial presence of its massive aggregation of solar-generated heat. This changes the long-term phenomenon we know as the climate. The climate in turn brings about the short-term phenomena we know as weather." Winchester is not a denier of environmental and climate change but he's not an alarmist, either; "Locally, there will be mayhem. Globally, less so. The planet, perhaps, will manage to heal itself. The world and its creatures will survive, and all will eventually allow itself to come back into balance, just as the geologic record shows that it survived and returned to balance after any number of previous cycles of excess and danger. And once that happens, the Pacific Ocean will be seen, uniquely, for what many climatologists are coming to believe it to be: a gigantic safety valve, essential to the future of the planet."
July 6, 2018
At first I thought I might give up on this book before finishing, but that was not the case. Author’s into was long and didn’t catch my attention at all, but once I got into the text, I was hooked. The atomic testing in the Pacific in the 50 is, I knew about, but I appreciated the detail. But it was here that I discovered Winchester’s sub-theme about the dignity of all persons. In the Fifties the tests hurt Pacific Islanders who were summarily moved from Bikini, Japanese fishermen who got radiation too close to the blasts, their own people by exposing them to the dangers of radiation they should have understood but didn’t want to know about because weapons testing seemed likely to save the world (or at least the US).
That theme, of reckless exploitation, of both the natural world and, usually nonwestern, people must have been very high on Winchester’s list of goals.
That theme, of reckless exploitation, of both the natural world and, usually nonwestern, people must have been very high on Winchester’s list of goals.
November 11, 2020
Absolutely fantastic. A wonder cabinet of fascinating material. I loved this author, and he has written a lot of books. Finding him feels like a present that will last me twenty years. I am thrilled to pieces!
September 23, 2015
Today's post is on Pacific: Silicon Chips and Surfboards, Coral Reefs and Atom Bombs, Brutal Dictators, Fading Empires, and the Coming Collision of the World's Superpowers by Simon Winchester. It is 480 pages long and is published by HarperCollins. The cover is a beautiful mix of pictures and art work of the pacific ocean. The intended reader likes history, grand stories, and good research. There is no language, no sex, and no violence in this book. There Be Spoilers Ahead.
From the back of the book-
Following his acclaimed Atlantic and The Men Who United the States, New York Times bestselling author Simon Winchester offers an enthralling biography of the Pacific Ocean and its role in the modern world, exploring our relationship with this imposing force of nature.As the Mediterranean shaped the classical world, and the Atlantic connected Europe to the New World, the Pacific Ocean defines our tomorrow. With China on the rise, so, too, are the American cities of the West coast, including Seattle, San Francisco, and the long cluster of towns down the Silicon Valley.Today, the Pacific is ascendant. Its geological history has long transformed us—tremendous
earthquakes, volcanoes, and tsunamis—but its human history, from a Western perspective, is quite young, beginning with Magellan’s sixteenth-century circumnavigation. It is a natural wonder whose most fascinating history is currently being made.In telling the story of the Pacific, Simon Winchester takes us from the Bering Strait to Cape Horn, the Yangtze River to the Panama Canal, and to the many small islands and archipelagos that lie in between. He observes the fall of a dictator in Manila, visits aboriginals in northern Queensland, and is jailed in Tierra del Fuego, the land at the end of the world. His journey encompasses a trip down the Alaska Highway, a stop at the isolated Pitcairn Islands, a trek across South Korea and a glimpse of its mysterious northern neighbor.Winchester’s personal experience is vast and his storytelling second to none. And his historical understanding of the region is formidable, making Pacific a paean to this magnificent sea of beauty, myth, and imagination that is transforming our lives.
