The Pulse of the Earth – a quick book review.

The Pulse of the Earth – Political Geology in Java by Adam Bobbette was purchased from Periplus in Yogya. This 174-page book with another 40 pages of references etc was published in 2023. I was somewhat hesitant to buy this book, but following my outlook of – “if you don’t get the book now, I will unlikely get a second opportunity to get it”.

The book turns out to be a little treasure of the colonial & post-colonial history of geologists in Java, and opened my eyes to the key role they played in the evolution of today’s plate tectonics concept of moving continents. The Dutch instigated volcanology studies in response to saving villages, and the emerging plantation industries at risk on volcanic slopes. These early volcanology studies are the foundation of today’s extensive & modern government volcanology monitoring & warning systems.

Of interest, it was the son of a Dutch colonialist that studied medicine in Holland, where he invented the 1st ECG for measuring human heart health, and devising a way to transmit the data over the newly introduced telephone system. He took this to Indonesia where he & others modified it to measure earthquakes at a safe distance from the top of the volcano. This system was also modified to conduct seismic surveys in sedimentary basins to support oil exploration.

The concept of the south Java Sea being consumed (subducting) under Java and reborn as Merapi (and other volcanoes) that in turn weathered debris are carried by rivers back to the sea reflects the Hindu culture of life, death, rebirth as a continuous cycle. The nature of these Hindu cultural roots in Indonesia are carried through to today’s modern politics. The spiritual / cultural connection between man and geology (volcanoes, rivers, sea) is a valid and critical component for carrying on life, particularly for villages living on volcanoes, but also for the wider community. The book looks at some past spiritual practices, and introduces a number of diverse terms for geology, such as “geopoetics.