Amazon.com: Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History (9780375408823): Erik Larson, Edward Hermann: Books
Isaac's Storm and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle. Learn more

Buy Used
Used - Good See details
$5.49 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
   
Kindle Edition
 
   
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History
 
See larger image
 
Start reading Isaac's Storm on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History [Abridged, Audiobook] [Audio Cassette]

Erik Larson (Author), Edward Hermann (Reader)
4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (305 customer reviews)


Available from these sellers.


Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
Kindle Edition --  
Hardcover $17.13  
Paperback $10.85  
Audio, CD, Abridged, Audiobook $14.99  
Audio, Cassette, Abridged, Audiobook --  
Multimedia CD --  
Audible Audio Edition, Abridged $17.95 or Free with Audible 30-day free trial

Book Description

August 24, 1999
Read by the author
3 cassettes, approx. 5 hours

Now a New York Times bestseller, Isaac's Storm is the superb narrative of the extreme hurricane that struck Galveston, Texas, on a late summer day in 1900, leaving at least 8,000 people dead.  On that day, a wall of water surged across the Gulf of Mexico and slammed into the burgeoning city of Galveston.  The nameless hurricane remains the deadliest natural dissaster in American history, its final toll greater than the combined tolls of the Johnstown Flood and the Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906-- yet the event has all but dissappeared from natural memory.

Isaac Cline, one of the first professional weathermen emplyed by the government, has gone on record as declaring that no storm could damage Galveston.  Such fears, he wrote, were "an absurd delusion."  By the time the hellish event was over, Cline would see whole portions of the city scraped clean of all structures and all life, and would himself endure an unbearable loss.

The other main character is the storm itself.  Issac's Storm tracks the hurrican from its birth as a small plume of warm air over Africa, through its journey across the ocean as it drinks in vast amounts of energy, to its arrival at the unsuspecting city.  The audiobook describes how the city, especially its children, welcomed the storm and the great deep-ocean swells that it cast upon their beach--until extraordinary things began to happen.

Isaac's Storm is based on our latest understanding of the physics and meteorology of hurricanes, on Cline's own formal reports and detailed personal account of the storm, as well as the recollections of scores of other witnesses.  It is an unforgettable and timely story of the conflict between human hubris and the last great uncontrollable force--a cautionary tale for the millennium.


Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Reading in his signature dispassionate style, narrator Edward Herrmann brings an eerie calm to this powerful chronicle of the deadliest storm ever to hit the United States--a huge and terribly destructive hurricane that struck land near Galveston, Texas in September of 1900. Author Erik Larson re-creates the events leading up to the disaster in astonishing detail, tracing the thoughts and actions of Isaac Cline, a scientist with America's burgeoning U.S. Weather Bureau. Cline's unwavering confidence--"In an age of scientific certainty one could not allow one's judgment to be clouded..."--blinds the meteorologist to the deadly onslaught about to be unleashed. Herrmann's calculated performance reflects the impending doom and dangers inherent to an unquestioned and absolute faith in science. (Running time: 5 hours, 3 cassettes) --George Laney

From Publishers Weekly

Torqued by drama and taut with suspense, this absorbing narrative of the 1900 hurricane that inundated Galveston, Tex., conveys the sudden, cruel power of the deadliest natural disaster in American history. Told largely from the perspective of Isaac Cline, the senior U.S. Weather Bureau official in Galveston at the time, the story considers an era when "the hubris of men led them to believe they could disregard even nature itself." As barometers plummet and wind gauges are plucked from their moorings, Larson (Lethal Passage) cuts cinematically from the eerie "eyewall" of the hurricane to the mundane hubbub of a lunchroom moments before it capitulates to the arriving winds, from the neat pirouette of Cline's house amid rising waters to the bridge of the steamship Pensacola, tossed like flotsam on the roiling seas. Most intriguingly, Larson details the mistakes that led bureau officials to dismiss warnings about the storm, which killed over 6000 and destroyed a third of the island city. The government's weather forecasting arm registered not only temperature and humidity but also political climate, civic boosterism and even sibling rivalries. America's patronizing stance toward Cuba, for instance, shut down forecasts from Cuban meteorologists, who had accurately predicted the Galveston storm's course and true scale, even as U.S. weather officials issued mollifying bulletins calling for mere rain and high winds. Larson expertly captures the power of the storm itself and the ironic, often catastrophic consequences of the unpredictable intersection of natural force and human choice. Major ad/promo; author tour; simultaneous Random House audio; foreign rights sold in Germany, Holland, Italy, Japan and the U.K. (Sept.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

