Reviews (5)

El Niño in History. Storming through the ages.
This book, written by Dr. Cesar Caviedes about the historical implications of El Niño, is an excellent source of information and also a valuable teaching tool for undergraduate teaching. I have used the first chapter to explain to the students of an introductory Environmental Science course at Georgetown University the basic oceanic and meteorological processes that are involved and explain El Niño events with great success. The book does not only offer clear explanations, but it also is rich in appropriate illustrations that further clarify the intricate concepts. The book is written in a very engaging and creative manner reflecting in my opinion Dr. Caviedes' expertise in this subject and also his qualities as a teacher.
A work like this entices the reader to look at history with a new and different perspective, a history which is much more intertwined with climatic events than we may have assumed. The discovery of Rapa Nui (Easter Island), the failure of the Napoleon campaign in Russia and the defeat of the German Army at Stalingrad during the Second World War, are telling examples that attest to the importance of environmental circumstances in the outcome of some human affairs.
I enjoyed this book the first time I read it and I still savor it when I return to its most thrilling passages. Highly recommended!

Historically correct
Press attribution of the unsusual weather of 1998-99 to El Nino gave hitherto unprecedented notoriety to this profound weather phenomenon, thus leading much of the public to believe that this was something new. It is very ancient.
Because of an interest in the history of sailing ships, this reviewer thought he was knowledgeable about El Nino, which controls the Humboldt Current flowing up the west coast of South America, significantly affecting sailing ships and vital for Peru's fisheries.

Nevertheless, this scholarly and thoroughly documented account was a revelation in its details of El Nino's long history and vast worldwide climatic effects, both beneficial and disastrous. This book can be strongly reommended, not only for meteorologists and climatologists, but also for archaeologists, historians and anyone concerned with agricultural policies anywhere.
Most particularly, this is recommended reading for anyone producing computer models purporting to forecast global warming trends.

El Niño in History
Dr. César Caviedes' recent book entitled El Niño in History is based on numerous historical references that the author has collected over more than 30 years. In the early chapters of the book oceanic and meteorological mechanisms of El Niño and its counterpart, La Niña, are described. The author then identifies and examines numerous events in political, military, social, economic and cultural history that were influenced by El Niño and La Niña. Events include storms and floods, droughts, military campaigns, hurricanes and shipwrecks covering a wide time frame extending from the present to more than 10,000 years ago.

The author describes an example of how El Niño altered civilizations. He uses the Chicago Field Museum study in northern Peru (Nials et al. 1979) to illustrate a multi-disciplinary approach to identifying historic El Niño episodes in periods when climatologic data are not available. In the Nials study archaeologists, geologists and other specialists compared large river deposits left by contemporary El Niños with fossil deposits found in the area. As a result of these comparisons Nials and other investigators were able to date and size historic El Niño events in pre-Columbian Peru. Investigators were then able to conclude that the coastal Moche and Chimu civilizations were decimated by El Niño associated floods and droughts which ultimately led to the ascendance of the mountain dwelling Incas.

The author issues a direct challenge to readers of his book who are fond of environmental history. He suggests that they search written sources for references to extreme climatic events that serve as a back drop for notable historical circumstances to see if they can be related to a specific El Niño occurrence.

Dr. Caviedes is to be complimented on his excellent presentation of a complex and intriguing subject. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has a multi-disciplinary interest in history. Accept his challenge and identify a previously unknown civilization altering El Niño!

Excellent book to learn about the impacts of El Nino!
The author explains in very clear language the complicated El Nino phenomenon and its far-reaching ecological, social, economic and political impacts during the last few centuries. The book is an excellent example of how an interdisciplinary approach can shed light on a complex oceanic-meteorological event and its ramifications throughout the world and human history. The author weaves meteorology, oceanography, history, economics, ecology, and political and social sciences in to a rich account of the history of El Nino. The book is founded on thorough scientific research, yet completely comprehensible for a lay person like me. The clear style of writing kept my attention to the last page. The numerous illustrations and graphs are very effective and helpful. Anybody who is interested in El Nino and its impact on human events will find this a very insightful book.