Review- An interesting look of the recent history of the Pacific ocean. Winchester starts in 1950 and goes to present day talking about the ten most important things that he thinks has happened in and to the ocean. The one problem I had was that Winchester goes into a little too much detail at parts.Winchester is a good writer with good research skills but I want his editor to help him get it under control. When Winchester is writing about history or the cultures around the pacific, I really enjoyed this book. But when he got into the very detailed math and science formulas he lost me. I have a science background but it was just not as interesting as narrative parts of the book. The research notes are good adding more detail and giving more information if you wanted to. In spite of needing a little less detail it was a good and interesting read.
I give this book a Four out of Five stars. I was given a copy of this book by HarperCollins in exchange for an honest review.
From the back of the book-
Following his acclaimed Atlantic and The Men Who United the States, New York Times bestselling author Simon Winchester offers an enthralling biography of the Pacific Ocean and its role in the modern world, exploring our relationship with this imposing force of nature.As the Mediterranean shaped the classical world, and the Atlantic connected Europe to the New World, the Pacific Ocean defines our tomorrow. With China on the rise, so, too, are the American cities of the West coast, including Seattle, San Francisco, and the long cluster of towns down the Silicon Valley.Today, the Pacific is ascendant. Its geological history has long transformed us—tremendous
earthquakes, volcanoes, and tsunamis—but its human history, from a Western perspective, is quite young, beginning with Magellan’s sixteenth-century circumnavigation. It is a natural wonder whose most fascinating history is currently being made.In telling the story of the Pacific, Simon Winchester takes us from the Bering Strait to Cape Horn, the Yangtze River to the Panama Canal, and to the many small islands and archipelagos that lie in between. He observes the fall of a dictator in Manila, visits aboriginals in northern Queensland, and is jailed in Tierra del Fuego, the land at the end of the world. His journey encompasses a trip down the Alaska Highway, a stop at the isolated Pitcairn Islands, a trek across South Korea and a glimpse of its mysterious northern neighbor.Winchester’s personal experience is vast and his storytelling second to none. And his historical understanding of the region is formidable, making Pacific a paean to this magnificent sea of beauty, myth, and imagination that is transforming our lives.
Review- An interesting look of the recent history of the Pacific ocean. Winchester starts in 1950 and goes to present day talking about the ten most important things that he thinks has happened in and to the ocean. The one problem I had was that Winchester goes into a little too much detail at parts.Winchester is a good writer with good research skills but I want his editor to help him get it under control. When Winchester is writing about history or the cultures around the pacific, I really enjoyed this book. But when he got into the very detailed math and science formulas he lost me. I have a science background but it was just not as interesting as narrative parts of the book. The research notes are good adding more detail and giving more information if you wanted to. In spite of needing a little less detail it was a good and interesting read.
I give this book a Four out of Five stars. I was given a copy of this book by HarperCollins in exchange for an honest review.
July 13, 2016
A fascinating topic, but, given its scope, lacking in the fine detail of his studies of say Krakatoa or the strange relationship around the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary between Scottish Oxford lexicographer Sir James Murray and insane ex-patriate American Army surgeon Dr. W. C. Minor. While I applaud Winchester's decision to follow Stefan Zweig's lead from The Tide of Fortune: Twelve Historical Miniatures (1940), and tell his story through a series of singularly focused snapshots, while clever, produces a necessarily uneven book, with some chapters far more than others, and large leaps of logic and gaps of information, much like the vast open oceanic spaces of the Pacific between say Hawaii and Guam, a flight betwixt the two with which Winchester opens his narrative. Personally I most enjoyed his second snapshot of the rise of the Sony Corporation post-World War II looked at through the lens of the introduction of transistorized radios in Vancouver in the 1950s. Also strong was an odd chapter connection the eruption of Mount Pinatubo and the sighting of a Chinese diesel sub's periscope near an aging US carrier fleet int e Manila Straight as a way of bridging two eras of Pacific domination (the post-World War II US ascendancy and the coming notion for he Pacific as vast Chinese lake. Winchester is also an excellent science writer: the chapters on the creation for he notion of Global Warming by a US Naval officer and the discovery of hydrothermal vents in the ocean's floor are both fantastic. In contrast some of the history chapters are weak, at best. Especially the long one tracing the retreat of colonial powers from Pacific colonies focusing on the French and US in Indochina/Vietnam and the British in Hong Kong. Bland with over obvious conclusions. So a fun read but not quite up to the best efforts in Winchester's extended non-fiction corpus.
