Conservative Book Talk

Now, maybe you have heard of Krakatoa, but I had never heard of it before I read this book. And, even if I had heard of it, I wouldn’t have chosen to read a book about a volcano: even the largest volcano ever observed (two larger previous volcanoes have no written records). Sorry, I just wasn’t that interested in vulcanology. Someone gave this book as a Christmas present and so I read it. And I enjoyed it. (the ironies of life….)

So, why should you even be interested in a book about a volcano that literally blew itself completely off the face of the earth on August 27, 1883? Quite a few reasons actually.

To begin with, let’s consider the quality of writing. Winchester has a background in geology and has repeatedly been a New York Times best seller. He has the depth of knowledge and skill to make obscure history fun. For example, I once read his book The Professor and the Madman which covers the writing of the English Oxford Dictionary. He turned the story of a dictionary into a page turner without destroying the facts. Winchester has the ability to find the fascinating points in a story and then to turn them into readable books. (Geology has always been my least favorite science. Winchester made it interesting again.) It is actually a pleasure to read his work.

Next, Krakatoa doesn’t simply cover the eruption, rather it covers the recorded history before the eruption and then follows the history after the eruption. There is a chapter on the precolonial period of Sumatra and Java and several chapters on the colonial life and politics. Very interesting reading. One would almost forget that this book was about a volcano.

A third reason is the social implications of Krakatoa. Because the world had just been networked via telegraph a few short years prior to Krakatoa’s eruption, for the first time a global audience could watch the events of a tragedy unfold in real time. This sudden rapidity of news caused great fear and panic around the world. People asked if the world was about to end? More intriguingly, Java and Sumatra were moderately Muslim in their beliefs before the eruption. After the massive loss of life and property combined with the harsh treatment by their Dutch masters the stage was set for a nationalistic rebellion fueled by radical Islam. The result has been to make those areas the most radical Islamic nations today outside the Middle East.

Sadly, the one objectionable part is the entirety of chapter three. In this chapter, Winchester goes beyond discussing the geography from an evolutionary standpoint to actually portraying hero worship of Alfred Russell Wallace. In Winchester’s mind, Wallace was greater than Darwin but earned the title of “Darwin’s Moon.” Winchester heaps praise on Wallace and others for bringing the world out of religious darkness into the godless light of science. I have never actually read someone who worshiped evolutionists to this degree before. Still, it is the only problematic chapter in this book.

I can understand why you might not be fascinated at the subject matter, but like all well written histories, the subject doesn’t matter when it is handled by a master story-teller. Winchester is just that: a master craftsman at work. This book is well researched and well documented. There aren’t any flaws to poke at in this book.

This book also has implications for the current debate on global warming. After Krakatoa exploded, the temperature around the entire globe dropped by several degrees for a decade or longer. That would have the global temperature recovering about 1900. Modern “climatologists” claim that the temperature has risen 1-2 degrees celsius over the last century. Now taking into account the temperature drop shortly before 1900, could we be seeing a return to the temperature levels pre-Krakatoa? Even if we aren’t, if a single volcano (admittedly a large one) can affect the temperature so greatly, why should I assume that human produced carbon is the great Satan of modern society?

I had never heard of Krakatoa before I read this book. Had you ever heard of it?

I can tell you one branch of science that never interested me: cartography (i.e. the science of map making). Maybe I never cared for cartography because I have a dysfunctional sense of direction. Whatever the reason, a book about maps would not have struck me as fascinating reading. Then I came across Charles Hapgood’s work Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings. This is not your typical book in that Hapgood does not seem to be much of a writer. Rather, he is a professor and researcher who has written about the discoveries that he made with the help of his students. This book is full of facts, figures and diagrams – many of which, I did not understand, but what kept me moving through the book was the point that Hapgood was attempting to make. More on that point later.

Scientific theory dictates that a scientist formulates a hypothesis and then attempt to prove or disprove said hypothesis through controlled and repeatable experiments. Sadly, though, most scientists do not realize that this approach to science is faulty. The fault is not in the methodology but in the assumptions behind the hypothesis. A scientist only creates a hypothesis that fits his worldview (i.e. an evolutionist would never create a hypothesis that had dinosaurs living in the last ten thousand years because it is contrary to his basic assumptions about life). Woe to the scientist who challenges the basic beliefs of science for that challenge is an attack on the very foundations of the systems beliefs.