Great book about historical facts of "el Nino"
Dear Sir or Madam, While visiting the city of Toronto in Canada recently I came across a new book about the climate phenomenon "El Nino". After having read this book all I can say that this title is excellent, and probably one of the best documented books published lately on this subject. The historical perspective projected by Dr. Caviedes is of great value to people that dedicates time to think about, or, to study all the latest changes in the weather patterns that we all see nowadays, and some of us experience first hand. Like this current summer drought across Canada, whereas in some other areas of this great country were suffering heavy rains and potential floodings three weeks ago in the midwest of our province of Alberta. In a few words I recommend this book to anyone interested in understanding these modern type of climate changes, Excellent and the most complete and documented of the works that I have seen published lately. Sincerely, Gui Lagos Calgary, AB. Canada. ... Read more

Book Description

One giant, black dust storm in April of 1935 became the signature event of a devastating period in the history of the South Plains of the United States. The author, who grew up in Pampa in the Texas Panhandle, gathered a collection of reminiscences, reports, and responses to the storm by individuals who had been in it, and by newspapers that had reported about it, then reflected about the storm during the following years. But this is basically an oral history of interviews with well over 100 people and their personal experiences on that Black Sunday in the mid-thirties.  ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Black Sunday
"Black Sunday" was a fascinating study of a dust storm of mythic proportions. I enjoyed reading the recollections of the storm from many of the people who experienced it. As I have never lived in the prairie states, I had no idea these "dusters" even existed. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

This is the Way the World Ends
As I read "Apocalypse," I kept thinking of a phrase from Woody Allen's "My Speech to the Graduates": "One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly." McGuire's book is hard to put down, but it doesn't offer much comfort when it comes advice about how to escape the consequences of global disasters.

The short message is that there are some cataclysms that we can do absolutely nothing to prevent and that we can do very little to protect ourselves against. McGuire describes four "big ones" that could plunge civilization into a new Dark Ages or cause the extinction of the human race. These are a volcanic super eruption, a massive tsunami, a massive earthquake in Tokyo, and an asteroid or comet strike.

Each major section of the book explains the science behind these scenarios and describes what we know about how often these events have occurred in the past. McGuire ends each chapter with a dramatic and lurid account of what happens when one of these things hits: Yellowstone Park (which is actually the caldera of a gigantic volcano) massively erupts, buries large parts of the United States under a blanket of ash and throws the rest of the world into a volcanic winter; the Cumbre Vieja volcano erupts and sends half the island of La Palma tumbling into the Atlantic, causing huge tsunamis that wipe out the east coast of the United States and all the coastal cities of western Europe and Africa; a magnitude 8.3 earthquake hits Tokyo, wiping the city out and causing worldwide economic catastrophe; a one kilometer wide piece of comet smashes into the earth, annihilating western Europe and plunging the rest of the world into mass starvation.

The troubling thing about all of this is that it is not a matter of "if," but of "when." McGuire explains that super eruptions, comet and asteriod strikes, massive tsunamis and fairly large earthquakes are regular occurrences on a geological time scale, and they are bound to happen again. The difference this time is that there is now a large and interdependent global civilzation in the way, and it is not likely to survive the encounter.

Having said all that, I have learned to take predictions of doom with a grain of salt. The Y2K bug didn't live up to its billing, and I suspect that McGuire is underestimating how resourceful human beings can be in responding to disaster, even one on a global scale--we get a few brownie points for surviving ice ages and the last super eruption in 70,000 BC. This doesn't mean that "Apocalypse" isn't sobering, or that the "big one" won't get us all eventually, but I'm not prepared to give up hope yet.

NOT religious eschatology... this is actual science.
This book is absolutely terrifying. Each chapter goes into a different cataclysmic natural event, which, the authors show us, is certain to take place sooner or later. There are chapters on monstrous mega-tsunamis; stupendous super-volcanoes; economically egregious earthquakes; and, well, apocalyptic asteroid strikes. Each chapter is carefully presented, using as conservative data as possible. The authors help us understand that ALL of these events have happened before in Earth's history, over and over again, at irregular intervals. These disasters, we are shown, usually aren't even thousands of years apart -- only a few hundred. Every one of these disasters is certain to happen again, and again, and again.

Statistics are given, but please don't worry if you have math-phobia. It is perfectly possible to get a vastly enhanced understanding of these perils, while paying only minimal attention to the statistics. The text makes everything quite clear.

As an additional, macabre, morbid bonus, readers are treated here to four mini-thrillers. The end of each chapter contains a little fictional scenario about how the event under discussion might play out. The authors make the not-terribly-unreasonable assumption that each scenario might take place some time within the next century or so. (They aren't suggesting that ALL of these events will happen during the next century -- they simply construct each separate, unrelated scenario within that timeframe.) Each mini-thriller is about 5 or 10 pages long. Two of the events portrayed lead to only a relatively moderate negative outcome -- total, absolute, utter global economic collapse, requiring decades for a recovery. That's the MODERATELY negative outcome. The other two mini-thrillers end with the whole planet being plunged into a new Dark Age, which the authors speculate could last for centuries. I'll leave it up to you to see which disasters are the really bad ones.