November 28, 2015
I adore almost everything Winchester has written, and as a scientist working in the Pacific I approached this book with very high expectations. These were only heightened after seeing him speak at the New York Public Library. I love his voice and I read most of his works with hearing his voice in my head. Like Atlantic this book approaches a tremendously large topic. Much like in Atlantic, Winchester tells the story of the general though insights into the specific. In Pacific he talks about monumental events what have taken place in Pacific since 1951. This book would have gotten five stars except that I feel like Winchester cut himself short. These short chapters were very interesting (and great for the train) but what was really fantastic about Winchester's earlier works is the depth that he allowed himself to explore stories. Few things are better than Winchester tracking down the story through all of the interstices and rabbit holes that it presents, and that simply isn't possible with the topic as long as Pacific. I would have preferred him to take one topic (the development of surfing was fascinating) and really explore it further. That being said the book was fantastic, I learned a lot, and I was sad when I fished the epilog (a chapter on Pacific peopel's open ocean navigating without instruments - also begging to be a whole book).
August 2, 2017
Simon Winchester's Pacific was a wonderfully unique historical biography of the ocean since 1950. While at times the narrative was dauntingly substantial in facts and events, Winchester masterfully wove one story into the next. Only upon finishing did I really appreciate the extent to how much research, time, and pure brainpower went into linking certain catalysts to events that often spanned years and countries.
Ultimately, this book made me curious to know more about the Pacific. I constantly had google search at the ready to research palolo worms and Kwajalein Atoll. I kept a list of notes in my phone of concepts and places that I still want to look into. I bothered my sister with facts about the number of official languages in Papua New Guinea (848) and the intricacies of trade winds on the global climate.
So while it wasn't a light and breezy read, Pacific was a great choice for passing those lazy summer days this July. And considering the extent to which Pacific was such a fount of information, I could probably read it again next week and learn just as much from the stuff I missed the first time around.
Ultimately, this book made me curious to know more about the Pacific. I constantly had google search at the ready to research palolo worms and Kwajalein Atoll. I kept a list of notes in my phone of concepts and places that I still want to look into. I bothered my sister with facts about the number of official languages in Papua New Guinea (848) and the intricacies of trade winds on the global climate.
So while it wasn't a light and breezy read, Pacific was a great choice for passing those lazy summer days this July. And considering the extent to which Pacific was such a fount of information, I could probably read it again next week and learn just as much from the stuff I missed the first time around.
February 28, 2019
Simon Winchester has written a dynamite piece of non-fiction. Pacific: The Ocean of the Future has an intriguing structure and one that gives the reader an eye-opening history of this immense area of our planet.
He chose what at first seemed disconnected events, wove the narrative into a seamless piece that at times almost read like fictional prose, yet remained thoroughly instructive. The range of history is wide and fascinating: Bikini nuclear tests, surfing a sport and an industry, Sony from fledgling company to household name, climate and weather the crux of earth's survival, and China's island "acquisitions."
I finished this book with a much greater appreciation for the importance of this ocean at my front door and a keen interest in tracking what lies ahead in its role for mankind. This book is remarkable in every respect; I highly recommend reading this one.
He chose what at first seemed disconnected events, wove the narrative into a seamless piece that at times almost read like fictional prose, yet remained thoroughly instructive. The range of history is wide and fascinating: Bikini nuclear tests, surfing a sport and an industry, Sony from fledgling company to household name, climate and weather the crux of earth's survival, and China's island "acquisitions."
I finished this book with a much greater appreciation for the importance of this ocean at my front door and a keen interest in tracking what lies ahead in its role for mankind. This book is remarkable in every respect; I highly recommend reading this one.