Hapgood has challenged the scientific community in this incredible book. He decided to study the map of Piri Reis a Turkish Admiral in 1513 AD. Hapgood found the accurate detail on the map fascinating and decided to study the map in class as a tool to teach his students how to research. There were many interesting facts to be found, but most interesting was the level of accuracy in the map. When compared to a modern map, many of the cities were relatively close their actual locations. Further, there were interesting lines and circles drawn on the map to assist the cartographer in placing the locations. Hapgood decided to focus on the circles and attempted to figure out the mathematics used. Hapgood spends quite a bit of detail explaining the reasoning that he and his students used in the study as well as many of the dead ends that they hit. (This is used to give credence to the fantastic claims that Hapgood was planning to make.) No one can accuse Hapgood of faulty research as he has well documented the process that they used. In the end, it was discovered that the cartographer used geometry to draw the map. Not even the Greek maps were this accurate, and we know this since the Grecian maps are extant. How did a Turkish admiral come to use maps that were based on geometry?

Since the geometry the Hapgood overlaid on the map was close but not quite the same as what was used on the map, he investigated further. Then Hapgood discovered that this map was based on a spherical geometry that wasn’t developed until the late 1800’s. How could this map have existed more than three hundred years earlier? Apparently, some race had known and used advanced geometry centuries or millennia ago. None of our archaeology can currently answer this question. The Babylonians might be the source of the base maps and the science, but that seems to be a stretch.

Hapgood ran into a problem though. The usual scientists and historians that studied these maps assumed that they were developed very recently. There were many excuses as to the accuracies of Piri Reis map. So, Hapgood continued to research various maps and discovered a trend. Quite a few ancient maps (even a map carved into stone in China) were far more accurate then they appeared at a glance and they were all made with a similar approach to cartography. When one considered the map carefully, the mathematics could be discovered and they were usually built on advanced math. Even more exciting, as the research continued, Hapgood discovered that many of these maps accurately placed lines of longitude and latitude. Western civilization has only been able to do this for the last two hundred years. How could this be? The icebreaker was the discovery of an ancient map of Antarctica. This map showed a continent that was only half covered in ice. Who could have mapped the southern pole before glaciers had completely engulfed it?

Today, some groups would argue that this proves aliens visited the earth millennia ago. Yeah right. Hapgood is correct in his assumption that an advanced civilization lived on the earth around ten thousand years ago. The modern scientific community cannot accept this conclusion. This runs contrary to the fundamental beliefs of science. According to the established scientific community, men were just leaving their caves ten thousand years ago. They couldn’t have mapped the earth. You see, science treats man’s history through the paradigm of evolution: man began primitive and has advanced steadily to the advanced position he now holds. Hapgood turns that idea on its head.

As a Christian, I find Hapgood’s conclusion to be acceptable. I read this book and see evidence that the earth was mapped either just before or just after the Tower of Babble incident in Genesis 11. This is a challenging read, but worth your time.

I’ve been meaning to post a review about the book Einstein’s Dreams, by Alan Lightman, but the book sort of defies any explanation; and when things don’t spring easily, I have a tendency to avoid doing anything about them.

In subject, the book is an explanation of varying theories of Time. Einstein, in working on his Theory of Relativity, is forced to re-think the concept and nature of Time itself. These thoughts take the shape of dreams about the movement, reality, and nature of Time. Each is unique and fascinating, gradually expanding and growing in complexity and creativity.

In one dream, Time is a perfect circle in which people forever repeat their lives. In another, the passage of Time restores broken things to order. In still another, Time moves more slowly as the people go more quickly. In yet another, Time does not exist, merely images. Each dream is unique and may reveal another facet of the nature of Time, or it may be a step backward from Time.

Lightman’s style is deliberately dreamy and poetic; he is meticulous with detail, terse or languid when necessary, and crafts the words in support of each dream about Time. It is fascinating and intelligent reading that will challenge you to think; much along the line of Jorge Luis Borges. For those of you who like being challenged intellectually by what you read, it’s heartily recommended.

There are elements that imply sexual situations and at least one overt situation; the rating would be PG-13. Expletives are at a minimum; I cannot consciously remember any in the book, but that does not mean that there may not be one or two.