Storms in Space [Hardcover]

John W. Freeman (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0521660386 | ISBN-13: 978-0521660389 | Publication Date: November 19, 2001 | Edition: First Edition

Imagine what an extra-terrestrial Weather Channel would be like, with a professional space weatherman as your forecaster, and you get rather close to the astounding aspects of nature described in John Freeman's Storms in Space. Known only to a handful of space scientists, yet capable of disrupting technical systems as extensive as communication satellites and electric power grids Storms in Space is the first book to unveil the unseen elements of outer space. Opening with a series of vignettes (describing how the Northern and Southern lights [the aurora] are a visible manifestation of space storms, or how satellites serve as weather stations in space), Freeman provides visual analogies to help illustrate the effects of a storm in space on people. These vignettes explore the chain of events that lead to the storm and to connect the facets of the storm with the scenes in the vignettes. Freeman details the state of the art in forecasting space storms, the models that are used, and the prospects for their future improvement. He also describes the hazards of space storms for human technological systems including human space flight. Storms in Space provides both a new understanding and appreciation of how seemingly insignificant disturbances out there can have major effects right here. John W. Freeman is Professor Emeritus and Research Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Rice University. Over the past 35 years he has directed a number of satellite instrumentation projects, including the Apollo 12, 14, and 15 projects for which he was awarded the NASA Medal for Exceptional Scientific Achievement (1973). He has also served as Editor-in-Chief of Space Power. Freeman is currently working to develop a model that will forecast the intensity of the Van Allen Radiation Belts and helping to build a National Space Weather Service.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The writer's style is descriptive, helping the reader visualize what is actually unseen by the eye.... I enjoyed the book and recommend it for anyone who wants to learn about storms in space, their origin, and their impacts." Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society

Book Description

Disruption of spacecraft and satellites, television transmission failures and power blackouts are just a few of the powerful effects of space weather, caused by the charged particles and electromagnetic force fields that dominate space. This book compares terrestrial and space weather, and describes how space weather occurs and how it can be monitored and forecasted. Written from a personal perspective, this clear and compelling book will be valuable to anyone with an interest in understanding the phenomenon of space weather.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 150 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press; First Edition edition (November 19, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521660386
• ISBN-13: 978-0521660389
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,113,477 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Storms in Space, December 16, 2001

By 

Joe H. Allen (Boulder, CO United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Storms in Space (Hardcover)

I'm frequently quoted in this book, so have an interest in it
having been well done. John has done a fine job in giving explanations
that will appeal to readers from outside our community
and that should serve as a model for writers in
our field. He conveys technical information easily and makes
it interesting -- but I'm an easy sell. I have found about
6 mistakes in the text, but they are mostly trivial.

5.0 out of 5 stars A rather easy read if you have a little physics background, November 26, 2011

By 

John Public (Michigan) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Storms in Space (Hardcover)

Most books on the sun are heavy on the history and light on the explanations. Not so with this one. Freeman knows the subject well, so well that he can explain it in simple terms. That doesn't happen often at this level of knowledge, and I for one really appreciated his attempts to simplify the explanations!

Although the book is well written, this is not a subject most people can just jump into and expect to understand. The interaction of the solar wind with the earth's magnetic field is not trivial. If you really want to understand this topic you should at least have taken and passed College (algebra based) Physics 2 (electricity and magnetism). It will be even better if you have had Engineering Physics 2 (the calculus based equivalent) instead. If you have had either of these, you are ready for this book and should have no problems understanding the material.

For me the math appendix alone was worth the cost of the book. The math is simply and clearly stated, and has cleared up some issues I have had with KE/temperature concepts. Definitely worth a look, even if you don't care for the material in the book itself.

As in every book on advanced topics, this book could have used more diagrams. The plasma sheet in the magnetotail was particularly confusing. I think I understand it but am not sure. A picture of that would have been worth more than a thousand words. A picture showing the ring currents, ionosphere, and Van Allen belts would also have been nice. A little expansion of the glossary in the back would also be helpful. I went to look up several terms that were not there.

All in all, the most interesting of the last 10 books I have read, and it was very hard to put it down for any reason.

2.0 out of 5 stars Could have been better, December 29, 2010

By 

Jacob Bortnik - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Storms in Space (Hardcover)

I bought this book with high hopes but was somewhat disappointed after reading it. I thought the idea was excellent, and the subject matter is most certainly worthy of a treatment in the popular science literature, but the actual execution was lacking. It was too technical, jargon was not properly introduced, and the author tried to cover too many topics too quickly. Anyway, that is just my opinion, but I would certainly encourage readers to buy the book and judge for themselves.