October 27, 2020
Winchester selects a grab-bag of the most significant events since 1950 and weaves them into a net of momentous trends, described with barely controlled enthusiasm. This is a guy who relishes discovering the long-term significance of little-remembered events and people. Some stories highlight the wonders of the sea itself, and others recount the historic rise of Asia-Pacific nations. And this, he shows, has involved a corresponding decline of Western power in the region. Winchester carefully evaluates the rise of great power tensions in the region, but then cheerfully challenges the whole logic that the Pacific's future prosperity depends on strong Western policing.
April 10, 2016
This book is so timely in terms of geopolitics (China, N Korea) and the environment (El Nino weather, coral bleaching) but it's not Winchester's best writing. He strays off topic too much and sometimes repeats himself within a chapter. I liked the El Niño chapter and the chapter about the deep sea thermal vents the best.
April 20, 2022
Not a huge fan of this one at all. A phrase from one of the earliest chapters sums up this entire book for me "quintessentially American". Winchester actually used the phrase for something else, but it covers this book in a nutshell.
I liked the author's reading voice a lot. I tried to be patient with the book as a whole: in the introduction, he says that the project was so immense that he ended up just taking a few 'snapshot' events to write about. So I tried tried and tried again to like it. I couldn't, some of the narrative is two stars, but that is the best it gets for one VERY important reason.
If Winchester had given this book ANY other name, it would have been fine. The subtitle without the title for example, would have done. But I got this book BECAUSE it's title is PACIFIC, and the ocean is barely mentioned. Many, most even, of the events are not even remotely relevant to the ocean in question which is an AMAZING ocean and deserves better than this.
There is a chapter about America's nuclear programme which mostly involved exploding islands in the pacific, but the islands and islanders get less time than the American boats that get exploded. I didn't hate this chapter, I just wished there was more about the Pacific to it and less America.
Then we have a chapter where Winchester gets really excited about how Japan came to invent transistor radios and other electronica for import to America. Japan is in the pacific, of course but that is not a feature. The electronics are and what areas of America they were first imported to (wtf?) but this chapter will be best for people who are really, really into electronics and manufacturing trivia. I am not.
Then we get the American war with Korea (which was ok, as I had little info about it) the American war with Vietnam, the American nuclear war with Japan, the various warship interactions with Asia and so on. During this part, a suspicion crept into my mind (later to be confirmed) that Winchester really thinks of the Pacific only in terms of Asia. Asian attitudes, invention ect. There are occasional nods to the Polynesians (especially Hawaii, which is, of course American), Melanesians and other native Pacific people but to my utter indignation, Winchester seems mostly to mean Asia and America when he talks about 'Pacific nations' and that left me ropeable! I don't even understand how he tees up that attitude with the talk about the various colonialisations that the Asia Pacific suffered from.
New Zealand and it's people are glancingly mentioned once or twice. Australia gets a whole chapter about the 1950's White Australia (of course, as that relates to Asian Australians) and Pauline Hanson is mentioned (cringe) because of course she is. In a later chapter Australia gets to be mentioned again when Winchester talks (very very briefly) about corals. He mentions Charlie Veron which is nice, but pretty minor, after all the American wars.
In the last bit he seems to think it is a good idea to summarise the book by talking about 'our' attitude to Asia and how the ocean actually belongs to Asia and 'we' should somehow adjust our attitudes to the Asian mentality which will be, SOMEHOW less likely to totally decimate the Pacific. A mind boggling view point as China is currently a world leader in pollution, environmental devastation and extinctions (not to mention the human rights issues and being, you know, a total warmonger), while Japan is happily turning the whole ocean radioactive (look up the plume from the reactor accidents) which does not matter as much as it could. Because Japan's stated business model is to hunt large Pacific species to extinction in order to drive up the market price - and China is doing what it can to help there...