Most alert people today are reasonably familiar with the asteroid threat, and with the possibility of catastrophic earthquakes. Two scenarios which, bizarrely enough, have received significantly less attention in the popular media, are the "super-volcano" scenario, and the possibility of a "mega-tsunami" inundating the east coast of the United States. This book helps us understand how bad things could be, and how real the threat is. Did you know that all of Yellowstone Park is basically the top of a gigantic underground volcano, which could wipe out about 10 states overnight if it ever blew? I, for one, was totally unaware of this. Not only that -- scientists have proven that the Yellowstone Supervolcano blows up approximately once every 600,000 years. The last time it exploded was about 640,000 years ago. Do the math, and think carefully about your next vacation plans.

Let me quickly add that all the events described in this terrific book are NATURAL disasters. There's nothing about nuclear war, for example. As long as you're on a disaster kick... I'd like to recommend "Planet Earth in Jeopardy: Environmental Consequences of Nuclear War," by Lydia Dotto. In the same vein, you might want to find a copy of "The Cold and the Dark," by Carl Sagan and Paul Ehrlich. Both of these books are detailed discussions of what scientists think nuclear winter might be like.

I myself am not a geophysicist, an oceanologist, or an astronomer. Therefore, I need books like this to keep me informed. If you are like me, you will benefit from this book, and your friends could benefit as well. I recommend that you buy a copy, and talk it up amongst your friends, co-workers, and family. We should all be better informed about these issues. Two thumbs up for Bill McGuire and Maggie O'Hanlon, for this incredibly important book.

Apocalypse - The scientific reality of our unstable planet
Its clear from the geological record that the history of life on Earth has been punctuated with dramatic and drastic changes in the global climate.In this book, Bill McGuire, gives a vivid account of four types of extreme natural disaster, supervolcanic eruption, tsunami (wrongly called tidal waves in English), catastrophic earthquake and cometary or asteriodal impact, all of which have plentiful precendents in Earth's history, and presents an entirely plausible account of the disastrous consequences in global climate, the resultant human and biosphere changes and even the consequences to the global economy. Bill McGuire writes wittily and with style. He brings a grim sense of humour together with a zest for geology and geophysics, which manages to translate what could be a dry recollection of past geological events into an exciting and fascinating dialogue. My favourite(!) disaster concerns the tsunami hazard to the United States posed by a little known volcano in the Canary Islands. I'll be watching the news very carefully for news about the Cumbre Viejo volcano from now on! Weird prophetic point: how did the author know that the International Space Space would be christened "Alpha"? Not quite five star material. A few more diagrams and photographs would be a big help. All in all, an excellent book of science and serious scientific speculation. Recommended. ... Read more

Book Description

Although Florida has been struck by more hurricanes than any other region of the continental United States, most people living in South Florida in 1992 had never experienced a hurricane. On August 24, in a matter of hours, Hurricane Andrew ravaged communities on the South Florida coast, leaving 250,000 homeless and physical damages of close to $30 billion. Based on interviews with survivors and rescue workers in the weeks and months that followed, In the Eye of Hurricane Andrew is the extraordinary story of one of the most destructive natural disasters in modern American history as told by the people who lived through it.

From a psychological and social point of view, Andrew was unprecedented.

While the book relates thehistory of the storm and its consequences, its greatest strength is the personal level at which it engages the reader. Nearly 100 people representing diverse backgrounds share their experiences, from a mother who weathered the storm in a tiny bathroom shared with another adult, four children, and a dog, to a roofer who traveled from Tennessee to help in the rebuilding process, to Bryan Norcross, the TV weatherman whose voice guided many through the storm. Their testimonies create a real sense of how Andrew impacted each human being—the decision to evacuate or not, preparations, what happened during the storm, the clean-up, looting, price gouging, rebuilding, and living in the aftermath. Providing a context for these oral histories, the book also draws upon a wide range of published sources such as newspaper and documentary accounts. A comprehensive bibliography includes government reports, conference proceedings, maps, and video recordings. Photos from the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration supplement the engaging text to reveal the incredible before and after, testifying to the ingenuity and resiliency of South Floridians carrying on in the face of such devastation. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Incomplete
"In the Eye of Hurricane Andrew" is a collection of first hand accounts of people who survived the horrible disaster and it's aftermath in South Florida. It is NOT an overall history of the storm, as it doesn't cover what it wrought upon the Gulf Coast after hitting Florida. It is also NOT a compelling narrative history, like the book "Issac's Strom" about the 1900 Galveston Hurricane. It is, however, fairly brief at less than 150 pages of narrative and contains only a few black & white photographs.