  • Audio Cassette
  • Publisher: Random House Audio; Abridged edition (August 24, 1999)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0375408827
  • ISBN-13: 978-0375408823
  • Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.5 x 1.3 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (305 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #914,286 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Authors

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

 

Customer Reviews

305 Reviews
5 star:
 (148)
4 star:
 (113)
3 star:
 (23)
2 star:
 (12)
1 star:
 (9)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.2 out of 5 stars (305 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

182 of 184 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars I Loved It, January 2, 2000
I've been a meteorologist for 20 years. Trained by Dr Bill Gray, I've walked in the eye of three hurricanes and flown in they eye of one. One recent book interest has been adventure stories including THE PERFECT STORM, INTO THIN AIR, ENDURANCE, etc. I had shyed away from ISSAC'S STORM because I couldn't imagine what Larson could tell me I didn't already know about the 1900 disaster at Galveston. I shouldn't have waited. Even the most seasoned weather geek will learn from this book. Like Carl Sagan, Larson has a knack for putting complex concepts in layman terms. I took away new simple descriptions of tropical meteorological concepts. However, that is not the genius of this book. Erik Larson did a wonderful job piecing together thousands of bits of information and crafting it all into a gripping read. What's missing? Photographs. Like SHIP OF GOLD IN THE DEEP BLUE SEA, this book is screaming for a companion book of photos. Eric said he waded through over 4,000; 250 of the best would make a super addition to this treatise. Rick Taylor, vorticity@aol.com
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


113 of 116 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars An Eerie and Powerful description of a Natural Disaster, July 30, 2000
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
Are there other folks out there who enjoy reading true accounts of someone else's misfortune, especially if that misfortunate involves a titanic, unstoppable force of nature? A few, really good examples of this true-life disaster genre that I've read over the years are: "The Earth Shook - The Sky Burned" (San Francisco Earthquake)"; "The Coming Plague" (newly emerging diseases); "Great Lakes Shipwrecks and Survivals" (doomed on Lake Superior, etc.); "Rats, Lice, and History" (a biography of typhus); and "Isaac's Storm" (the Galveston hurricane of 1900).

Erik Larson's book on the deadliest hurricane in history has two main focal points: the hurricane itself; and the human drama of Isaac Cline, the Galveston meteorologist who failed to predict the intensity of the storm. The book meanders through occasional dry stretches of Isaac's pre-storm biography, and through the history of the U.S. Weather Bureau (they were interesting, but not nearly as interesting as the storm), but once it focuses on the events of September 8, 1900 and beyond, I wasn't able to set "Isaac's Storm" down. Especially compelling are the eerie descriptions of what it's like to sail through the eye of a hurricane, and of course the narrative (from the viewpoints of several survivors) of what it was like to be in Galveston before, during, and after the storm. If you are afraid of storms or of water, you might not want to read this book because Erik Larson puts you right there when the storm debris is caving in the side of your house, or when the "tide suddenly rises fully four feet at one bound".

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


41 of 43 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Mother Nature and human nature collide., October 14, 1999
Larsen's book is a true account of not only the physical damage a severe hurricane can bring but also how human error (read: stubborness) can cause just as much damage. "Isaac's Storm" chronicles the Galveston hurricane of 1900. Larsen ably follows the path of the hurricane and the paths of the survivors and non-survivors. I enjoyed Larsen's description of the anatomy of a storm, tracing one from the west coast of Africa to possible destruction on the other side of the Atlantic. As I read, I feared the description would get too scientific to follow. Larsen gently leads through the stages of the storm and takes time to explain what is happening and why. Equally fascinating is the pride the people of 1900 exhibit. Consider: 1) A storm would never cross the Gulf of Mexico and strike Galveston. 2) The U.S. Weather Bureau was convinced that Cubans could not forecast a hurricane and caught off all weather warnings from Cuba. 3) Only Washington could declare the storm a "hurricane". The local forecaster (who was dealing with the wind, rain, etc.) could not. I found this book enjoyable, historical and a little chilling. I may have also learned a little more about all of us.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews











Only search this product's reviews




Suggested Tags from Similar Products

 (What's this?)
Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product).
 
(178)
(215)

Your tags: Add your first tag
 

Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   
Related forums


Listmania!




Look for Similar Items by Category


Look for Similar Items by Subject