Amazon.com
Journalist David Laskin writes, "The history of weather is both a history of nature and a history of human desire. A history that is made and erased every day." And the history of American weather is particularly problematic: "Our weather and climate have been strange since the beginning of our history. Our perceptions have always been skewed by expectation, our memories distorted by self-interest." From a European perspective, North American weather is never usual: it is too hot, too cold, too violent, and, for most of the continent, much too dry. But Americans' minds never quite catch up with the weather where they actually live: "When we move, weather is the last thing we leave behind and the first thing we find when we arrive. Weather, in a sense, is home." Laskin's great insight is that the weather is never what we expect, because we always misremember the past. And in America in particular, this unexpected weather is always a sign of something: God's vengeance, human tampering, the progress or the regress of civilization. Laskin covers American weather from the warm spell that lured the Norse to Greenland, through the little ice age and the dust bowl, up to the greenhouse anxieties of the turn of the millennium. "We are constantly making and revising the history of weather, but weather itself is ahistorical. Infinite, fathomless, incalculable, it just keeps happening, regardless, every day." --Mary Ellen Curtin
Book Description
Nowhere in the world is weather as volatile and powerful as it is in North America. Scorching heat in the Southwest, hurricanes on the Atlantic coast, tornadoes in the Plains, blizzards in the mountains: Every area of the country has vastly different weather, and vastly different cultures as a result. Braving the Elements is David Laskin's delightful and fascinating history of how our unique weather has shaped a nation, and how we've tried to cope with it over centuries.
Since before Columbus, the peoples of America have struggled to make sense of the capricious and violent nature of America's weather. Anasazi Indians used the rain dance (and sometimes human sacrifice) to induce rain, while the Puritans in New England blamed the sins of the community for lightening strikes and Nor'easters. IN modern times we carry on those traditions by blaming the weatherman for ruined weekends. Despite hi-tech satellites and powerful computers and 24-hour-a-day forecasting from The Weather Channel, we're still at the mercy of the whims of Mother Nature.
Laskin recounts the many dramatic moments in American weather history, from the "Little Ice Age" to Ben Franklin's invention of the lightning rod to the Great Blizzard of the 1930's to the worries about global warming. Packed with fresh insights and wonderful lore and trivia, Braving the Elements is unique and essential reading for anyone who's ever asked, "What's it like outside?"
From the Hardcover edition.
Customer Reviews:
THE AMERICAN WEATHER EXPERIENCE.......2003-11-22
In 'Braving the Elements', Laskin gives us a brief history of American weather and how we have survived, forcast, and endured it. The first part of the book looks at Native American and colonial weather, explaining how our perceptions of the elements were being shaped even then. A fascinating chapter looks at the West and the Great Plains, describing the tornadoes, blizzards and dust storms common to the region.
The book's second half covers the National Weather Service and present-day meteorology, showing how technology has changed the art of weather forcasting. We see the daily weather report through the eyes of the weather men themselves.
Laskin is a great writer whose book will appeal to weather buffs and others alike. I only wish he had spent more time covering specific storms in our history and how they have shaped communities.
Decent Book - FAKE PHOTOS.......2002-09-13
It troubles me to no end that books that are to be taken as scholarly would stoop to using FAKE photographs....in this case none other than the famously fake tornado on the cover....to sell the books. I wish I knew if a) the author, being well-versed in the topic he has written about, KNOWS the photo is fake and is trying to hype his product or; b) he is ignorant of such? I am not sure which is worse? Until consumers cite their disgust with such ploys we are doomed to not knowing what is real and what is FAKE even in so-called non-fiction or "scientific" text. The publisher should be ashamed.
Suprising page-turner; great read.......2001-12-10
"Braving the Elements" is a breathtaking trek from the Ice Age to the 'Old World' of Native American North America, from the European invasion of the 'New World' through colonial times(both Jefferson and Washington kept daily weather journals and Franklin 'discovered' Nor'easters); from Lewis and Clark's journals to the hottest decade (1980s) and year (1995) on record to the Storm of the Century (1993) - the virtual history of North America all through the window of weather.
From unprediactable weather in the western U.S. (half the continental US is "classified as deficient in moisture" or practically desert!) to the greenhouse effect; from lethal storms and the people who try to predict them, all aspects of weather are covered.
