Customer Reviews

Tornado Alley: Monster Storms of the Great Plains

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've had an avid interest in meteorology since I was a small child, and my bookcase is full of various weather-related books. However, Howard Bluestein's "Tornado Alley: Monster Storms of the Great Plains" is among my most favorite. While, it's more on the technical side of the topic, it still provides easily understood diagrams and stories about the tremendous storms in the midwest US.

Howard Bluestein, a professor at Oklahoma University, is a very experienced and highly regarded severe weather expert. This book definitely does his work and research justice as he walks you through information and stories regarding his experiences. Inserted among the stories are detailed photographs and diagrams, which are displayed in excellent quality. All of the information is technically accurate and it offers a plethora of knowledge about the subject of severe weather and the discipline needed to accomplish the task of researching it in the field. As the book progresses, he slowly eases the reader into the more technical information, so you don't seem deluged by intricate terminology and equations.

Overall, this book is extremely helpful for most people. While it may not be suited to those just beginning to learn about meteorology, it is a great source of information for most people who hold an interest. I highly reccommend this book to anyone looking to expand their weather reference collection.

Prof. Bluestein has managed to provide both a sense of the thrill of tornado chasing and a superb treatment of the science issues in the operational and research aspects of tornado understanding. Persons can read the book purely for the "thrill" aspects (and be totally awed by the stunning photographs) and/or can be drawn into this wonderful encapsulization of how the scientific method is yielding "fruit" with respect to our comprehension of supercells and tornadoes. I am using this book in my present non-majors "disasters" class and intend to use it as supplementary reading in my Severe Weather Seminar. I have been chasing since 1985 and know Howie well. Congratulations on an excellent contribution.

After searching and searching and searching, never finding the technical descriptions of tornadoes and severe thunderstorms that I wanted, I finally decided to check this book out after reading Sean Pratt's customer review on March 11, 2001. I was so excited about what I had heard that I had the book shipped Next Day Air. I'll tell you what, that extra fourteen dollars was well worth it! Never have I found a book that I thought to be so informative, descriptive, well illustrated and gorgeous photos. If I could have, I'd have given this book six stars instead of five!

No, this book is not for someone who wants to just look at pictures and not care on how storms and tornadoes develop, the history of warning systems, etc. This book is for the serious storm enthusiasts. This book is actually better than I thought it would be. After purchasing other books on tornadoes, they mostly show pretty pictures of the different types of tornadoes or pretty pictures of supercells... Nuh-uh. Not this book. Although some of those pretty pictures are still there, there are far more charts, diagrams and tables to be relied upon.

"Tornado Alley" also concentrates highly upon the history of weather services, from the first tornado warning (hey, I did know that the first tornado warning went out over 50 years ago, but I DIDN'T know that it was private and not allowed to go public. Saying tornado on the television was like cussing!), to TOTO (the real DOROTHY from Twister), I just can't tell you everything there is to this book. It's simply unbelievable, that a book like this made it into my hands.

I cannot stress enough on how scientific this book is compared to what some people would believe to be cool. It'll take you into serious depths of storm development, etc. You just really have to have it. This book has not earned a place on my bookshelf, however, it has earned a place next to my bed. Don't wait, get it today! You won't be let down if you want more than pretty pictures!

~Natalie Kilpatrick

This book was really well done. The images of thunderstorms, clouds, tornadoes and various rare weather events are just wonderful. The writer's style is casual and friendly. I really liked the way he would toss in interesting tidbits amoung the technical scientific writing---he'd be writing in depth about how tornadoes form, and would mention as an aside a restaurant all the tornado chasers liked! Anyone who has a fascination for tornadoes will really enjoy this book.

After searching and searching and searching, never finding the technical descriptions of tornadoes and severe thunderstorms that I wanted, I finally decided to check this book out after reading Sean Pratt's customer review on March 11, 2001. I was so excited about what I had heard that I had the book shipped Next Day Air. I'll tell you what, that extra fourteen dollars was well worth it! Never have I found a book that I thought to be so informative, descriptive, well illustrated and gorgeous photos. If I could have, I'd have given this book six stars instead of five!

No, this book is not for someone who wants to just look at pictures and not care on how storms and tornadoes develop, the history of warning systems, etc. This book is for the serious storm enthusiasts. This book is actually better than I thought it would be. After purchasing other books on tornadoes, they mostly show pretty pictures of the different types of tornadoes or pretty pictures of supercells... Nuh-uh. Not this book. Although some of those pretty pictures are still there, there are far more charts, diagrams and tables to be relied upon.