And anyway, Asia is NOT the Pacific! It is NOT. It lives on one rim of the Pacific, it is only PART of the Pacific. I'm glad Winchester has travelled Asia so much and esteems it so highly. That really is the problem I had with this book, it claims to be about something it is not; the Pacific, a region I inhabit and adore. This book is about America and it's wars, it is about Asia and Winchester's research there. Who chose that title? Stop it!
A book about the Pacific should talk about how it formed, and, yes, there is a tiny segment about the geology in a chapter about the American subs such as Alvin who discovered deep sea vents and the life around them. It should talk about the weather, more than a side reference about El Nino and how it affects the WHOLE WORLD'S climate and ocean gyres. It should talk about the many island groups and the diverse people and cultures that have arisen on them, these things are barely mentioned at all, though the American Hawaii does make an appearance. It should talk more about corals than just bleaching events, for goodness sake! Why would someone reading this book even understand or care about corals, with the little they are given here? The Pacific is the coral ocean and it deserved more than this.
The many unique species and ecologies of this extraordinary ocean might as well be on Mars for all we hear about them and the unique beauty of the Pacific ocean is entirely neglected. It is clear, from the occasional throwaway sentence that Winchester has experienced the magic of the Pacific ocean, it is just a shame he chose to not write about it.
If only the author had chosen to title this book anything else, I would not have been so angry, disappointed and affronted. He could have called it, for example, America and Asia: Silicon Chips and Surfboards, Coral Reefs and Atom Bombs, Brutal Dictators, Fading Empires, and the Coming Collision of the World's Superpowers. without bothering to change more than a few paragraphs.
For, me, while I did enjoy the very, very brief moments about the actual Pacific ocean, the best part of this book was when it ended.
I liked the author's reading voice a lot. I tried to be patient with the book as a whole: in the introduction, he says that the project was so immense that he ended up just taking a few 'snapshot' events to write about. So I tried tried and tried again to like it. I couldn't, some of the narrative is two stars, but that is the best it gets for one VERY important reason.
If Winchester had given this book ANY other name, it would have been fine. The subtitle without the title for example, would have done. But I got this book BECAUSE it's title is PACIFIC, and the ocean is barely mentioned. Many, most even, of the events are not even remotely relevant to the ocean in question which is an AMAZING ocean and deserves better than this.
There is a chapter about America's nuclear programme which mostly involved exploding islands in the pacific, but the islands and islanders get less time than the American boats that get exploded. I didn't hate this chapter, I just wished there was more about the Pacific to it and less America.
Then we have a chapter where Winchester gets really excited about how Japan came to invent transistor radios and other electronica for import to America. Japan is in the pacific, of course but that is not a feature. The electronics are and what areas of America they were first imported to (wtf?) but this chapter will be best for people who are really, really into electronics and manufacturing trivia. I am not.
Then we get the American war with Korea (which was ok, as I had little info about it) the American war with Vietnam, the American nuclear war with Japan, the various warship interactions with Asia and so on. During this part, a suspicion crept into my mind (later to be confirmed) that Winchester really thinks of the Pacific only in terms of Asia. Asian attitudes, invention ect. There are occasional nods to the Polynesians (especially Hawaii, which is, of course American), Melanesians and other native Pacific people but to my utter indignation, Winchester seems mostly to mean Asia and America when he talks about 'Pacific nations' and that left me ropeable! I don't even understand how he tees up that attitude with the talk about the various colonialisations that the Asia Pacific suffered from.
New Zealand and it's people are glancingly mentioned once or twice. Australia gets a whole chapter about the 1950's White Australia (of course, as that relates to Asian Australians) and Pauline Hanson is mentioned (cringe) because of course she is. In a later chapter Australia gets to be mentioned again when Winchester talks (very very briefly) about corals. He mentions Charlie Veron which is nice, but pretty minor, after all the American wars.
