Customer Reviews

An Introduction to Dynamic Meteorology, Volume 88, Fourth Edition (International Geophysics)

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

 

 

This book, often simply referred to as "Holton", has been roundly cursed by undergraduates since it was first published. I know, because I was one of them. However, as the years went by, and as the number of classes requiring Holton as a text went by, I realized two things. First, that this book was not meant to hold your hand through all the derivations. It requires a competent instructor who can use Holton as a detailed companion to rigorous coursework. This book is NOT for the average person who wishes to study alone. The second thing is that this book was written to fill a gap. There were no similar atmospheric dynamics texts. As a consequence, it must cover a large amount of material in a rather small, college textbook-sized space. It does this well. Yes, the author's writing style is dry to the extreme, and yes, physical explanations are often lacking. However, if you have access to a competent professor, neither of these are problems. One final thought... as we call the book simply "Holton" remember that Frankenstein's monster is often called simply "Frankenstein", but we will leave comparisons to the reader - and to the author!

This book, in my opinion, is the most valuable book on dynamical aspects of the atmosphere insofar, especially from pedagogical point of views. As a foreign student, I understand well Holton's writings. Simple but very concise sentences, no wordy explanations. The first 3 chapters provide you the basic equations used in meteorology and their common approximations. The next 5 chapters, to me, are the most interesting chapters. They give you wide range of knowledge from boundary layer, synoptic scale phenomena, to instabilities. Equations are of great usefulness because THEY bring into the light physical contents of the dynamics of the atmosphere. To me, any analytical equation and its explicit solution provide us a more complete understanding than numerical models do (because you never know some unpredictable behaviour of numerical solutions). So, try to understand carefully the simplest cases that Holton selected. This gives you a lot of deeper understandings. Chapters 9 to 11 provide the dynamics of meso- to large-scale circulations. You will see why the Hadley circulation descends around 35N in very clear way. However, simple Poisson eqn with the argument of "positive forcing, negative solution" that is applied throughout the text should be paid especial attention because this conclusion is not always true. As a whole, the contents, explanations and derivations will be very well constructed if you see the main point of each section.
To get to the heart of this book, read and derive all the skips in Holton's derivations. The gaps are not too hard to fill out in math but require some thinking. DO ALL OF THE EXERCISES at the end by yourself and you will double your knowledge. For any math-related physical book, transparent derivations are the first thing you should figure out, physical explanations will follow subsequently. From my experience, people tend to skip any chapter what they thought they knew it already. If you apply this method here, you may be in trouble. Read carefully the first 5 chapters, understand approximations used in the each situation. Simply apply equations without judgments of their assumptions will take you into the nightmare.

I give this book 5 stars +. It is really classic....

Useful introduction to dynamic meteorology. Covers many fundamental concepts and concisely. It is not a good fluid dynamics book. It is developed for the atmospheric scientist. It contains an exceptional chapter on waves. Also, there are some elementary concepts related to stratospheric dynamics and general circulation that are very well-written.

As the subject line suggests, this book is something you have to get used too. I found when reading this book for the first time in my Atmospheric Dynamics 1 course I was struck with this wave of fear that I might never be able to understand atmospheric dynamics. Holton seems to dive right into the derivations without much in the way of qualitative explaination. Moreover, his derivations assume that your mathematics background is strong enough to fill in the gaps that he leaves between lines (a favourite phrase of his being "it can be shown...", of course i tried that line on a test once and the prof didn't buy it!!). However, I must admit, to his credit, that he has recognized the need to force students to make that leap in their knowledge from basic vector and differential calculus to applied "real-life" calculus. By the time I finished my Atmospheric Dynamics 2 course at the end of my 3rd year, we had covered most of the book (including basic conservations, vorticity, synoptic-scale motions including QG-theory and baroclinic instability, as well as atmospheric waves and the PBL). In having studied this book once through already, I can now look back and think that it actually wasn't that bad. I realize now that the gaps in his derivations are there because he doesn't want to get bogged down in all the rigor. I think that as a student, you can learn a lot from this book, but it will take patience, a pencil and paper, and a LARGE cup of coffee. This book introduces the student to the mathematical equations that govern motions in the atmosphere. It is directed mainly at the upper-level undergraduate and introductory graduate level student. The key to benefiting from this book is reading slowly and trying to work the equations through yourself. For what it's worth, and as dynamics texts go, I do recommend this book; but if you've never seen an atmospheric dynamics text then you may soon get discouraged. I know a lot of the students in my class despised Holton, but if you are serious about learning the material you can extract it; but like I said, it takes work!

Overall, not a bad book, but I think some of the descriptions could have been a little more detailed.

when i was a student, i used to think, like many other reviewers, that the book is extremely dry. but now as a researcher in atmospheric-oceanic dynamics, i realise that the book is useful in explaining the most essential and elementary theories behind the dynamics one can encounter in meteorology or climate dynamics.

use the book as a reference and revision of elementary concepts. if you encounter a process you need to understand in your research, this is the book which will tell you the basics. then you go on and learn more from journal articles and your own research.

this new edition of the book, especially with the matlab models, makes studying with it more fun because you can visualise the dynamics and play with the m-files yourself.

I was trained in a classical program in atmospheric sciences in the sense that the atmosphere is a fluid hence the field being a sub-discipline of fluid mechanics is much emphasized. Holton's book is The Undergraduate Textbook for programs rooted in this understanding, in the US or internationally.
As an undergrad I was told that whether or not I was meant to stay in this field could be predicted by how well I performed in the class teaching Holton.
Now one of my duties is to teach dynamics to undergraduates in atmospheric sciences at a US land-grant university. I am however disappointed to find
out that most students coming to the dynamics class do not have such understanding. There is a tendency for students to forsake the hard-core
atmospheric sciences in favor of the marginal science in broadcasting meteorology. Holton's book is often not tolerated and considered too
'mathematical' (this happens to be the most common excuse students without any originality would use). I really would like to challenge
the students who have shunned (or plan to shun) Holton's book to think twice about how serious they are in pursuing a career in atmospheric
sciences before they make fair judgments about the value this book.

it's a very analytic book; it's strongly related to anaysis. all the models are very well explaned; perhaps there is not a good relationship between models and pratical meteorology. phenomena are quite 'hidden' by equations, and only a good experienced physicist has the tools to extract the pratical approach deriving from model behaviours.
however it remains a 'must' for meteorologists.

Renato Medini

I think this is a great book, specially as an introduction (in a graduate level, of course) as it is meant to be. The explanations are concise, yet very clear. There's no excess mathematics, there's an apropriate emphasis on the concepts, as is adequate for an introductory text. I find it very usefull even as an introductory text for graduate students in dynamical oceanography.

Well, if you are a student new to the field I am sure you will find this book extremely helpful but if you are looking for elegant mathematical derivations and further explanations of baroclinic instabilities, for instance, it is not the book you want to buy. The emphasis is on physical principles rather than the math. Thus, I am not really found of his notation too.

I have to say I'm not sure if texts on atmospheric dynamics get better than this. Physics books in general, in fact, rarely provide an understanding of phenomena that is so concise, intuitive, and yet mathematically robust. I highly recommend it for children, as a gift, and for pleasure reading.

I also very seriously recommend it as a graduate textbook. Five stars all the way.