"Tornado Alley" also concentrates highly upon the history of weather services, from the first tornado warning (hey, I did know that the first tornado warning went out over 50 years ago, but I DIDN'T know that it was private and not allowed to go public. Saying tornado on the television was like cussing!), to TOTO (the real DOROTHY from Twister), I just can't tell you everything there is to this book. It's simply unbelievable, that a book like this made it into my hands.

I cannot stress enough on how scientific this book is compared to what some people would believe to be cool. It'll take you into serious depths of storm development, etc. You just really have to have it. This book has not earned a place on my bookshelf, however, it has earned a place next to my bed. Don't wait, get it today! You won't be let down if you want more than pretty pictures!

~Natalie Kilpatrick

Prof Bluestein is someone whom I have admired a lot as a meteorologist and a storm chaser. So naturally, I expected equally much from this book. And he has met my expectations. With few books available on the market by storm chasers themselves, especially in Singapore, such books are not cheap. But this one is really worth a buy, not only to keep as a reference (or to make your bookshelf look pretty), but also for many more enjoyable reads. Though a bit technical, I could understand most of the text. Up-to-date, detailed, serious but interesting. And the beautiful, stunning photos were a bonus. Though the layout was a little clumsy in presenting pictures and dense text, the content still stands out. Unlike Faidley's more graphic 'Storm Chaser', it concentrates more on the scientific, technical part of severe storms and depicts storm chasing (more realistically) as a demanding, stressful, mostly boring but fulfilling hobby and not as a journalist's joyride.

This book is written so that anyone can (with a little thought) understand the concepts discussed in it. However, this is not to say the book is a bore for the weather enthusiast--quite the contrary, this is the audience it will satisfy most.

I highly recommend this book for any storm enthusiast. In this book, Dr. Bluestein covers a wide range of tornado and severe-weather related topics, as well as some of the history behind how we currently deal with and view weather today. It is not difficult to understand, as it is not an academic text, yet at the same time Dr. Bluestein integrates explanations of core scientific concepts into his chasing tales and weather history narratives. Thus if you only want the book for the sake of tornado pictures and desire little/no scientific content, I suggest you look elsewhere.

Every spring I have a craving for information about meteorology and severe weather. This book satisfies that craving. It is filled with the author's many beautiful photographs of storm clouds, funnels, tornadoes, etc. What I found most fascinating was the information on the history of storm research and storm chasing. It is impressive to learn how much has been discovered in only the last 50 years or so. It was interesting to realize how little about severe weather was known early in the 20th century, and how the pioneers of meteorological research began their investigations to establish the information we now take for granted during everyday weather newscasts.

The book covers technical meteorological information and concepts and so some parts could be challenging for someone who is not familiar with the science of meteorology. For an easy and engaging primer, I'd recommend the "Golden Guide" book "Weather" by Paul E. Lehr.

If you are really fascinated by storms and storm chasing, I also recommend checking out your local "Skywarn" organization (just search "skywarn" in an internet search engine.) These groups train people to be storm spotters and assist public safety officials to give tornado/severe weather warnings. Even if you aren't interested in being a spotter, attending the free annual spring training class is very interesting because you see lots of actual footage of severe weather, talk to real spotters, and learn lots of practical info about the behavior of storms.

I may be from Australia but this book really was amazing. Howard Bluestein is a terrific writer and I learnt so much from his book. The pictures were really good too and because I'm so interested in Meteorology, it really gave me a great insight on this subject and has given me a more wider view of what I want as a career. Especially living in South Australia, I don't see much severe weather so this book told me more. If you're interested in Meteorology and Tornadoes, this is a must have!! ;)

Meteorology is, when closely inspected, a truly odd science. Although it has its share of stuffy scientists, it is also performed on the evening news by people with (sometimes) dubious credentials. This distinguishes it from, say, particle physics which would not draw most people's daily attention like the weather does. It is one of the few sciences that can be easily participated in by nearly everyone. And as Dr. Bluestein shows, if you are armed with an automobile and a little knowledge, you too can get out there and chase tornadoes! This book does an excellent job of showing interested readers what goes into making a tornado, and is a really good historical document on an activity that has become, weirdly, a small but noticeable industry - professional stormchasing. How did it all start? Dr. B. is one of the true pioneers of an odd branch of an odd science, and reading this book will not only acquaint you with that fact but also show you that there is still room in this world of ours for crazy, wild, wonderful things like tornado chasing.