It would be a good topic for him. The Alaska quake was even more critical to advancing understanding than Krakatoa.
Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1883
A Crack in the Edge of the World: America and the Great California Earthquake of 1906
Winchester is, IMHO, one of the greatest writers of our time. (He is a proud, newly-naturalized, American citizen.)