Given the above, I would recommend this book primarily for South Florida victims of the storm as well as to anyone doing research about hurricanes. General readers will not find much of interest here. ... Read more

Book Description

From apocalyptic devastation in Central America to a frantic race against time in Miami, Inside the Hurricane takes you as close to the storm as it's possible to go. Pete Davies tracks the greatest hurricanes in history and brings you along for a wild ride as he recounts his experiences of following and flying directly into the worst storms of 1999 with the scientists who do it for a living; he explores the science of why hurricanes occur and how to predict their onslaughts more accurately; and he describes the mounting panic of those frantically making preparations for 1999's biggest storm, Floyd.

A winning combination of history, science, and adventure, Inside the Hurricane leaves readers with a chilling reminder of nature's enduring domination over man. Going face-to-face with nature at its most violent, Inside the Hurricane is a gripping, frightening, and brilliantly instructive book about the deadliest storms known to man. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Interesting topic, uneven text
"Inside the Hurricane" is far more interesting than several other recent weather books (the horrid "Tying down the Wind" and the ho-hum "Eye of the Storm"). Author Pete Davies provides an exccelent account of Hurricanes Mitch and Floyd and the horrendous damage they wrought. He also sounds a dire warning about the near certainty that the Gulf or East Coasts of the U.S. will someday experience a catastrophe of epic proportions. Imagine, writes the author, if Mitch had followed the same storm track as Hurricane Irene, a Catagory 1 storm that deluged Miami not long after Floyd made headlines.

A lion's share of author Pete Davies's narrative involves the stories of the forecasters and storm chasers who track these meteorlogical beasts. And while their stories are somtimes interesting, they don't have the same power as the descriptions of the hurricaines themselves. Overall however, "Inside the Hurricane" is a decent book for weather-philes.

"Good science done by brave men on a puny budget"
Pete Davies spent the 1999 hurricane season with the scientists of the National Hurricane Center in Miami as they studied a series of fascinating and intense hurricanes and struggled with budget limitations that are, in these times of surplus, increasingly inane and unforgivable. Davies' writing is vivid and gripping; his descriptions of the devastation of Hurricane Mitch and the experience of people in the midst of the storm are absolutely unforgettable. Davies also flew missions with the NOAA's P-3 hurricane hunter aircraft and gives a good feel for the combination of raw excitement, pure terror, and occasional boredom of these epic flights. One thing missing from the book were any charts, maps, or diagrams; an appendix containing the Saffir-Simpson scale would have been nice. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in hurricanes, which should be anyone who lives in the United States. Even if your state is out of the reach of hurricane damage (and few actually are), the devastation caused by these vast and increasingly dangerous storms can cause economic disaster and human suffering on a scale not exceeded by any other natural disaster. And after reading, contact your congressional representatives and express to them your dismay that funding for important research remains at pittance levels. Too often Americans brainlessly run around chanting "We're Number One!" when what is really needed is a good long look at how money is spent in this country and who truly benefits from government funding.

Interesting, Despite Being a Bit Uneven
"Inside the Hurricane: Face to Face With Nature's Deadliest Storms", is worthwhile for anyone interested in learning more about hurricanes. This book concentrates on following the 1999 hurricane season, with an examination of the horror inflicted by 1998's Category 5 Hurricane Mitch, which killed at least 9,000 people in Central America. The author gives a riveting account of the power of Mitch, telling of its absolute devastion to the nation of Honduras.

The author concentrates on the Hurricane Research Division (HRD), the scientists who try to learn more on these powerful storms, and who fly into them for first-hand scientific observation,and the National Hurricane Center (NHC), the people responsible for making the forecasts as to where these dangerous storms will go. This is interesting stuff, especially when the scientists fly into the storms.

Unfortunately, it seems that that the author simply took info off his tape recorder and stuck it into the book, beacause a lot of the heavy science conversations which are included in this book do not have enough explanation or context.

This book is also hindered by certain editorial decisions. This book suffers from the lack of maps showing the tracks of the hurricanes the author discusses, especially because the author spends a great deal of time discussing the meandering nature of the hurricanes.

The book also contains some minor errors, some of which can be chalked up to the author not being a native American (e.g., describing as one of the highest points in Florida as "Disney's Magic Mountain", when everyone knows that he meant Disney's Space Mountain.) While these minor errors do not really detract from this book, and the above-average number of typos is not much of a problem, the real problem comes from the feel that there are times when this author does not go into needed detail. For example, the author talks about the rapid intensification of Hurricanes Opal and Camille, but while the author examined the rapid intensification of Opal, he made no such prior mention of Camille.

The author fails to provide detail in other areas. While expalantions are provided for some criticism of the media, we really don't know why the huuricane jocks at HRD are so critical of the Weather Channel's staff, especially weatherman Jim Cantori. This book has a slap-dash feel.

