In The Tempest Prognosticator leeches warn of storms, whales blunder up the Thames, toktokkies tap out their courtship rituals, and women fall for deft cocktail makers and melancholy apes. With her keen eye and a gift for capturing the natural world, Isobel Dixon entices the reader on a journey where the familiar is not always as it seems, where the sideways glance, the double take, yields rich rewards. From Crusoe to Psycho, Eugène Marais to Fred Astaire, the human zoo’s at play here too, in a collection filled with miracle and wonder, wit and bite.

"The text is not without poetry. Observing a storm near Whitby in 1849, Merryweather wrote, 'I arrived at Danby Beacon ... where the sun was shining, and I then bheld, from that elevation, one of the most sublime sights I ever witnessed: the hills from Glazedale to Kildale were crowned with the blackest nimbi I ever saw; forming an ampitheatre from twelve to sixteen miles in extent, from which issued forked lightning and roaring thunder; and between Rosedale and Westerdale were two waterspouts discharging from the base of the clouds, one of inky blackness, and like an inverted steeple, the other not so dark, but spiral towards its apex. This grand scene reminder me of one of Martin's painting.'"--Antiquarian bookseller's description.

Hurricanes and Tornadoes. Climate Change. Global Warming. Droughts and so much more. Answers to over 1,000 questions about the basic elements of weather, the latest advances in meteorology, the science of forecasting, and all types of weather phenomena. Weather. We all talk about it – some more expertly than others. With The Handy Weather Answer Book, anyone can master this compelling conversation starter, whether it’s weather basics, climate change, the science of meteorology, or the history of weather forecasting. You will come to understand hurricanes, tornadoes, global warming, and such fascinating weather-related phenomena as the northern lights and El Niño. This comprehensive reference addresses all aspects of weather in an accessible question-and-answer format. Relationships between weather and oceanography, geology, and space science are expertly covered, including answers to such questions as ... What’s the difference between “partly sunny” and “partly cloudy”? Can a rainbow appear during the night? Could our oceans have originated in space? How does Central America affect the climate in England? What the heck is bioclimatology? Are humans really responsible for climate change? Has a hurricane ever struck southern California? Climate change and weather affect us all, and The Handy Weather Answer Book, with its hard science facts, fascinating trivia, and accessible Q&A dialog, ensures that readers will understand the complexities of our planet’s dynamic atmosphere a lot better. This resource is an ideal reference for everyone from students to teachers to amateur meteorologists. With more than 100 color photos and illustrations, this tome is richly illustrated, and its helpful bibliography and extensive index add to its usefulness.

Note: This eBook file contains many richly detailed full-color images and makes use of unconventional page layouts. Because of this, readers will be required to zoom in on each page to read the text and see the finer detail of the artwork. [It has not been optimized for devices that display only in black and white.] From the National Book Award finalist Lauren Redniss, author of Radioactive, comes a dazzling fusion of storytelling, visual art, and reportage that grapples with weather in all its dimensions: its danger and its beauty, why it happens and what it means. WINNER OF THE PEN/E. O. WILSON LITERARY SCIENCE WRITING AWARD • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, KIRKUS REVIEWS, AND SHELF AWARENESS Weather is the very air we breathe—it shapes our daily lives and alters the course of history. In Thunder & Lightning, Lauren Redniss tells the story of weather and humankind through the ages. This wide-ranging work roams from the driest desert on earth to a frigid island in the Arctic, from the Biblical flood to the defeat of the Spanish Armada. Redniss visits the headquarters of the National Weather Service, recounts top-secret rainmaking operations during the Vietnam War, and examines the economic impact of disasters like Hurricane Katrina. Drawing on extensive research and countless interviews, she examines our own day and age, from our most personal decisions—Do I need an umbrella today?—to the awesome challenges we face with global climate change. Redniss produced each element of Thunder & Lightning: the text, the artwork, the covers, and every page in between. She created many of the images using the antiquated printmaking technique copper plate photogravure etching. She even designed the book’s typeface. The result is a book unlike any other: a spellbinding combination of storytelling, art, and science. Praise for Thunder & Lightning “[An] aesthetically charged and deeply researched account . . . a wild rainstorm of a book, pelting the reader with ideas and inspiration.”—Nature “A gorgeous and illuminating illustrated study of weather in all its tempestuous variety . . . Redniss’s combo of fact, folklore, and vibrant etched copperplate prints enthralls.”—O: The Oprah Magazine “Eerily beautiful . . . Contains plenty of scientific explanation (including more than a few nods toward global warming), but also far-flung personal stories that illuminate the beauty, wonder and chaos inherent in the elements.”—The New York Times “Magical . . . Redniss has . . . shown us how human beings live with nature—fighting, coexisting, taming, predicting via leech barometer and radar and intuition.”—The New York Times Book Review “[A] twenty-first-century genius . . . The reader willing to put herself fully in Redniss’s hands will be rewarded with a delicious feeling of being enveloped by a phenomenon that eclipses the chiming trivialities of daily life.”—Elle “Redniss is one of the most creative science writers of our time—her combination of beautiful artwork, reporting, and poetic prose brings science to life in ways that words alone simply cannot.”—Rebecca Skloot “Redniss combines her own dual punch of expressive art and impressive erudition to give an entirely new take on all that happens above our heads.”—Adam Gopnik “A strange and wonderful thing, the work of a first-class mind that refuses to submit to any categories or precedent.”—Dave Eggers