Author of the Day: Simon Winchester

Simon Winchester writes lively histories and biographies, often using his own travels as a framework for the book. For instance, in The Fracture Zone, which I am currently listening to, Winchester uses his 1999 journey from Vienna to Istanbul to present a history of The Balkans and an analysis of the then current situation in the troubled region.

Whether he writes about volcanoes, the Oxford English Dictionary, China, earthquakes, or geography, Winchesters books are always entertaining.

So far, I have read four of his books and am half-way through a fifth. I plan to read them all, although his older books are out of print and I wonder about the novel.

Here is the list, starting with his latest release:

The Man Who Loved China: Joseph Needham and the Making of a Masterpiece

A Crack in the Edge of the World

Lonely Planet: Simon Winchester's Calcutta

Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded

The Meaning of Everything: The Story of the Oxford English Dictionary

The Map That Changed the World: William Smith and the Birth of Modern Geology

The Fracture Zone: My Return to the Balkans

The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary

The River at the Center of the World: A Journey Up the Yangtze, and Back in Chinese Time

Pacific Nightmare (a novel)

Pacific Rising: The Emergence of a New World Culture

Korea: A Walk Through the Land of Miracles

Outposts: Journeys to the Surviving Relics of the British Empire

Their Noble Lordships: Class and Power in Modern Britain

American Heartbeat: Some Notes from a Midwestern Journey

In Holy Terror