However, the descriptions of the hurricanes themselves surpass the author's limitations in other areas of writing. As a native of New Orleans, I've seen my share of hurricanes. One of my earliest memories is of Hurricane Betsy. I lost family in Hurricane Camille. I was one of the tens of thousands of people who evacuted, with my family, from 1998's Hurricane Georges, which was a near miss. I've done research on hurricanes for school, so I have a bit more scientific and personal knowledge than the general public. There are flaws in this book, but the postives far out weigh the negatives.

The author has not written the perfect book on hurricanes, but he is to be commended for spelling out the dangers these massive storms pose, for pointing out the lack of funding which goes into hurricane research, and for his skill in relating the tragedy which is inflicted on hurricane victims, especially the devastation of Hounduras.

Excellent book on Hurricane forecasting & research by NOAA
Well worth the money, well written, very factual; one of the better books dealing with current science of Hurricanes. ... Read more

Book Description

This book tells the story of the 1997 flood of the Red River of the North from the South Dakota border to Winnipeg, Canada, with photos taken by over fifty North American amateur photographers, international photojournalists such as Mary Ellen Mark, artists, and staff newspaper and magazine photographers from across the continent. (154 photographs, 3 black and white, 151 color) ... Read more

Book Description

The Galveston storm of 1900 reduced a cosmopolitan and economically vibrant city to a wreckage-strewn wasteland where survivors struggled without shelter, power, potable water, or even the means to summon help. At least 6,000 of the city's 38,000 residents died in the hurricane. Many observers predicted that Galveston would never recover and urged that the island be abandoned. Instead, the citizens of Galveston seized the opportunity, not just to rebuild, but to reinvent the city in a thoughtful, intentional way that reformed its government, gave women a larger role in its public life, and made it less vulnerable to future storms and flooding.This extensively illustrated history tells the full story of the 1900 Storm and its long-term effects. The authors draw on survivors' accounts to vividly recreate the storm and its aftermath. They describe the work of local relief agencies, aided by Clara Barton and the American Red Cross, and show how their short-term efforts grew into lasting reforms. At the same time, the authors reveal that not all Galvestonians benefited from the city's rebirth, as African Americans found themselves increasingly shut out from civic participation by Jim Crow segregation laws. As the centennial of the 1900 Storm prompts remembrance and reassessment, this complete account will be essential and fascinating reading for all who seek to understand Galveston's destruction and rebirth. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Interesting, but lacking
Authors Patricia Bixel and Elizabeth Turner have written an account of the 1900 Storm detailing its long-term effects on Galveston.

The photographs, from a variety of sources, are wonderful in conveying to the reader the magnitude of this disaster. Each chapter deals with a different aspect of the story from the actual events during the hurricane and the aftermath to how Galveston recovered and protected herself from future storms. I give the book three stars based on the photographs and amount of detail they put into the writing.

But the book, written by authors with PhDs, reads more like a scholarly account, rather than the politically correct coffee table book it appears to be. Much attention is paid to the changing role of women and African-Americans during the time, with some statements and theories offered that have not been seen in other accounts. It is necessary to check their sources to compare those accounts with others.

Unfortunately, they failed to include any endnotes guiding the reader through their extensive research. Instead, as the authors write, "Because this work was written for a more popular, general audience, it lacks the full scholarly apparatus of footnotes, endnotes or bibliography." This is a great disservice to the reader as I found myself wanting to know where some of the information came from. This is my reason for saying the book is lacking.

Very interesting, but lacking
Authors Patricia Bixel and Elizabeth Turner have written a long awaited account of the 1900 Storm detailing its long-term effects on Galveston.

The photographs, from a variety of sources, are wonderful in conveying to the reader the magnitude of this disaster. Each chapter deals with a different aspect of the story from the actual events during the hurricane and the aftermath and recovery to how Galveston protected the city. I give the book three stars based on the photographs and amount of detail they put into the writing.

Much attention is paid to the role of women and the African American during this time, with some statements and theories that have not been seen in other accounts. It is necessary to check their sources to compare those accounts with others.

