Simon Winchester

Simon Winchester Summary

Simon Winchester began his career with the aspirations of becoming a geologist. He followed through with his dream and received a degree in geology from Oxford. While looking for a job, he was employed by the Canadian government to go to Africa in search of mineral deposits of copper. Ultimately, Mr. Winchester was unable to find any mineral deposits of copper but his time in Africa allowed him access to a British library and various books on mountain climbing. He happened upon a book written by James Morris entitled Coronation Everest which served as an inspiration, and supported his desire to become a geologist and facilitate his travel around the world. Simon soon wrote to James in search of insight into his experiences in traveling to various places in the world. Mr. Morris’ reply was that Simon should quit his job immediately and move back to London and begin writing for newspapers. Simon took his advice, much to the surprise of James Morris. Mr. Morris felt somewhat responsible for Simon going down this path promised that he would correct and assist him in becoming a better writer. Simon Winchester then flourished under the tutelage of James Morris and became a respected writer and journalist.

The San Francisco earthquake of 1906 was a revolutionary time in United States history as well as world history. Until 1906, countries had reacted and viewed earthquakes as well as other national disasters as actions by angry deities. Earthquakes such as the one that occurred in Lisbon in 1775 led to the inhabitants burning heretics on a funeral pyre in order to satisfy the angry deity. The eruption of Krakatau in 1883 allowed for the Javanese leader Abdul-Karim to garner support and lead a fundamentalist movement to satisfy an angry god. These are just a few examples of the reactions that occurred after natural disasters worldwide.

In 1906, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck San Francisco California. Frederick Funston was deputy at...