In the last bit he seems to think it is a good idea to summarise the book by talking about 'our' attitude to Asia and how the ocean actually belongs to Asia and 'we' should somehow adjust our attitudes to the Asian mentality which will be, SOMEHOW less likely to totally decimate the Pacific. A mind boggling view point as China is currently a world leader in pollution, environmental devastation and extinctions (not to mention the human rights issues and being, you know, a total warmonger), while Japan is happily turning the whole ocean radioactive (look up the plume from the reactor accidents) which does not matter as much as it could. Because Japan's stated business model is to hunt large Pacific species to extinction in order to drive up the market price - and China is doing what it can to help there...
And anyway, Asia is NOT the Pacific! It is NOT. It lives on one rim of the Pacific, it is only PART of the Pacific. I'm glad Winchester has travelled Asia so much and esteems it so highly. That really is the problem I had with this book, it claims to be about something it is not; the Pacific, a region I inhabit and adore. This book is about America and it's wars, it is about Asia and Winchester's research there. Who chose that title? Stop it!
A book about the Pacific should talk about how it formed, and, yes, there is a tiny segment about the geology in a chapter about the American subs such as Alvin who discovered deep sea vents and the life around them. It should talk about the weather, more than a side reference about El Nino and how it affects the WHOLE WORLD'S climate and ocean gyres. It should talk about the many island groups and the diverse people and cultures that have arisen on them, these things are barely mentioned at all, though the American Hawaii does make an appearance. It should talk more about corals than just bleaching events, for goodness sake! Why would someone reading this book even understand or care about corals, with the little they are given here? The Pacific is the coral ocean and it deserved more than this.
The many unique species and ecologies of this extraordinary ocean might as well be on Mars for all we hear about them and the unique beauty of the Pacific ocean is entirely neglected. It is clear, from the occasional throwaway sentence that Winchester has experienced the magic of the Pacific ocean, it is just a shame he chose to not write about it.
If only the author had chosen to title this book anything else, I would not have been so angry, disappointed and affronted. He could have called it, for example, America and Asia: Silicon Chips and Surfboards, Coral Reefs and Atom Bombs, Brutal Dictators, Fading Empires, and the Coming Collision of the World's Superpowers. without bothering to change more than a few paragraphs.
For, me, while I did enjoy the very, very brief moments about the actual Pacific ocean, the best part of this book was when it ended.
September 8, 2015
NOTE: this was a free eBook from Edelweiss
In the preface, Winchester presents his premise that he will write the book about the history of the Pacific Ocean, based on ten major occurrences from the 20th century. He starts with a discovery, political upheaval or cultural change and then goes on to explain the history behind it and the geographic area.
The first vignette relates to the use of remote Pacific Islands and Atolls as places to test nuclear and thermonuclear weapons. After discussing the process of how the long acting effect of radiation from the bombs has affected the ocean, and the people who live there. He demonstrates how the whole ocean has been damaged and a possible solution.
Japan is the setting for the second story and starts with the creation of Sony and the consumer electronics boom in the post-war era. But he doesn’t just discuss the amazing growth in mercantile power, but also how Japan has now been superseded by the Koreans and China and how that has thrown Japan into a recession for the last ten years.
The creation of the surfing craze, beginning in the 1930s in Hawaii and its’ transport to California and then the rest of the world is the next story. Though it was well-known in Hawaii, it wasn’t until the 1950s with the construction of inexpensive surfboards made of fiberglass that it really caught on. It’s a question of whether, surfing music made surfing or surfing made surfing music cool. Either way it’s become of billion dollar world-wide sport.
You knew that there had to be a bug-in-the-batter somewhere, and that turns out to be North Korea. Working from the capture of the USS Pueblo in 1968, Winchester tells the story of the longest enduring dictatorship on the planet. From its’ creation in 1946 to today, this poverty stricken nation has been under the control of three generations of the Kim family.