Unfortunately, they failed to include any endnotes detailing their obviously extensive research. Instead, as the authors say, "Because this work was written for a more popular, general audience, it lacks the full scholarly apparatus of footnotes, endnotes or bibliography." This is a great disservice to the reader as I found myself wanting to know where some of the information came from. This is my reason for saying the book is lacking. ... Read more

Book Description

In January 1998 a massive ice storm descended on New York, NewEngland, and eastern Canada. It crushed power grids from the Great Lakes to the NorthAtlantic, forcing thousands of people into public shelters and leaving millions of others intheir homes without electricity. In this riveting book Stephen Doheny-Farina presents aninsider's account of these events, describing the destruction of the electric network in hisown village and the emergence of the face-to-face interactions that took its place. Hisstories examine the impact of electronic communications on community, illuminating therelationship between electronic and human connections and between networks andneighborhoods, and exploring why and how media portrayals of disasters can distortauthentic experience.Doheny-Farina begins by discussing the disaster and tracing theorigins of the storm. He then goes back two hundred years to tell how this particularelectric grid was built, showing us the sacrifices people made to create the grids that(usually) connect us to one another. Today's power grid, says Doheny-Farina, hasbecome more vulnerable than we realize, as demand begins to outstrip capacity in urbancenters around the nation. His book reminds us what those grids mean--both positivelyand negatively--to our electronically saturated lives. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Different!
Kind of odd. The story of a storm in New England and how it affected people who were without power. Accounts of the storm are interspersed with hsitorical-fiction vignettes about how the areas was settled. The different parts of the story were not woven together well enough.

Tells part of the story of the Great Ice Storm
Here is what I emailed to the author:

"Just finished reading it. Thank you, excellent book.

On the next printing, please remove the attack on consumerism in the guise of a once in a 250 year storm as justification. A little absurd.

Also: how about a section on why the towers for the power transmission cables failed. Why the engineering specs were not more robust.

And, a section on what happened to house hold plumbing with arctic temperatures and no heat.

Thank you."

I didn't receive a response.

A blend of natural disaster, history and scholarly analysis
For the most part, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I heard Mr. Farina being interviewed recently on public radio and the subject of his book sounded interesting. Although I do not normally like a mix of fictional but fact-based historical narrative with a personal (I was there) account of events, it moves this story along. Mr. Farina does an excellent job of making you think about all those electronic luxuries that we take for granted. Where the power comes from. How is it transmitted. What this place was like before electricity. Who was here before electricity. And so on. Having experienced a natural disaster when Hurricane Hugo struck South Carolina in 1989 and being without electricity for 10 days, I can appreciate much of what Mr. Farina, his family, neighbors and residents of Potsdam, NY experienced during the ice storm of 1998. Fortunately, brutal cold was not a factor for me. I found myself looking for a map to ponder the St. Lawrence River area, especially where Louisville Landing once existed. The chapters move along, although I found the last chapter a little bit too academic in its post-ice storm analysis but Mr. Farina is a professor. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

I'd like to be kinder...
I think there is something worthwhile to be found in this book but good luck wading through the obscure verbage to find it. Brad should have kept his Xmas Thesarus in the wrap and wrote this book.

Sorry but that's the best I can say about. ... Read more

Book Description

If you travel, ski, snowmobile, snowshoe, or mountaineer in an area where there is plenty of slope and plenty of snow, then you are exposed to avalanche danger.In Avalanche Aware, veteran backcountry ski guide and avalanche forecaster John Moynier deftly guides you through the basics of how avalanches work, recognizing avalanche terrain, and testing the snow pack-before you venture onto unstable ground.Helpful black-and-white illustrations of proper gear, slope angle, snow pit tests, and the effects of wind and weather accompany his witty, informative explanations of how to avoid avalanche hazard.No book on avalanche safety would be complete without a description of search methods in the event of an unexpected slide, and Moynier's helpful explanations of how to go about finding a lost friend will give you extra confidence when you tackle the slopes. For truly enjoyable and successful winter expeditions, study Avalanche Aware before you head out and make it part of the safety gear you carry in the field. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Great Intro Book
I was required to read this book for my avalanche safety class, and I rate this as a five, because offers many fundamentals of avalanches, how they work, and how to avoid them! ... Read more

Book Description

About 50 million Americans live where hurricanes rage.

In Living in the Danger Zone, hurricane survivors tell their frightening stories, and hurricane experts explain why advances in science, technology and communications have not eliminated these stormsÂ’ power to terrorize, to destroy and to kill.

By the end of the book, readers will see hope in the truth that they can take action ahead of time that will reduce their risks, their losses and their suffering.

... Read more

Reviews (1)

In the face of the storm
In the face of the storm

Complacency is the enemy in the face of the greatest force on Earth, but a Bluffton (SC) couple has the antidote—a newly released book, Living in the Danger Zone, Realities about Hurricanes.

Forecasters and emergency personnel have lamented for years the ordeal of getting people to leave barrier islands in advance of an approaching hurricane. The book offers enough horrifying stories to convince residents that leaving before a storm is a good idea.

Growing problems of evacuation, uncertainties in forecasting, misinformation widely circulated and other ideas pushed the couple toward the book.