It is an engaging and hard-to-put-down read which weaves facts, history and science into a really fascinating book. Campers, naturalists, history and weather buffs will all enjoy this engaging story.
weather as history, history as weather.......1998-10-07
Every other day we get some weather disaster on cnn then forget it. This book gives the larger picture, over time: the patterns and changes, as well as a fascinating history of how weather was viewed and recorded. You'll find lots more here than you would think.
A great read for the weather and history buff!.......1996-08-12
There have been many books on weather and climate that havepassed through my hands over the last twenty five years.This is one of the more memorable ones. When my brother comes over for a visit I'll go to the bookshelf, pull thisvolume down and read page after page to him. Why? Well, quite simply David Laskin condensed the American climateinto a slender volume that reads like a good novel. Merging modern meteorological understanding and historical research he brings alive the shock European settlers feltwhen they experienced the frigid North American winters andblistering summers. He introduces the reader to theologicalmeteorology, nationalist meteorology, and plain old badmeteorology, all in a style designed to excite and educate the reader."BRAVING TH
Book Description
An ideal primer for those who wish to improve their scientific literacy, this book is beautifully written and especially recommended for high school and undergraduate nonmajor science courses. Amply illustrated chapters on chemical bonding, biochemistry, cancer, and the atmosphere are interspersed with such chapters as "The Alchemist's Dream," "Newsworthy Molecules" and "WallStreet Chemistry." To facilitate this book's use in the classroom, a complete set of problems and sample exams are available from the publisher.
Customer Reviews:
An appreciation of chemistry.......2004-08-05
A very literate and polished book, directed at a reader who is not a science or maths major. The authors describe in broad but accurate terms the basic ideas of modern chemistry. They describe the myriad industrial applications of chemistry. With the oil industry and its downstream plastics and petrochemicals being a prime example.
But there is more than just applications. They talk about the fundamental concepts like bonding and the periodic table, and how this is a central framework of chemistry. The intent is to give the reader a rational appreciation of the power of chemistry.
Book Description
This lost novella by the century's most renowned paleontologist has been called the greatest time-travel story in more than one hundred years.
Vanishing from Earth on February 30, 2162, while working on a problem of quantum theory, research chronologist Sam Magruder is thrown back 80 million years in time. Endowed with the intelligence of a twenty-second-century man, Magruder struggles to survive, feeding on scrambled turtle eggs and diligently recording his observations on a stone-slab diary, even as menacing tyrannosaurus try to gnaw off his limbs.
Filled with magnificent descriptions of the dinosaurs as only Simpson himself could render them, The Dechronization of Sam Magruder is not only a classic time-travel tale but a philosophical work that astutely ponders the complexities of human existence and achievement.
Customer Reviews:
Back to the past!.......2006-04-30
The Dechronization Of Sam Magruder is a time traveling story by the late great George Gaylord Simpson. The introduction is by Arthur C. Clarke and with an afterword by Stephen Jay Gould. And it is brilliant!
Based very much on the style of H. G. Wells's The Time Machine Mr. Simpson writes a story about a man being sent BACKWARDS in time, about 80 million years, to find himself totally alone among the dinosaurs. The story is less about ancient life as it is about what is means to be a member of mankind. Is this fiction? Is it science? Or is it philosophy? Whatever it may be it turns out to be just plain fun.
A short story any fan of time travel needs for their library.
A creationist enjoyed this.......2006-04-30
Despite begin an adherent of creation science and abhorrer of evolution, I found this a fascinating and well-written story. I enjoyed it so much I read it to my teenage daughter. Sam Magruder is a "time" scientist in the future who accidentally falls victim to his own experiment. Simpson's plot is compelling. At first it bothered me that I found an evolution story to interesting, until I realized that evolution is science fiction anyway.
Stephen J. Gould notes were an interesting insight into just how philosophically-based evolution is.
Worth a look, especially for the essays included........2005-09-03
This slim novella, by the late and distinguished paleontologist, was
found in his papers after his death. It's just so-so as fiction, in my
opinion, but the book is worth your attention for the two elegant essays
included. The first, by Arthur C. Clarke, outlines the history of time-travel
stories, and includes more recommendations for classic dinosaur tales.
Sir Arthur notes, with admirable succintness, that "the most convincing
argument against [real] time travel is the remarkable scarcity of [real]
time travellers."
Stephen Jay Gould was a student of Simpson's, and contributes a
graceful and elegaic essay on Simpson's novella, career and life --
which, I must say, I enjoyed more than the story. An exceptional
piece, not to be missed if you have any interest in Gould or Simpson.
