Pacific

Simon Winchester has narrated his own books for years, and if his British accent sounds more throaty these days (he recently turned 71), it just gives him more authenticity as a well-traveled polymath with a gift for weaving disparate stories. In PACIFIC--his portrait of the unimaginably vast ocean--Winchester's narrative playground is as large as it's ever been. He takes listeners on a voyage that is, by turns, historical, political, meteorological, geological, and biological, covering subjects as diverse as atomic testing, the eruption of Mount Pinatubo and its aftermath, and the discovery of giant tube worms miles under the surface. As we expect from Winchester, the stories are peppered with anecdotes of his own adventures in many of these ports of call. D.B. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine

July 27, 2015
Earth’s largest ocean inspires expansive ruminations from renowned British journalist Winchester (The Map That Changed the World) in this far-ranging but unfocused and overwrought meditation on recent geo-history. Winchester spotlights post-WWII episodes that crystallize an increasingly Pacific-centered modernity: atomic testing at Bikini Atoll and the North Korean seizure of the USS Pueblo symbolize the horrors of the Cold War; the 1972 burning of the liner Queen Elizabeth in Hong Kong harbor symbolizes the sunset of Western imperialism; Sony Corp.’s development of transistor radios symbolizes the rising Asian industrial colossus; typhoons and bleached coral reefs symbolize the threat of climate change; the surfing movie Gidget symbolizes the globalization of Hawaii’s dolce vita. Winchester’s organizing principle—things that happen in or around the Pacific—yields little thematic coherence beyond platitudes such as “There is just one world.” The “unchallengeable superlative” of his oceanic subject stimulates his own limitless penchant for hyperbole and lurid metaphor: one surfboard manufacturer is called “powerful beyond imagination,” and he describes a wrecked warship’s cannons “lolling out of their upended casements like the tongues of the hanged Mussolinis.” Still, Winchester’s vigorous prose and tireless dragnetting of interesting lore make this an entertaining read.

September 1, 2015

Covering a third of the planet's surface and containing some of its most perilous storms, unique ecologies, and troubling geopolitics, the Pacific Ocean is the stormy heart of the modern world. So argues best-selling author and retired journalist Winchester (The Professor and the Madman), whose latest book is popular history at its finest. The author tackles the last 60-odd years of Asia-Pacific history through linked stories illustrating essential patterns or developments, ranging from the globalization of the Polynesian surfing tradition to endless North Korean provocations and the (predictably) chaotic climate generated by the El Nino cycle. Adding moral weight to this storytelling, the book focuses initially on U.S. nuclear testing on Bikini and other Polynesian atolls--tests that displaced indigenous islanders, rained deadly clouds of radioactive particles on natives and American sailors alike, and rendered the Pacific the globe's "atomic ocean." Fittingly, a story that begins with American supremacy concludes with the rise of China as the new oceanic superpower. VERDICT Sure to appeal to history buffs or anyone in search of a pleasure read with surprising moral heft and geopolitical insight.--Michael Rodriguez, Hodges Univ. Lib., Naples, FL

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from August 1, 2015
The preternaturally curious writer about everything from the Oxford English Dictionary to volcanoes to the Atlantic Ocean (Atlantic: A Vast Ocean of a Million Stories, 2010, etc.) returns with a series of high-resolution literary snapshots of the Pacific Ocean.Winchester, who now lives in Massachusetts, does not do the expected: there is no chapter about the geological history of the ocean, followed by a slow chronology. Instead, realizing the difficulty of his own task, the author focuses on 10 aspects of the ocean and its inhabitants-islanders, those on the shores-and uses them to illustrate some historical points. He issues dire warnings about the damage we're doing to the natural world and about the geopolitical forces-especially the military rise of China-that threaten us all. Occasionally, Winchester makes what seem to be odd pairings (a chapter on both a volcano in the Philippines and the rise of China) and narrative choices (a chapter on the rise of Japan accelerated by manufacturing transistor radios), and he also looks at the international nightmare caused by the 1968 case of the USS Pueblo and North Korea. No matter what the putative subject of the chapter, though, we learn a lot about the ocean: its challenged wildlife, the swirling areas of plastic debris, the Pacific Plate, El Nino, and the Pacific's vast dimensions. As we've come to expect from Winchester, there are plenty of delights. A chapter on surfing has guest appearances by both Jack London and the Beach Boys; and the author examines America's egregious abuse of islanders during aboveground nuclear testing. Deep worries abound, as well: the dying coral reefs, climate change, and military posturing of the superpowers. The author ends with a hopeful but probably doomed wish for international fraternity. Winchester's passionate research-on sea and land-undergirds this superb analysis of a world wonder that we seem hellbent on damaging.

COPYRIGHT(2015) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

September 15, 2015
Even viewed within the limitations of a map of the world, the Pacific Ocean is awesomely vastan endless sea of blue with only a few tiny islands, atolls, and archipelagoes between the American and Asian mainlands. Winchester, the acclaimed author who has previously written a biography of the Atlantic Ocean, here is concerned less with the geography and more with the culture, past and present, of the humans who inhabit these lands. In telling their stories, Winchester casts a wide net, and his jumping across time periods, geographic settings, and cultures can be dizzying but often exhilarating. The fate of the islanders of Micronesia, victimized by Spanish, German, and Japanese imperialism, is lamented, as is their current condition, living in the shadow of the U.S. Navy. That navy once moved islanders around like inconvenient obstacles to U.S. nuclear-weapons tests. But Winchester isn't engaged in America bashing. He chillingly portrays the sheer brutality and dangers posed by the lunacy of the North Korean regime, and he is especially concerned with the potential threats of a newly assertive and ambitious China. This is an admirable effort to examine, on both a small and grand scale, a region that will be at the center of world affairs in the coming decades. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Many of Winchester's previous books have been best-sellers, so librarians should expect the same destiny for his latest one.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)