The more I read Simon Winchester, the more I want to read. His style is accessible, human, and eclectic, dealing with complicated subjects in a manner that totally draws the reader into the topic. “A Crack in the Edge of the World,” you would assume from the cover blurb and photographs, focuses on the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. Yes and no. Winchester deals with a wider topic first, global plate tectonics, narrows the field to earthquakes, narrows it again to earthquakes in the United States, further to the San Andreas Fault, and then zeroes in on the ’06 quake. Along the way, fascinating and informative digressions take place, little anecdotes that not only amused me but informed me.

Winchester doesn’t just focus on the physical geology of earthquakes, although there is plenty of that. A full social history of San Francisco, before and after the quake, is also presented, and as someone who knows a bit about the subject, I can say that the information is accurate and entertaining.

Winchester’s formal training at Cambridge was in geology, and, like John McPhee, took a sharp turn from that discipline into journalism. With both of them I find the same love of fact and detail, and luckily for us, the ability to weave facts into accessible prose. I’m gathering more of Winchester’s books to see what I’ve missed. ( )

Winchester is sometimes guilty of confusing wordiness with descriptiveness. All his books have a plodding element that prevents them from joining the ranks of their betters. His writing needs a braver editor to confront this and push back. He neither succeeds as a rigorous or inspiring writer of science, nor as an insightful observer of socioeconomic history. But he tries. Enjoyable but fails to impress. ( )

I will pretty much read anything Simon Winchester writes, so this might bias my review somewhat. Nevertheless, this is one of my favorites. The San Francisco Earthquake and Fire hits closer to home than the eruption of Krakatoa, and the effects on California history are fascinating. I didn't devour it the way I did some of his other works, but this book is ideal to read as a series of related vignettes. ( )

Covers the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 as well as explores the history, cause, and other related topics of earthquakes and plate movement. Some of the side topics the author covers seem to be very far afield. ( )

Simon Winchester delivers another stellar non-fiction study of an historical event and its ramifications. As he did in "Krakatoa", Winchester delves deeply into the geological record to help the reader understand the mechanism that produced California's fault lines, including the San Andreas fault, and those fault lines' part in creating California's topography. Along the way, he provides a succinct history of San Francisco, from its origin as a squalid tent city at the beginning of the Gold Rush through its transformation into a sophisticated and sparkling urban center. Throw in local politics, crooked developers, and a little regional rivalry, and voila! A highly entertaining narrative of one of the most significant earthquakes in California's long history. Good stuff, and highly recommended. ( )