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Solar Storms: 2000 years of human calamity (Space Weather) Paperback – January 3, 2015

by Sten Odenwald (Author)
4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 10 ratings
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This is a companion guide to Odenwald's previous book, The 23rd Cycle: Learning to live with a stormy star. It is a fast-paced chronicle of over 2000 years of solar storms that have caused not only panic and fear, but have impacted virtually every technology that has been developed during the last 200 years including telegraphs, telephones, radio communications, satellite operations, the electrical power grid and human operations in space. Culled from thousands of newspaper headlines and stories since the early-1800s, this book gives a personal, human insight to the most dramatic 150 'space weather' events of the last few millennia. The Great 1859 Superstorm is recounted from a variety of diary entries and numerous newspaper stories from around the world.
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  1. Part of series
    Space Weather
  2. Print length
    178 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publication date
    January 3, 2015
  5. Dimensions
    7 x 0.42 x 10 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1505941466
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1505941463
  8. See all details
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Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (January 3, 2015)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 178 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1505941466
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1505941463
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 11.4 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7 x 0.42 x 10 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 10 ratings

Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
4.7 out of 5
We don’t use a simple average to calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star. Our system gives more weight to certain factors—including how recent the review is and if the reviewer bought it on Amazon. Learn more
10 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Mark Douglas
5.0 out of 5 stars Was a good read and informative
Reviewed in the United States on June 28, 2017
Verified Purchase
Was a radio operator in the Navy. Sudden Ionospheric Disturbances and Geomagnetic Storms really would drive us up the wall. Was a good read and informative. Tks
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Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting
Reviewed in the United States on November 23, 2016
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Interesting, but too much repitition.
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Robert Robinson
5.0 out of 5 stars and the book does an excellent job capturing the emerging awareness
Reviewed in the United States on March 7, 2015
In Sten Odenwald’s original and creative new work, “Solar Storms, 2000 years of human calamity”, we are treated to a walk through history lit by the eerie and enigmatic illumination of the aurora. The book distinguishes itself in complementing the mystery and beauty of the aurora with intriguing and thought-provoking glimpses of people and events in the last century and a half. Whereas many books about the aurora concentrate on the visual reality of the celestial lights and their solar origins, “Solar Storms” highlights the social, political, and technological context through which the phenomenon shines.
Fulfilling its promise to deliver “2000 years of calamity”, the book begins with accounts of auroral displays as early as 34 A. D. and through the successive centuries when aurora was attributed to myths and gods. It wasn’t until after 1850 that these interpretations are replaced by explanations more firmly grounded in scientific thought. Interestingly, this “enlightenment” is inspired by the impact of solar storms on early telegraph systems and nautical compasses. Indeed, a main thesis of the book is that only when technical systems are impacted do we pay natural phenomena the rigorous attention they merit.
A large part of the book is devoted to the superstorm of 1859, the so-called Carrington Event. Here the author details the lives of several people whose personal experiences up to and during the storm are revealed through diary entries and other primary sources. This is a clever approach to juxtaposing the mundane and personal events of the day with the celestial displays of extraterrestrial origin, reminding us that we are very much a part of a greater reality, which our limited view of the world prevents us from seeing. As enigmatic as the aurora, “Solar Storms” is as much a social story as it is a science story.
Much of the historical accounts of solar storms during the years from 1850 to 1950 focus on the effects on telegraph lines, and the book does an excellent job capturing the emerging awareness, enabled by scientific research, that sunspots, auroral activity, geomagnetic disturbances, and electrical currents in telegraph lines are all connected. By chronicling this advancement of knowledge through newspaper accounts, the reader enjoys a play-by-play unfolding of scientific enlightenment and how it comes about. We also see the critical role the news media plays in documenting the history of science, which otherwise would depend on interpretations rendered by scientists themselves. Those of us who are members of the scientific community are well aware of the biases such a history might be subject to. On the other hand, newspapers suffer from a lack of scientific rigor that presents its own share of risks.
The final chapters of the book take the reader into the space age, when telegraph communication is no longer the sole technological victim of solar storms. The past 50 years have seen an alarming increase in the number of impacts solar storms produce, including threats to the nation’s electric power grid, satellites, and even commercial aviation. “Solar Storms” very effectively builds a foundation upon which the general public will begin to realize that new technology will make space weather as important to know and understand as conventional weather.
For the modern era solar storms, the author includes figures showing the relevant solar cycles within which the events occurred. This is extremely helpful in providing the overall geophysical context of the displays being described. Many current studies of space weather and solar activity still depend on historical accounts of past events. Thus, “Solar Storms” is as much a research tool as it is an entertaining and informative account of a spectacular natural phenomenon. The author has done an admirable job in casting a magical light on the aurora and its solar origins.
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Susan Clermont
5.0 out of 5 stars The Human Drama of Solar Storms Beautifully Rendered!
Reviewed in the United States on January 13, 2015
Sten Odenwald's recent book `Solar Storms - 2000 years of calamity; is truly a gem of a read. I was expecting the usual detailed discussions about why solar storms occur and how they can cause all sorts of trouble for us, but Odenwald's take on this story was far more entertaining and insightful. He used newspaper articles to showcase dozens of dramatic storms of the past few centuries, and let these vignettes speak for themselves about how people were affected by solar storms.

