Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded is a 2003 book by Simon Winchester covering the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa.

36,000 victims.

Underwater lines of communications were just starting to work well (after the introduction of covering them with rubber) making Krakatoa one of the first worldwide news stories.

AMAZING.

… “a trove of wonderfully arcane information.” …

WEST of Java, by the way.

Simon Winchester is a terrific writer. I’ll definitely be reading more. He makes science entertaining.

related – REVIEW – Shock and awe when Allah blew his top