All About Lightning (Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Highly readable and nontechnical, this illustrated survey explores the nature and causes of lightning. Topics include ball lightning, St. Elmo's Fire, the workings of lightning rods, the effects of  lightning on trees and buildings, the formation of thunderstorms, how to photograph lightning, and other fascinating subjects.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Dover Publications (January 1, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 048625237X
• ISBN-13: 978-0486252377
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #538,889 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting book., October 21, 2000

By	Bryce Tennant (Rochester, New York) - See all my reviews

I recommend this book to all who have any interest in natural science. I was personally surprised at how interesting of a read this book was. Ulman did well brining to "light" topics that have plagued me about lightning since my childhood. He also satiated my engineering taste for technical aspects of the electrical phenomena. Photographs and diagrams add well to the text and support the facts presented without overburdening the reader with too much information.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well Done., January 26, 2000

By	rareoopdvds (San Diego, CA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

Martin Umans book of, what I would call an intro to lightning (if there is such a thing). I dont claim to be a scientist or know much about the weather, however I found many of Umans boo fascinating as his writing was clear and easy to understand. Some of the technical aspects were a little above me, yet learning about the different kinds of lightning, what lightning does and what is typical to expect from lightning I found very...well....enlightening (sorry about the pun). I found it to be a fun book that was a delight to read.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best book to learn about lightning and related subjects, April 7, 2002

By	Kenneth Friend (Cedar Falls, IA United States) - See all my reviews

Within my awareness, this is the best author on the physics of lightning (voltage, current, charge, speed, event sequence, frequency of occurrence, length/width of channel, temperature, etc). Related subjects such as injuries, death rate, damage, protection, thunderstorms, harnessing power, etc are also discussed. The book could use updating with data acquired in the last 16 years (1986-2002). An improvement to the book could be more info on lightning protection. Another book by Uman, 'Lightning', is less general and more technical about the physics of lightning.