The fifth chapter begins with the sinking of the ex-Cunard RMS Queen Elizabeth in Hong Kong harbor in 1967. This becomes a metaphor for the final days of the British Empire and the other colonial powers (France, Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, Australia and US) in the Pacific. There is also some discussion of the Chinese growth as a world power.
Next up is a discussion of the power of weather (Typhoons and Cyclones) in the southern Hemisphere, led by the destruction of Darwin in the Australian Northern Territory in 1974. This leads to a discussion of how the Pacific generates the weather for the whole world. Most especially it affects the “El Nino” and “La Nina” phenomena that so drastically change the weather on America’s West Coast.
Chapter Seven is about the “coming out” of Australia in the last half of the twentieth century. Winchester gives a fine description of these ‘teenage’ years, when the ‘white’ aristocracy realized that it would have to live with (and allow the immigration of) its’ brown and yellow neighbors.
The significance of the “Ring of Fire” (the volcanoes and earthquake prone area) that surrounds the Pacific, and the possible resources (minerals, etc) that may be recoverable from the sea floor are the subject of Chapter Eight.
The protection of the coral reefs of the Great Barrier Reef, and all the coral reefs of the world are the next subject, along with the need to protect the various wildlife that is unique to many of the Pacific Island groups. This biodiversity is important and equivalent to the rain forests as to what might be available for pharmaceutical exploitation. It also means that if the coral is dying, there is a problem with the Oceans of the World. They are like a ‘canary in a coal mine’.
“Masters and Commanders” is a discussion of China’s (Peoples Republic of China), building of a ‘blue water’ fleet. China’s is trying to build a seawall around its coast and control all islands inside a line they call the ‘First Island Chain’. This are the seas inside of a line from Kamchatka to inside of Japan, outside of Taiwan, inside the Phillipines to the inside of Borneo as far as Singapore. They claim that all the small islands in the South China Sea (which contains many resources) are in their territorial waters.
Many of the islands in the South China Sea are claimed by Vietnam, Phillipines and Malaysia. With a navy that could challenge the US Navy, they could force their claims militarily. Many of the islands have already been fortified and expanded and have a Chinese presence. There is currently, no one in the area who could challenge them. Their strategy is much like the Japanese Empire in the first half of the Twentieth Century. There have already been ‘incidents’ between the US and China over what is international and ‘territorial’ waters.
The Epilogue first discusses the renewing of Polynesian (and other Pacific Island) culture and the re-teaching of the Islanders ability to travel between the islands without any navigation devises. The Islanders traveled by using the night stars, the currents, and the shape and direction of waves.
The ending is a polemic against the way the “West” has treated the indigenous pacific islanders and even the Chinese, Japanese, Koreans or Filipinos. He writes only of the mistakes of Europeans but ignores the excesses of the Japanese, and how the Chinese travelled as far as the east coast of Africa, before Europeans sailed into the Indian Ocean. He complains about the cultural invasion of Asia by American and European culture, but doesn’t mention the inroads of Japanese, Korean and now Chinese companies in the ‘West’. As a Briton it’s interesting to read how Winchester accuses the US of cultural imperialism. Except for that it’s a pretty good story.
Zeb Kantrowitz zworstblog.blogspot.com zebsblog@gmail.com
In the preface, Winchester presents his premise that he will write the book about the history of the Pacific Ocean, based on ten major occurrences from the 20th century. He starts with a discovery, political upheaval or cultural change and then goes on to explain the history behind it and the geographic area.
The first vignette relates to the use of remote Pacific Islands and Atolls as places to test nuclear and thermonuclear weapons. After discussing the process of how the long acting effect of radiation from the bombs has affected the ocean, and the people who live there. He demonstrates how the whole ocean has been damaged and a possible solution.
Japan is the setting for the second story and starts with the creation of Sony and the consumer electronics boom in the post-war era. But he doesn’t just discuss the amazing growth in mercantile power, but also how Japan has now been superseded by the Koreans and China and how that has thrown Japan into a recession for the last ten years.
