Simon Winchester: 20 books

In the summer of 1858 in a garden behind Christ Church in Oxford Charles Dodgson--better known by his pseudonym Lewis Carroll--dressed the six-year-old Alice Liddell in ragamuffin's clothes and then snapped the camera's shutter. In The Alice Behind Wonderland Simon Winchester uses the famous photograph...

New York Times bestselling author Simon Winchester looks at which way the wind blows in this exciting book about giant storms. Simon Winchester is an avid weather watcher. He’s scanned the skies in Oklahoma, waiting for the ominous “finger” of a tornado to touch the Earth. He’s hunkered...

One of Library Journal’s 10 Best Books of 2015 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...

In the late 1980s, New York Times bestselling author Simon Winchester set out on foot to discover the Republic of Korea - from its southern tip to the North Korean border - in order to set the record straight about this enigmatic and elusive land. Fascinating for its vivid presentation of...

The international bestselling author of The Professor and the Madman and Krakatoa vividly brings to life the 1906San Francisco Earthquake that leveled a city symbolic of America's relentless western expansion. Simon Winchester has also fashioned an enthralling and informative informative look...

"Variably genial, cautionary, lyrical, admonitory, terrifying, horrifying and inspiring…A lifetime of thought, travel, reading, imagination and memory inform this affecting account." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) Blending history and anecdote, geography and reminiscence, science...

The revered New York Times bestselling author traces the development of technology from the Industrial Age to the Digital Age to explore the single component crucial to advancement—precision—in a superb history that is both an homage and a warning for our future. The rise of manufacturing...

A True Portrait of One of the World's Most Chaotic and Beautiful Regions That Explains Why Violence Has Always Occurred There--And Why It May Continue For Years To Come The vast and mountainous area that makes up the Balkans is rife with discord, both cultural and topographical. And, as Simon...

In sumptuous and illuminating detail, Simon Winchester, the bestselling author of The Professor and the Madman ("Elegant and scrupulous"—New York Times Book Review) and Krakatoa ("A mesmerizing page-turner"—Time) brings to life the extraordinary story of Joseph Needham,...

Simon Winchester, the acclaimed New York Times bestselling author of Atlantic and The Professor and the Madman, delivers his first book about America: a fascinating popular history that illuminates the men who toiled fearlessly to discover, connect, and bond the citizenry and geography of the U.S.A....

Earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis. Headline-making natural disasters with devastating consequences for millions of people. But what do we actually know about these literally earth-shaking events? New York Times bestselling author, explorer, journalist, and geologist Simon Winchester—who’s...

In 1793, a canal digger named William Smith made a startling discovery. He found that by tracing the placement of fossils, which he uncovered in his excavations, one could follow layers of rocks as they dipped and rose and fell—clear across England and, indeed, clear across the world—making it...

Rising in the mountains of the Tibetan border, the Yangtze River, the symbolic heart of China, pierces 3,900 miles of rugged country before debouching into the oily swells of the East China Sea. Connecting China's heartland cities with the volatile coastal giant, Shanghai, it has also historically...

**研究古代歷史，不可不知地中海；綜觀今時國際，不可不知大西洋 想掌握未來世界，一定要了解太平洋！ 從日不落國至日落帝國的黃昏，殖民到獨立的世界新秩序形成 政治分斷、軍事角逐、氣候變遷、能源環境、物種發現的新研究 太平洋──絕非「太平無事」的海洋 這片美麗、脆弱、巨大的海洋 面臨諸多潛在挑戰與危機，左右著人類的前途 《紐約時報》暢銷書作家　溫契斯特 繼膾炙人口的暢銷書《大西洋》《美國統一功臣》後，最新力作 精彩而生動地探討太平洋的過去、現在，以及它所牽動的未來 深究太平洋現代史上十大關鍵事件 風靡西方國家的電晶體收音機、衝浪活動、化學武器汙染、極端氣候、深海熱泉、珊瑚白化、南北韓分裂、香港回歸、澳洲政局、南海爭奪等** 太平洋廣大得令人難以想像，它是迄今世上最大水域，覆蓋地球表面積近三分之一，對全球的影響亦十分巨大：不僅是世界氣候模式的源頭，也是最危險板塊碰撞運動的核心，海面下一萬多公尺處更有全球最深的海溝。它是西方人發現的最後一座海洋，也是牽引世界前途的大洋，這片幅員廣達1.8億平方公里的水域所發生的一切，攸關著人類全體的命運。 知名作家與探險家溫契斯特，詳述這片複雜得令人目不暇給的巨洋，自1950年代以降所經歷的種種關鍵時刻，以及影響迄今的重大趨勢和事件。讀者首先看到比基尼環礁舉行原子彈試爆後，因遭輻射汙染而成為徒留某種超現實景觀的無人島。書中除了介紹令全球年輕人趨之若鶩的衝浪活動由來背景，也揭露小型電晶體收音機如何點燃從日本東京延燒到美國矽谷的數位革命，進而改變人類的生活，還提到澳洲大堡礁的驚人發現和海底神祕噴口的探勘活動，對於太平洋周邊領土的地緣政治變化、流氓國家北韓的興起、英國殖民時代的結束亦有所著墨，並兼論環境惡化與氣候變遷為這個龐大水域帶來的威脅。 溫契斯特長期接觸太平洋及周邊區域，憑藉淵博的歷史學識和無人能出其右的敘事長才，以生動的文筆為這片浩瀚無垠、美麗神祕、引人遐思的大海寫下這部禮讚之作。 《不平靜的太平洋》首先揭露太平洋絕非「太平無事」的海洋，它其實是個原子海。第二章敘述電晶體收音機的發明和索尼公司的成立經過。第三章提到令全世界年輕人趨之若鶩的衝浪活動。第四章描述早年的北韓政權極度渴望自食其力，邁向經濟與文化獨立，如今該政權因國內政治殘暴、國際行為乖張而淪為笑柄，它持續不斷對外挑釁固然讓今日的太平洋蒙塵，卻具有關鍵性的影響力。隨著殖民列強在擾嚷不安中陸續撤出太平洋區，近年來日本人與其他原住民──美洲印第安人、澳洲土著、毛利人、太平洋諸島居民──又重新投入太平洋事務的運作。第五章以一艘英國遠洋郵輪在太平洋英屬殖民地海域發生重大火災事故拉開序幕，接著提到法國人撤出中南半島、美國人撤離越南、荷蘭人與葡萄牙人揮別其他殖民地，以及領土遍布世界的大英帝國放棄各處殖民地以後，太平洋居民終於獲得早在幾百年前就該享有的自主權。第七章探討澳洲將來會扮演何種角色，會不會在短期之內、長期之後，或是永久、持續運用某種區域勢力？ 第六、第八、第九章論及太平洋是形成世界氣候模式的根源，以及爆發危險板塊運動的核心，它蘊藏了大量可供全世界掠奪或維護的海底資源，卻首當其衝遭遇了全球難以逃避的環境危機。第十章是最值得關注的話題：中國。 ※...