Customer Reviews

Great Storms of the Jersey Shore

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A semi-coffeetable size book, this is a history of all the major storms that have wreaked havoc along the Jersey shore, with special emphasis on the 1944 hurricane and the 1962 nor'easter, both of which did tremendous damage. The '62 storm lasted 3 days - 6 tides - which seemed relentless. The survey ends with a warning about the future: with all the recent development along the shore and a major storm overdue, a nightmarish disaster is bound to occur sooner or later. (The last time a hurricane made landfall in New Jersey was in 1903 at Brigantine.) Filled with fantastic photographs.

What can I say about this book? Something around the lines of... I absolutely think this book is one of the greatest ever written!

Going to OCNJ was always the highlight of my summer. A week right before the 4th of July - what better to watch fireworks then right out on the boardwalk? So obviously when I now spend my summers in Stone Harbor, I still go to the boardwalk at OCNJ just for old time's sake. So in Stone Harbor, I went to the nearby Atlantic bookstore. There was a long section of books on the Jersey shore and so I picked up this one. I recognized some of the storms, knowing how these had gone through some of the times I had been at OCNJ. Most of them however I didn't know, but nevertheless some of them DID come back to me. So I decided that this book will, although in the years I've been coming, I definitely will buy it -be the best book ever!

This book is a great book. It mentions all the great storms of the shore. Not a town is left out. There are many excerpts that are true and fabulous. This is a five star book!

In March of 1962, my father drove us down to Atlantic City to visit my grandmother and see the damage. It made an indelible impression on me. I cannot drive the Jersey coast without wondering how much of the ugly, new beachfront development will survive a great Jersey storm. Like many other shore lovers, I secretly hope not much of it will.

The most hair-raising tales in this wonderful book are from that 1962 whopper. But these great storms have hit Jersey shores throughout the ages with regularity, with & without warning, everywhere on the coast, changing the coastline & serving important ecological purposes. Even Keansburg, a bayshore town, has been knocked flat.

So enjoy the stories & eye-popping photographs. But don't overlook the other message the authors are conveying: We build castles on the sand.

If you are fascinated by the sheer destructive power of Mother Nature, you'll love this book. If you live on the East Coast of North America, and ever worried about hurricanes or Nor'easters, this should answer some of your questions. If you live in New Jersey and remember The Great Atlantic Storm of 1962, this is a book you have to buy.

A comprehensive coverage of the small portion of the Atlantic Coast, 180 miles of New Jersey beaches, the authors first impart some knowledge of the causality of Hurricanes and winter storms. They do a great job explaining those vague terms the television weatherpeople throw around, such as the Beaufort scale and wind forces. Then the tales begin to unfold.

Starting with the 1700's, the authors have researched every major storm and hurricane that has brushed into -- or rolled flat -- the New Jersey coast. In addition to anecdotes and quotes from New Jersey, Philadelphia and New York area newspapers, the book is loaded with photos of storms and their aftermath starting from the 1890's. There's an entire chapter on the hurricane of 1944, which wreaked havoc on New York City as well as New Jersey. Another chapter is devoted to the Great Atlantic Storm of 1962. Caused by two major storms colliding and stalling off the New Jersey coast for three days. The storm sent five storm surge high tides ashore -- each one deeper and higher and further than the last -- until Long Beach Island, a barrier island resort, was cut through in four places.

Reading this book was quite entertaining and informative; more than that, it taught me one big lesson: there's no such thing as evacuating TOO SOON when a hurricane is coming.

Is the Halloween Storm of 1991, Nor'easter of 1992 and the Superstorm '93 in it?

From when I was a year old to ten years old, my family went to the Jersey Shore every summer for a week. Ocean City often had pictures in their boardwalk shop's windows of "rip-roaring storms", "boardwalk fires", and "Hurricanes through the OCNJ years". I was fascinated by these pictures, but in my eleventh year we didn't go to Ocean City after all. It's years later that I was in a bookstore in Stone Harbor, New Jersey, and while waiting for my kids to find their book selections, I picked it up and leafed through it. There were those pictures again, and as fast as I could I bought the book to have. Now it has become a great coffee table book and I love it!

In March of 1962, my father drove us down to Atlantic City to visit my grandmother and see the damage. It made an indelible impression on me. I cannot drive the Jersey coast without wondering how much of the ugly, new beachfront development will survive a great Jersey storm. & I secretly hope not much of it will.

The most hair-raising tales in this book are from that 1962 whopper. But these great storms have hit Jersey shores throughout the ages with regularity, with & without warning, everywhere on the coast, changing the coastline & serving important environmental purposes. Even Keansburg, a bayshore town, has been knocked flat.

So enjoy the stories & eye-popping photographs. But don't overlook the other message the authors are conveying: We build castles on sand.

Wonderful coffee table book or gift to anyone with a penchant for beach living. Re-lives all the major storms to hit the NJ coast and how they affected life there. Recanting the history through some of the survivors is fascinating and the pictures really paint a thousand words. A book you'll look at time and again. Get it.

I think This book is a great resorce for book reports and other school work I have to do. I am only 13 but I have read this book and find it to be a great resorce for my reaserch paper that is coming up. It was a great book.