The book offers tips for everyone including government employees, heads of household, business owners and tourists. Tips abound on everything from the safety of dogs and cats to protection of personal property and business data to protecting one’s home and automobile.
Jim Cato, The Beaufort (SC) Gazette

Potential killer

A sword is hanging over us.

About 50 million Americans, indeed, live where hurricanes can rage. In their book, Hilton Head Island’s Bill and Fran Marscher remind us of a truth we should all heed: Every hurricane is a potential killer.

First, they revisit some of the horrible storms of the past: the great storm of 1893, for example, which killed thousands along the Georgia and South Carolina coasts; the horrific Galveston storm of 1900, and 1992’s Hurricane Andrew, devastating southern Florida.

Other chapters deal with the formidable logistical challenges of hurricane evacuations; the advances and limitations of forecasting science; the daunting problems facing relief workers after the storms; the hurricanes’ immense cost to insurance companies; how buildings might be fortified against the storms; and myths and realities about hurricanes.

Doug Wyatt, Savannah (GA) Morning News

A New Look at Coastal Living

Part history and part survival manual, Living in the Danger Zone should be in the welcome wagon basket for all newcomers to the southern Atlantic and Gulf coasts. As the number of baby boomers moving to coastal homes grows, the time needed in dealing with a safe evacuation swells as the routes remain few in number.

Joyce Dixon, ...

Excellent source

This fact-filled little volume might best be described as a handbook for those 50 million of us who live in what could become the path of a hurricane.

The current problem has arisen because we have built thousands of homes in areas our forefathers were wise enough to leave undeveloped and, as a result, placing more people each in harm’s way.

The bad news is that with all of the advances of modern science, technology and communication, we are still vulnerable. The good news is that this book is an excellent source of information on what you can do to reduce risks and protect family and property if you choose to live in the danger zone.

Don McKinney, The (Hilton Head) Island (SC) Packet

Hurricane evacuations squeezed in time

Bill and Fran Marscher know about life in the danger zone. Their home, near Bluffton (SC), looks out toward Hilton Head Island, the resort/retirement community that epitomizes the danger they describe.

Not only do roughly one in five Americans live at risk from storms along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, but also during the ‘90s, migration to those shores accelerated at roughly twice the national growth rate.

The authors build a convincing case that emergency officials in densely populated areas face an impossible task for evacuating everyone during the narrow window of opportunity weather scientists currently can provide. For those who have to stay behind, the picture is no brighter. Local governments almost universally have failed to enact building codes that would protect homes from a major hurricane.

Living in the Danger Zone lists numerous ways to reduce our vulnerability to violent tropical storms, including a sample resolution readers could submit to their lawmakers. The authors are not so build to suggest politicians and developers will act on their recommendations—only that they should. How right they are.

Terry Plumb, The (Rock Hill, SC) Herald ... Read more

Book Description

Wallace Akin was two years old when the Tri-State Tornado picked up his house-with him and his mother inside-and dropped it atop two other collapsed buildings. Across town, his father lay unconscious near his auto shop, close to death, and Akin's brother managed to crawl from beneath the collapsed shop. All survived. Many others were not as fortunate: Earlier that afternoon, a supercell thunderstorm had spawned a tornado so deadly that it set records against which we still measure all other twisters. The storm ripped through southeast Missouri, southern Illinois, and southwest Indiana, killing 695 people and wounding 2,000, in a record-breaking 219-mile, three-and-a-half-hour path of destruction. Akin's hometown was the worst hit, losing 243 people to the tornado.

Using first-person accounts from his family and neighbors, newspaper stories, and diaries, Akin offers a blow-by-blow account of the storm from its first sighting to its final minutes. He also attempts to explain how it began-and how it changed his life.

As a young adult, Akin realized that the weather service could have warned its victims; research on tornado prediction had ceased for no apparent reason. This, combined with his upbringing in a town traumatized by weather, led him to choose a career in geography, specializing in climate. In The Forgotten Storm he explains in clear language why tornadoes happen and how we may now be making these storms more severe and more frequent. The result is a book both thrilling and horrific, one that adds to our understanding of the battle between humans and nature. (6 x 9, 224 pages, photos)

Wallace Akin was for many years a professor of geography at Drake University. He received a research Fulbright in 1961 at the University of Copenhagen and has traveled widely studying climate and related human activities. He is the author of several academic books that include material on weather and climate. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

A good summary of a terrible storm.
Akin is a survivor of the Tri State tornado. He was only 2 at the time, but his experiences resulted in him taking a lifelong interest in geography and weather. This book sets out to explain this March, 1925 tornado and its devastating effect on cities and communities in the three states of Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana.
I found this book entertaining and informative about tornadoes and this particular disaster. This is a summary read, since the book only explains the disaster and how tornadoes form. I think Akin does a great job in detailing tornadoes and the 1925 Tri State tornado. I have not seen any other books about this particular disaster, so I am unsure why some of the previous reviewers have been harsh on this particular book. I found this a great and interesting read. At a little over 150 pages, a good reader can read this entire book in five or six hours.