The creation of the surfing craze, beginning in the 1930s in Hawaii and its’ transport to California and then the rest of the world is the next story. Though it was well-known in Hawaii, it wasn’t until the 1950s with the construction of inexpensive surfboards made of fiberglass that it really caught on. It’s a question of whether, surfing music made surfing or surfing made surfing music cool. Either way it’s become of billion dollar world-wide sport.
You knew that there had to be a bug-in-the-batter somewhere, and that turns out to be North Korea. Working from the capture of the USS Pueblo in 1968, Winchester tells the story of the longest enduring dictatorship on the planet. From its’ creation in 1946 to today, this poverty stricken nation has been under the control of three generations of the Kim family.
The fifth chapter begins with the sinking of the ex-Cunard RMS Queen Elizabeth in Hong Kong harbor in 1967. This becomes a metaphor for the final days of the British Empire and the other colonial powers (France, Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, Australia and US) in the Pacific. There is also some discussion of the Chinese growth as a world power.
Next up is a discussion of the power of weather (Typhoons and Cyclones) in the southern Hemisphere, led by the destruction of Darwin in the Australian Northern Territory in 1974. This leads to a discussion of how the Pacific generates the weather for the whole world. Most especially it affects the “El Nino” and “La Nina” phenomena that so drastically change the weather on America’s West Coast.
Chapter Seven is about the “coming out” of Australia in the last half of the twentieth century. Winchester gives a fine description of these ‘teenage’ years, when the ‘white’ aristocracy realized that it would have to live with (and allow the immigration of) its’ brown and yellow neighbors.
The significance of the “Ring of Fire” (the volcanoes and earthquake prone area) that surrounds the Pacific, and the possible resources (minerals, etc) that may be recoverable from the sea floor are the subject of Chapter Eight.
The protection of the coral reefs of the Great Barrier Reef, and all the coral reefs of the world are the next subject, along with the need to protect the various wildlife that is unique to many of the Pacific Island groups. This biodiversity is important and equivalent to the rain forests as to what might be available for pharmaceutical exploitation. It also means that if the coral is dying, there is a problem with the Oceans of the World. They are like a ‘canary in a coal mine’.
“Masters and Commanders” is a discussion of China’s (Peoples Republic of China), building of a ‘blue water’ fleet. China’s is trying to build a seawall around its coast and control all islands inside a line they call the ‘First Island Chain’. This are the seas inside of a line from Kamchatka to inside of Japan, outside of Taiwan, inside the Phillipines to the inside of Borneo as far as Singapore. They claim that all the small islands in the South China Sea (which contains many resources) are in their territorial waters.
Many of the islands in the South China Sea are claimed by Vietnam, Phillipines and Malaysia. With a navy that could challenge the US Navy, they could force their claims militarily. Many of the islands have already been fortified and expanded and have a Chinese presence. There is currently, no one in the area who could challenge them. Their strategy is much like the Japanese Empire in the first half of the Twentieth Century. There have already been ‘incidents’ between the US and China over what is international and ‘territorial’ waters.
The Epilogue first discusses the renewing of Polynesian (and other Pacific Island) culture and the re-teaching of the Islanders ability to travel between the islands without any navigation devises. The Islanders traveled by using the night stars, the currents, and the shape and direction of waves.
The ending is a polemic against the way the “West” has treated the indigenous pacific islanders and even the Chinese, Japanese, Koreans or Filipinos. He writes only of the mistakes of Europeans but ignores the excesses of the Japanese, and how the Chinese travelled as far as the east coast of Africa, before Europeans sailed into the Indian Ocean. He complains about the cultural invasion of Asia by American and European culture, but doesn’t mention the inroads of Japanese, Korean and now Chinese companies in the ‘West’. As a Briton it’s interesting to read how Winchester accuses the US of cultural imperialism. Except for that it’s a pretty good story.
Zeb Kantrowitz zworstblog.blogspot.com zebsblog@gmail.com
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