Simon Winchester

This sets out to tell the story of the eccentric/cunning/courageous explorers, inventors and capitalists that physically connected the original settlements of the East Coast to the “new world” of America’s west coast, in the process (or so Winchester contends) laying the foundation for a cohesive national identity. And while I'm not sure he manages to pull the last bit off (building a cohesive national identity requires more than geographic proximity and physical interaction), this show more lapse in no way detracts from what Winchester *has* managed to accomplish here: a breezy, relatable historical survey full of fascinating people, interesting anecdotes, and dozens of those "Wow, I never knew that!" moments that make you reconsider stuff you thought you knew.

The first section focuses on the folks who were the first to explore and map the western territories. Not without reason, this section is dominated by the Lewis & Clark expedition, but there's also a wealth of interesting content about how our Founding Fathers promoted the novel concept of "selling land" to raise the money required to fund their new nation's many financial needs. (Ever wonder where that $15M we paid to France for the Louisiana Purchase came from?)

The next section focuses on the scientists who mapped the geography of the U.S. territories. After a fascinating intro in which he correlates the location of various major east coast cities with the location of a major fault line (early explorers would move upstream until, thwarted by rapids caused by the fault line, they would stop and build their settlement), the narrative moves west, focusing on the barriers that geography placed in the way of settlers, before ending in an absorbing account of the quirky individuals (including John Wesley Powell) who led the four great geological surveys that mapped the vast expanses of land between Yellowstone to the north and the Grand Canyon to the south.

The third section focuses on the role that rivers and canals played in uniting the U.S., not just physically and commercially, but culturally. Fascinating to learn, for instance, that when settlers started moving to the other side of the Appalachians, George Washington was so worried that they would align themselves with the French, Spanish, and Brits that dominated the area, he argued that building a canal breaching the Appalachians was required as a matter of existential urgency. Also plenty here about the Erie Canal and the surprisingly fickle Mississippi River.

The fourth section explores the genesis of roads and railroads, with special attention paid to the first transcontinental rail line and the genesis of the interstate road system, inspired by a disaster-prone transcontinental expedition that Eisenhower experienced as a young officer. But there’s also a charming bit about the maverick pilot who was the first to fly coast to coast – a trip that took 12 weeks to complete … after which he accomplished his return trip to the east coast via train in only 5 days!

The final section is devoted to exploring how the two coasts of the U.S. came to be crisscrossed by telegraphs, telephones, television, and wireless communications networks. Lots of interesting info here: how rural areas came to be electrified, the war of the currents, the first ham radios, etc.

I was one of the kids that paid attention in history class, and I've read quite a bit of history since, but the format that Winchester has adopted here - basically retelling the story of the years between 1700 and today through these five different "lenses" - allows the author to include a lot more "connective tissue" than one might find in a book focused on any one or two of these themes. Yes, most of this was content I'd encountered in bits and pieces elsewhere, but definitely felt like this helped me to appreciate the width and breadth of American innovation/curiosity/movement, as well as working as a lively and pleasurable read. show less

The popular image of the industrial revolution is of titanic forces unleashed by steam, of dark satanic mills and choking clouds of smog. But the machines did not spring into being, fully formed. Behind our modern age lies an obsession with precision, with exactitude in measurement and cutting that a medieval master craftsman would find extremely odd, and which we find extremely normal.

Winchester chronicles 250 years of precision engineering, starting with John "Iron-Mad" Wilkinson, a show more cannon manufacturer who armed the fleets that won Britain 100 years of empire, and who's technology, adopted in partnership with James Watt, created the first useful steam engine. Wilkinson's bores erred by no more than 1/10th of an inch, and in a few generations this would seem to be incredibly imprecise, as various engineers chased ever finer exactitude in manufacturing and measurement in the service of more reliable machines, economies of mass production, and eventually the atomic level precision of computer chips, GPS satellites, and LIGO, the gravity wave detecting observatory.

Winchester blends a love of precision equipment, such as Rolls-Royce cars, his father's Jo blocks, mechanical watches, and Leica camera lenses, with an a charming professionalism as a writer, leaping through centuries, biographical sketches, and ever finer tolerances. This is as good as popular history of technology gets! show less

You really need to know what you'll be getting when you choose to read a Simon Winchester book. With the correct expectations, you should really love this book.

I believe a good portion of the lower reviews here are from readers who chose this book seeking a succinct history of the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906. Simon Winchester is one of the best storytellers I've come across, and for this reason his books are not as straightforward as some may desire. In 'A Crack in the Edge of the show more World', Simon spends time discussing the earthquake, complete with interviews and stories from those who were there, but it is couched by a plethora of other topics as well: a fascinating section on the planet's geographical history, smatterings of the author's own travels to western North American locations relevant to this earthquake, a history of not only San Francisco but California as a whole, among other loosely-related topics.

This is, in other words, a book that is focused on the San Francisco earthquake, but like a spider web extends well beyond that focal point and involves much more than just the event itself.

I find this to be a terrific way to write a book. I love to learn while reading, and Simon Winchester's writing style is one in which you'll end up learning a lot more than you ever expected to, about topics you may never have thought would be related to the earthquake. This books reads like a finely woven story, truly bringing life and color to the event (as opposed to a more sterile discussion of the event).

You'll like this book if you want to learn about the 1906 earthquake, but also want to learn about secondary topics (i.e. the history of geology itself, the geologic history of the planet, the best and worst towns in the Yukon while on a road trip) while you read. You won't like this book if you just want a narrow, focused look at the earthquake.

Five stars for a book that is almost entrancing in the way it discusses the 1906 earthquake and a whole gamut of other, related subjects. You just need to be prepared for the kind of author Simon Winchester is before diving into his books. show less

This ambitious undertaking is Simon Winchester’s attempt to show how the America came together into one nation. It is structured in a logical way, considering the vastness of the topic, in five categories: wood, earth, water, fire, and metal. The author covers a wide swath of American history, highlighting many familiar names as well as unsung heroes, providing the reader enough information to get a sense of their personalities and eccentricities. He covers such diverse undertakings as show more exploration, geological surveys, pioneering, canals, railroads, mines, highways, electricity, telegraphy, radio, telephones, television, and the internet.

Simon Winchester, born in the UK, became an American citizen in 2011, and this book clearly shows his affection for his adopted country. Winchester is a skilled storyteller. He employs an elegant style sprinkled with dry humor. He weaves in personal stories of his many travels to these regions, connecting more current endeavors to those of the past. This book is engaging and wonderfully written. The audio book is well-read by the author. Listening to this book is like being immersed in a well-researched documentary. I enjoyed it tremendously. show less