Pacific: The Ocean of the Future

Pacific: The Ocean of the Future
Simon Winchester

Travelling the circumference of the truly gigantic Pacific, Simon Winchester tells the story of the world’s largest body of water, and – in matters economic, political and military – the ocean of the future.The Pacific is a world of tsunamis and Magellan, of the Bounty mutiny and the Boeing Company. It is the stuff of the towering Captain Cook and his wide-ranging network of exploring voyages, Robert Louis Stevenson and Admiral Halsey. It is the place of Paul Gauguin and the explosion of the largest-ever American atomic bomb, on Bikini atoll, in 1951. It has an astonishing recent past, an uncertain present and a hugely important future.The ocean and its peoples are the new lifeblood, fizz and thrill of America – which draws so many of its minds and so much of its manners from the sea – while the inexorable rise of the ancient center of the world, China, is a fixating fascination. The presence of rogue states – North Korea most notoriously today – suggest that the focus of the responsible world is shifting away from the conventional post-war obsessions with Europe and the Middle East, and towards a new set of urgencies. Navigating the newly evolving patterns of commerce and trade, the world’s most violent weather and the fascinating histories, problems and potentials of the many Pacific states, Simon Winchester’s thrilling journey is a grand depiction of the future ocean.

Praise for Pacific: (#u2a1edb76-2ec7-5f37-be8f-22032d2c77bc)

‘Winchester does a virtuoso job. … A giant Aladdin’s rug, which he then gamely invites his readers to climb aboard’ New York Times

‘Revealing … delightful … fascinating … highly recommended’ San Francisco Chronicle

‘Fascinating, provocative, and at times, mildly terrifying. … The hallmarks of Winchester’s best work—a fertile, curious mind, impeccable research and command of complex material—are on full display here’ Miami Herald

‘Winchester writes books like someone telling a good yarn around the fireplace … by interweaving history, fascinating trivia, and acute observation’ New York Times Book Review

‘Winchester has a smooth and easy prose style, one that is trustable and clear … He excels at guiding the reader with a contagious sense of wonder’ Boston Globe

‘[Winchester is] a terrific raconteur with a knack for making connections that might have eluded you between events behind the headlines. … Where Pacific opts to go, it goes with savvy and verve’ Seattle Times

‘Winchester has prodigious gifts as a popular historian and an explainer of faraway events’ Los Angeles Times

‘Provocative … and lively’ Wall Street Journal

Copyright (#u2a1edb76-2ec7-5f37-be8f-22032d2c77bc)

William Collins

An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF www.WilliamCollinsBooks.com (http://www.WilliamCollinsBooks.com)

First published in Great Britain by William Collins in 2015

First published in the United States by Harper in 2015

Copyright © Simon Winchester 2015

Jacket design by Gregg Kulick.

Photographs and illustrations © Getty Images

A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library

Simon Winchester asserts the right to be identified as the author of this work

Engraving of the Pacific on title page by Marzolino/Shutterstock, Inc.

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Source ISBN: 9780007550777

Ebook Edition © September 2015 ISBN: 9780007550784

Version: 2016-09-20

For Setsuko

Look East, where whole new thousands are!

—­ROBERT BROWNING, WARING

Nick Springer/Springer Cartographics LLC.

CONTENTS

Cover (#u64ebefa8-5fa8-5ea5-995f-481b3c1f701e)

Title Page (#u902b1af0-312e-5503-aca6-f79410f35130)

Praise for Pacific

Copyright

Dedication (#u7c3fee10-2def-580e-91d4-96a3bf0d9f83)

Epigraph (#u3dd4a52e-2405-536a-a0f6-64805849ffc6)

List of Maps and Illustrations

PROLOGUE: THE LONELY SEA AND THE SKY

AUTHOR’S NOTE: ON CARBON

Chapter 1THE GREAT THERMONUCLEAR SEA (#ulink_67c83046-68bb-5766-a4ca-db12cb69d47c)

Chapter 2MR. IBUKA’S RADIO REVOLUTION

Chapter 3THE ECSTASIES OF WAVE RIDING

Chapter 4A DIRE AND DANGEROUS IRRITATION

Chapter 5FAREWELL, ALL MY FRIENDS AND FOES

Chapter 6ECHOES OF DISTANT THUNDER

Chapter 7HOW GOES THE LUCKY COUNTRY?

Chapter 8THE FIRES IN THE DEEP

Chapter 9A FRAGILE AND UNCERTAIN SEA

Chapter 10OF MASTERS AND COMMANDERS

EPILOGUE: THE CALL OF THE RUNNING TIDE

Note on Sources

Bibliography

Index

Acknowledgments

About the Author (#ua15f2152-aeeb-59ce-8c9c-45a3b8d23c03)

Also by Simon Winchester

About the Publisher

MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS (#u2a1edb76-2ec7-5f37-be8f-22032d2c77bc)