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The Weather [Hardcover]

John Lynch (Author)
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)


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Book Description

October 5, 2002

Perhaps because we can't always predict it, and certainly can't control it, our fascination with the weather never seems to wane. But despite our frequent powerlessness in the face of it, there is much we do know. The Weather takes a thrilling voyage to the heart of this phenomenon, that even in an age of air conditioning and artificial environments, is still central to the everyday life of the planet. From hurricanes and sandstorms, monsoons to avalanches, solar storms to the jet stream, The Weather showcases the most dangerous and dynamic forces of the weather.

Created by veteran BBC producer, editor and writer John Lynch, The Weather explains the science of weather clearly and accessibly, illustrated throughout with color photographs and graphics from The Learning Channel/BBC television series. The Weather begins with the basic questions: What is the weather, and what drives it? The book then goes on to cover every global weather phenomenon, with an in-depth introduction and sections on Wind, Wet, Cold and Hot. The book is especially revealing on how humans interact with weather -- how we've adapted to it, suffered from it, harnessed it, and, finally, how we may be inadvertently changing it. The final section, Change, is a look at the meaning of global climate change patterns.


Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this tie-in to the Learning Channel's four-part series this fall, BBC science editor Lynch divides this book on atmospheric changes into five parts: Wind, Wet, Hot, Cold, and their dynamic, Change. For most people, real weather happens near the ground, but Lynch shows the engines of weather at 6,000 feet. His graphics-from the geophysical to molecular levels-provide perspective by using paired illustrations of the same weather formation at different scales and heights. Lynch's accessible, enlightening text, occasionally too simple, nicely accompanies these spectacular graphics. The same audience of junior scientists and curious adults that Lynch lured with Walking with the Dinosaurs will lap up his explanations of climatology, cloud formation, tornadoes as well as the social history of meteorology and, above all, a sense of weather systems as the most natural form of globalization. The extremes of weather images-desertification and hurricanes-are probably going to be a draw for the TV series, but weather buffs can indulge their fascination with wind, waves and clouds in this appealingly simple presentation of complex daily natural forces.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

The fundamental principle of weather, cooling at the poles and heating at the equator, is introduced in this album of pictures, explanation, and anecdote. Printed on heavyweight paper, the 200-plus images capture the drama, beauty, and destruction attendant to the tempestuous meetings of cold and hot air; while Lynch's text describes the global features--Hadley cells, the Coriolis effect, jet streams, and ocean currents--that conduct the atmospheric symphony. A producer of science documentaries for the BBC, Lynch exhibits an experienced grasp of visually oriented readers' preferences: the subjects change rapidly; disaster stories (e.g., the devastating inundation of the Netherlands in 1953) repeatedly sate a visceral interest; and human influences on local and possibly global weather are presented. Lynch also reminds readers of the revolution wrought in weather observation by satellites, a point reinforced throughout by the numerous photographs taken from space of hurricanes and ice caps. Effective and informative, this survey, along with a melange of historical anecdotes, provides solid, popular grounding to any collection's more specialized titles about the weather. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 240 pages
  • Publisher: Firefly Books (October 5, 2002)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1552976408
  • ISBN-13: 978-1552976401
  • Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 10.2 x 0.9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,875,477 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Average Customer Review
4.5 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars An excellent pictorial book about weather, August 1, 2003
This review is from: The Weather (Paperback)
Weather is not something I was taught a lot about in all my science classes in college. It was not considered an 'important' science such as physics, biology, or chemistry...but rather something for those who were specifically interested in weather, classes were offered. Even though I reached a higher level of science education, weather science was never offered as a possible elective. People tend to make fun of the weathermen/women...because weather is such an inexact science. But those 'pretty' faces on our televisions are much more trained then they were five or ten years ago, many of them having degrees in metorology.

BBC is just continuing the inroads made by popularizing certain sciences similar to what can be seen on Discovery Channel or on the Weather Channel itself. And of everything studied in weather, no type of weather phenomenon has instigated as much interest as tornadoes (and hurricanes to a lesser degree). This book shows those phenomenom...but also all the other parts of weather that lead up to such catastrophic events. Weather is hardly just tornadoes...in fact, tornadoes are limited pretty much to the continental U.S. and also limited to a few months out of the year. Even more important I think, as a scientist and teacher is rain and drought, since our abilities to feed ourselves and others are dependent upon that.

This book covers basically everything...and it is basic, with pictures and sidebars taking up a lot of space. The science is kept to a minimum, and the sidebars are full of interesting little facets of weather science. This is a good introductory book (especially for use of the pictures and photographs), but there is more information out there on the weather that is more scientifically and clearly presented by groups such as NASA and the NOAA, who do a lot to keep track of the weather. This book used in conjunction with other web sites and internet information can be valuable. This is another one of the sciences like biology, that changes quickly over small periods of time, as new technology such as satellite systems become available to accurately track weather systems across the world. So no book is going to be valuable, or more importantly, accurate for very long.

Karen Sadler,
Science Education,
University of Pittsburgh

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Taken by storm, January 3, 2003
This review is from: The Weather (Paperback)
I borrowed this book from the library thinking it might satisfy my curoisity about weather cycles,storms, rain,wind etc.Well,I opened the book and was pulled in to a non stop delicious weather adventure.I sailed the violent seas, met bold scientists,travelled the globe on untamed winds and learned how the jetstream took the world by surprise.I don't usually get excited about these things but I can't stop talking about this book to my friends.This book is informative,fascinating and complete. It will receive a well favoured spot on my book shelf.
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