Weather: How It Works And Why It Matters [Hardcover]

Arthur Upgren (Author), Jurgen Stock (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 5, 2000

Scientists have delved deep into the smallest particles of matter and have extended their view to the far reaches of the universe, but still seem unable to predict the temperature five days hence. In this intriguing book, two scientists examine recent progress in the fields of meteorology and climatology. Amid colorful anecdotes of the Galápagos, Siberia, and places closer to home, they describe the earth's atmosphere, its origin and structure, and the forces that have shaped and continue to affect it. They explore temperature, pressure, and other properties of air and weather, including warm and cold fronts, highs and lows, clouds, trade winds, prevailing westerlies, and sky phenomena such as rainbows, halos, coronae, and sun dogs. The authors end with a discussion of the major threats to earth's atmosphere brought on by human activity, including global warming and ozone depletion, and argue that pure science--not politics--should dictate our policy responses.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

It's all around us, no matter how we try to escape. The turbulent air, carrying storms, cold, and heat, is almost unbearably complex, yet we must understand it if we hope to undo some of the damage we've done to Earth's climate over the past century. Atmospheric scientists Arthur Upgren and Jurgen Stock make the case for this understanding and lay the groundwork for readers' learning with Weather: How It Works and Why It Matters. The writing is elegant and low-key, given the gravity of the situation; the authors take care to base their claims and explanations only on solid evidence.

Exploring the history of atmospheric science, the nature of storms, weather on other planets, paleoclimatology, and the current trend toward global warming, the authors masterfully express the simple principles that give rise to such wonderfully complex systems. From El Niño to Old Man Winter, the complete cast of meteorological characters travels across the stage, each adding a bit of insight before moving on. The closing chapters cover the increasingly urgent greenhouse symptoms we have experienced, and ask for calm as we explore means to turn back the clock a bit. Readers looking for a quiet, rational guide to our planet's climate couldn't ask for better than Weather: How It Works and Why It Matters. --Rob Lightner

About the Author

Arthur Upgren is Professor of Astronomy at Wesleyan University, former director of its Van Vleck Observatory, and Senior Research Scientist at Yale University. He is the author of Night Has a Thousand Eyes: A Naked-Eye Guide to the Sky, Its Science and Lore. Jurgen Stock has been on the faculty of Hamburg and Case-Western Reserve Universities. He has also been director of the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory at La Serena, Chile, as well as founding director of CIDA, the Venezuelan National Observatory at Mrida.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books; First Edition edition (September 5, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0738202940
• ISBN-13: 978-0738202945
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,943,830 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Descriptive, informative, yet casual, May 29, 2003

By 

iljc82 (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Weather: How It Works And Why It Matters (Paperback)

First, I would like to comment on the overall tone of this book that discusses one of those topics that often would invoke some form of repulsion by the average layman - Junger has done a marvelous job at engaging the reader through an otherwise lengthy and descriptive piece of literature.

The author leads the reader through the weather journey from his honest personal experiences to the history of Earth's atmospheric evolution, all but topped with curious facts about other planets and the Universe. I really enjoyed the systematic approach he applies in the discussion of Global Warming, the delicate inter relationship that marries the climate and human activities and preventive measures.

However, one huge drawback of this book that now seems to beg you to buy it is the lack of detailed Geographical analyses of mechanisms of the weather machine and their causes. The author tends to gloss over the details (which may be a good thing for some) but offers many examples to support his statements.

What I find particularly refreshing is the section on weather lore. To cite one example, the old saying that when dew appears rain will not come, actually arises from the lack of cloud cover. Comprehensive and light hearted talk about the weather. Thumbs up.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Environmental issues, June 18, 2003

By 

Atheen M. Wilson "Atheen" (Mpls, MN United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Weather: How It Works And Why It Matters (Paperback)

The book Weather: How it works and Why it Matters by Arthur Upgren and Jurgen Stock is an interesting and rather diverse text on weather. It covers not only the basics, like humidity, dew point, wind chill and temperature, but also the physics of weather, the lore of weather, and weather on other planets. It examines ice ages and their causes and looks at the effects of extraterrestrial impacts, like the ancient Chicxulub astroid that destroyed the dinosaurs and the modern day Tunguska comet impact in Siberia in 1908.

Although I'd no doubt that the authors were very competent in science (Arthur Upgren is Professor of Astronomy at Wesleyan University and Senior Research Scientist at Yale University and his coauthor Jurgen Stock is an astronomer on the faculty of Hamburg and Case Western Reserve Universities), I wasn't quite sure that either was necessarily qualified as a meteorologist. Actually I found it interesting that two such well trained astronomers would even be interested in writing a book about weather and climate. It was with the final chapters (15-18) of the book that their purpose in doing so became apparent.

The problem of global warming and world wide environmental destruction is an issue with which many scientists, regardless of their pedigree, have become more and more involved. Well known and influential authors such as E.O. Wilson and Richard Leaky have added their voices to a growing chorus of well trained individuals attempting to call our attention and that of our governments to the dangers of continued abuse of nature and the planet. In this instance, it isn't so much the "how it works" part of the title that is the actual point of the book, but the "why it matters" portion that is overwhelmingly so.

The bibliography is well rounded and well worth spending a little time rounding up the entries. It includes titles that cover, in even greater detail, many of the concepts introduced by the present authors. Included are Aherns' Essentials of Meteorology, Alvarez's T. Rex and the Crater of Doom, Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel, Imbrie and Imbrie's Ice Ages: Solving the Mystery, Leaky and Lewin's The Sixth Extinction: Patterns of Life and the Future of Mankind, Stommel and Stommel's Volcano Weather: The Story of the Year without a Summer, 1816, among others. Some of these I have already read and enjoyed, others I will definitely look to include in my reading list.

Although one might find a better and more detailed discussion of the actual complexities of weather and climate, this book covers a broad spectrum of issues having to do with it and brings to the fore the impact that our individual decisions have on our world.

4.0 out of 5 stars very interesting, December 30, 2010

By 

M. Hyman "Artist at large" (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Weather: How It Works And Why It Matters (Kindle Edition)

I bought this book after a discussion I had with my youngest daughter, in which I realized i didn't understand how and why storms formed. This book provides a very interesting overview of weather formation, and then extends to discuss global warming and the weather science behind that. You will learn about the various levels of the atmosphere, their chemical composition, various interactions between pollutants and greenhouse gases and the weather, why weather prediction and global warming analysis is so complex and so critical (as well as why, contrary to some myths, global warming is disproved by crazy snows and harsher winters -- instead this is direct and scary evidence of global warming). The book is very approachable, easy to read, and quite interesting. There are a few parts that could have used more illustrations (for example on why the winds are predominately westerly), but overall it was quite fun to read.

I read the Kindle version, which isn't bad, except that a variety of illustrations appear to be missing. I have a feeling the print book would be a bit better in this respect.

Interesting stuff and I'm glad i read it.