Simpson's novella does have its charms -- it has a nice mock-
Victorian club-story opening, not unlike Clarke's Tales from the
White Hart, and is oddly compelling despite the amateurish writing.
Sam Magruder, a chronologist in 2162, is accidentally "dechronized"
into the late Cretaceous, with no possibility of rescue, and spends the
rest of his life evading, eating and studying dinosaurs. It's certainly
not "the best time travel story since HG Wells" as the cover blurb
avers, but it's worth a look. Sadly, the story's paleontology is
now quite out of date.
Peter D. Tillman
Consulting Geologist, Tucson & Santa Fe (USA)
(Review first published in the Arizona Geological Society newsletter, 1-02)
Enter Time & Space.......2004-11-24
I love time travel and I loved this book. Incredibly it was way too short, but a masterpiece for its genre.
Read Only Once, Regret Loaning to A Friend.......2004-10-15
I picked this book up in a used book store about 10 years ago. Was fascinated by the smart time travel story. I generally like to spread the word about good books so I loaned this to a friend who never returned it. Since then I've thought about the nice concise writing and compact story that manages to make one think, especially since I liked how he wraps up the story with a good moral on what it means to be human.
Average customer rating:
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Quantitative Zoology: Revised Edition (Dover Books on Biology, Psychology, and Medicine)
George Gaylord Simpson ,
Anne Roe , and
Richard C. Lewontin
Manufacturer: Dover Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0486432750 |
Book Description
This classic focuses on the gathering, handling, and interpretation of numerical data from zoological investigations. Contents include types and properties of numerical data, mensuration, frequency distributions and grouping, patterns of frequency distributions, measures of central tendency, measures of dispersion and variability, populations and samples, and probability. "Excellent." — Florida Scientist.
Book Description
A world-famous scientist presents a synthesis of modern views on the principles of evolution. The result of twenty-five years of research, "The Meaning of Evolution" follows the rise and fall of the dynasties of life through the 2,000,000,000 years of the history of earth. It explains what forces have been acting to bring about evolution and re-examines human aims, values, and duties in the light of what science discloses of the nature of man and of his place in the history of life. "The clearest and soundest exposition of the nature of the evolutionary process that has yet been written. . . . The book may be read with equal profit and pleasure by the general reader, the student, and the expert."-Ashley Montagu, Isis "This book is, without question, the best general work on the meaning of evolution to appear in our time."-The New York Times
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Splendid Isolation: The Curious History of South American Mammals
George Gaylord Simpson
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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| Animal Care & Pets
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ASIN: 0300024347 |
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Life: An Introduction to Biology
William Samson Beck
Manufacturer: HarperCollins Publishers
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ASIN: 0065000099 |
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The geography of evolution;
George Gaylord Simpson
Manufacturer: Chilton Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
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ASIN: B0006BN5F0 |
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Relativistic Astrophysics and Cosmology: International School of Cosmic Ray Astrophysics, 13th Course, Erice, Italy, 2-14, June 2002 (The Science and Culture Series - Astrophysics)
Manufacturer: World Scientific Publishing Company
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 9812387277 |
Book Description
This book constitutes the proceedings of the 13th Course of the International School of Cosmic Ray Astrophysics. It focuses on major areas of astrophysics, their relation to cosmic ray physics, and our current understanding of the energetic processes in the Galaxy and the Universe that govern the acceleration and form the features of the cosmic rays that we detect at Earth.
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Paper-Men, Scorpio, Con-Men I and II
Donald Abernathy Freeman
Manufacturer: 1st Books Library
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ASIN: 1403365717 |
Books:
- Brief Review for New York Chemistry: The Physical Setting - 2007 Edition
- Building Global Biobrands : Taking Biotechnology to Market
- Candid Science: Conversations with Famous Chemists
- Catalysis by Di- and Polynuclear Metal Cluster Complexes (The Chemistry of Metal Clusters)
- Chemistry and Technology of Flavour and Fragrance
- Chemistry ConcepTests: A Pathway to Interactive Classrooms
- Chiral Intermediates
- Classical Architecture: The Poetics of Order
- Clusters of Atoms and Molecules II: Solvation and Chemistry of Free Clusters, and Embedded, Supported and Compressed Clusters (Springer Series in Chemical Physics)
- Colloidal Systems and Interfaces
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