But by far his most brilliant approach was to find actual diaries from the 1859 `superstorm' event and fabricate from them a number of stories about the lives of flesh-and-blood people who witnessed this event. My favorite one was the young telegraph operator in Washington DC who was nearly electrocuted! Odenwald also turned astronomer Richard Carrington into a real, 3-D person who had many other things on his mind as he fatefully watched the sun flare up. I enjoyed the irony in reading that he was not alone in watching that brief five-minute event, but had to share forever the historical limelight with another wealthy amateur astronomer living a few miles away. Perhaps the most poignant story was the little girl who went insane during the 1859 event thinking that it was the end of the world. How many more of these sad tales have remained unsung or unrecorded over the last century?

This colorfully-illustrated book was so fast-paced that it came to an end before I realized what had happened. Odenwald is a gifted explainer, and provided just enough information between each story to help explain what was going on with the science. But frankly, this is not a science book so much as it is an exhaustive historical anthology of a specific natural phenomenon spanning centuries of human time. One would think that after the tenth solar storm account you would get very tired of reading further, but each account was so different from the previous one, you had no real chance to get bored. The 1859 `superstorm' segued into the very sad Civil War storm seen by dying solders on the battlefield, then quickly went on to describe the many radio-blackout events that affected World War I and II. But there were many amusing events as well, such as the time when the Playoffs were in progress and Red Barber's iconic broadcast was interrupted during the game-winning score. There were also accounts of modern-day firemen who rushed about town to put out the Northern Lights.

The last part of the book dealt with the modern storms since 2000 and the progressive way in which our technologies have continued to be vulnerable to solar storms. At times the discussion seemed a bit more technical than during the first half of the book, but I appreciated an overview of the economic and political consequences of `space weather' issues and where we stand today.

All in all, I strongly recommend this book to readers who are looking for a human interest context to what solar storms can do, and this book definitely should be on the bookshelf of anyone who has a professional interest in this subject. It is a unique find, and a surprisingly enjoyable read.
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Sharon Bowers
5.0 out of 5 stars Great resource for STEM Education
Reviewed in the United States on June 12, 2015
“Solar Storms – 2000 Years of Human Calamity” is exactly the kind of book a STEM educator seeks to demonstrate the interconnections among Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics with other disciplines, in this case, history. Through a richly descriptive narrative, Sten Odenwald carefully weaves a tale that depicts nature’s Sun-Earth connection and its impact on everyday people.

Odenwald helps his readers grasp a working understanding of space weather, chronicling this phenomenon’s abilities to create breathtaking aurora while at the same time disrupting the workings of communication technologies. Primary sources, such as newspaper reports and diaries, document the impact of space weather over time, helping readers see solar storms through an historical lens. Odenwald masterfully walks readers through the evolution of science’s understanding of solar storms, as well as changes in technologies over time.

This book builds a solid case for the need for our citizenry to develop a sound STEM literacy and could be the basis of a rich transdisciplinary study for high school and college students. With the Sun and Earth as central characters, Odenwald shapes the readers’ foundational knowledge of the science of space weather and choreographs the dance between science and technology through history. The use of primary sources places students in the role of historians. Best practice STEM education pedagogy would be well supported by Sten Odenwald’s “Solar Storms."
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