An appalling disaster remembered
It has been extremely difficult to obtain a quality book on this massive weather event, and the present text solves that dilemma. I would have preferred a few more pictures from areas other than Murphysboro, Illinois, and the discussion of meteorological factors was somewhat attenuated. These quibbles aside, the book is a feeling, sensitive chronology of the most terrible tornadic event ever to strike the United States. The stories of human suffering and courage in the face of this awesome convulsion of nature will sometimes reach to your marrow.

I liked the organization of the book, beginning with a few general introductory remarks, and then tracing the course of the tornado during its three and one half hour passage from Missouri to Indiana, narrating the horror of its fury at each point. The author's own experiences in the storm. and its effects on his family and town, added flesh to the book, but did not overwhelm it. I liked that.

I note that some reviewers have complained that the author has simply recycled old news accounts, but what better way to show how the neighboring towns, and the outside world, viewed this stupendous catastrophe? I believe any readers interested in regional history of the Midwest in the early part of the last century, weather buffs, and many persons who simply enjoy a gripping account of man being outmatched by the elements will enjoy this book.

Truly the Perfect Storm
Although author Wallace Akin describes the Tri-State Tornado as "the forgotten storm," that title is a bit of a misnomer. Meteorologists and those like myself who are interested in severe weather have never forgotten this tremendous, seemingly unique convulsion of nature. And, having happened in 1925, the Tri-State Tornado is still just within living memory.

Akin does a workmanlike job of tracing the path of this enormous tornado and telling the stories of the people and towns affected along the way. He himself is a survivor of the storm although, being two years old at the time, he has no conscious memories of the disaster. His recollections of the aftermath and growing up in the area in the 1920s and 30s are a useful and often moving addition to the book.

One place the book is thin is in covering the scientific mystery of this storm. Was it truly one tornado or a family? What caused it to remain so powerful for such a long period? Why does it appear that the tornado was near the front of the storm - a very unusual position? Akin does not discuss these questions in depth, unfortunately, for the Tri-State Tornado is a meteorological puzzle that continues to inspire research and debate (and, of course, the inevitable, if usually unspoken question - was this a "hundred year" storm? A "thousand year" storm? Could it happen again this year, or next?).

Another reviewer has argued that Akin has recycled material previously available. This is true (and what author does not recycle material? That is, after all, what research involves), but most of the books that have been published on the Tri-State Tornado have been out of print and hard to obtain for some time. Akin's book is a very readable addition to the literature on this horrible storm.

The Forgotten Storm... simply forget it!
This book is nothing more than a rehash of already available literature which has been available for years in other publications.
I have researched this tornadic event for over twenty years and I found this book to be typical among written accounts. The meteorological information included at times contradicts passages in other portions of the book. Most of the physical evidence was gleaned from papers written over 20 years ago, some much older than that. The idea that this storm was sustained somehow by it's close association with a synoptic scale low pressure system has no basis in fact. There is no law in physics that support this theory. The idea presented in this book that this tornado "picked up" water from the Mississippi River and "carried" it several miles to be pushed down a city street as a wall of water is simply absurd.
The author would have been much better served using survivor stories and portraying the human side of this great tragedy as opposed to proposing his case as to what actually caused and then sustained this storm on it's record path. The facts simply do not add up and this book adds to the mass of confusing information being passed off as truth concerning this greatest of natural disasters.

Not Exactly "Forgotten"
The title of "The Forgotten Storm" is a bit misleading as any weather buff will tell you. Nobody (amature or professional) with a passion for meterology is unaware of the 1925 Tornado's impressive resume as the deadliest twister in U.S. history. It is "forgotten" only in the sense that because there are no survivng photographs, it tends not to get mentioned whenever tornados are featured on weather-related television programs.

That said, author Wallace Akin, who was a child when the storm virtually destroted Murpheyboro, Illinois, has documented the accounts of that harrowing day for history. Akin faithfully recalls the events as they happened, throwing in a helpful amount of weather-related science to help the less informed reader. Akin tracks the storms progress from touchdown as it crossed parts of three states, spreading destruction and misery in its wake.

The book's main drawback is Akin's limited abilities as a storyteller. The first hand accounts in the book are mostly matter-of-fact, and rarely come alive for the reader. Combined with the fact that the book is barely 150 pages of large type narrative in length, and it feels like a pretty slight effort. The overall impression you get as a reader is that the story would have made a better long magazine article that a full length book. ... Read more