Rating: 
Summary: Great Topic--Terrible Writing
Review: ...The book I read was filled with awkward writing, unnecessary speculations of the author, and the most annoying writing style, I've ever encountered. Further his attempt at post-modernism, in his weaving of time and place, was pathetic and confusing. It read like a group of newspaper articles mixed together and placed into the context of a book in random order.It's a shame too, because I share the same enthusiasm as the author on the subject--the history of meteorology and great storms. Several other recent books approach this topic with greater clarity and excitement. While I also have reservations with Sebastion Junger's writing form in the Perfect Storm, the style and presentation made the book easy to read and incredibley enjoyable. For a fictional account of a great storm, John Casey does a terrific job in Spartina. For an incredibly well written book, in which a great storm is narrated, see Gary Kinder's Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea.
Rating: 
Summary: Gale Force Of A Novel
Review: What an exciting premise...and yet it is based on fact. This is a fascinating and penetrating look at ourselves 100 years ago in all of our infancy and ignorance of the world and the weather. If nobody tries to make a film out of this...I will!
Rating:
Summary: It's not nice to ignore Mother Nature...In fact, it's deadly
Review: Here we are 100 years after the "deadliest hurricane in history". We ourselves our at the dawn of a new millenium. We ourselves have just been given the blueprint of human life and all our expectations of curing disease that come with this knowledge. This attitude of a new century, new knowledge and a new frontier is what this book is about. It is also the tragic character flaw of many of the characters. With 20/20 hindsight, we can look back at this terrible storm and experience the arrogance of a generation. Of course, with the advent of this very internet you are now using, and the data available on it, including incredible weather forecasts and "strike probabilities", which, for those of you not living in hurricane alley, means what percentage the experts think our lovely island is going to get struck by a hurricane that is thousands of miles away in the Atlantic and churning closer every minute. Of course, in 1900, there were no weather satelites and scientists and meteorologists really did not know all that much. What a devastating storm this was. Having lived through Hugo and Marilyn (and many less major hurricanes), my friends and I in the Virgin Islands have a great deal of respect for the hurricane. Even when we know it is coming, it strikes fear in our hearts. Even when we are shuttered up, with aluminum paneled shutters on the doors and aluminum or wood shutters on the windows, even when we have radio (until the tower blows away) we are scared. It is impossible to imagine the fear that the people in Galveston experienced when this storm became a monster. As many hurricane "virgins", the town people were curious and excited when the water started to flood the streets. The excitement turned to fear and panic when the water kept rising...4 feet in four seconds, can you imagine? This book starts slowly and then picks up speed as the storm gets closer. It is full of interesting details about the lives of the people of Galveston and the city itself. It has been thoroughly researched and it is an impressive tome. Galveston is extremely flat and close to the sea. Ten thousand people died in this storm. That is a LOT of people. This storm was a secret in the sense that nobody talked about it until this book came out. It is an excellent read. Nothing like "The Perfect Storm" which is a boat story. This book is riveting. Although the reader knows what is going to happen, you actually feel the fear and pain as person after person is killed or swept away. Especially upsetting are the deaths of so many children. This is a heavy book. You will not feel "better" or purged when you finish it. You will however respect Mother Nature. Highly, highly recommended!
Rating:
Summary: A must for weather Enthusiasts
Review: Isaac's storm provides an excellent review of the evolution of both the National Weather Service and Hurricane forecasting. In this book, the Weather Bureau (WB) evolves out of the Army Signal Corps. The controlling military mind, Dr. Morris of the WB appears to be a major contributor to the disaster. Isaac Cline evolves as an unlikely hero. Most readers probably to do not realize, that Isaac Cline is held in high regard in the National Weather Service to this very day. Cline awards, in memory of Isaac Cline, are awarded annually. This book implies this may be an error based on a myth. This book implies that Isaac Cline was no hero in this story. He comes across as a self-confident, arrogant man of his time. Its hard to believe he actually thought evacuation was necessary. He was a man of his times and thought his limited science and technology had beaten nature. He was dead wrong, a lesson we can still learn from. Despite this, he is credited as hero today, in part due to his own account and Dr Morris's attempt to cover the mistake up. Isaac Cline learned to be a better scientist from this tragedy and went on to use what he learned, too late for the people of Galveston. The story gets riveting as the storm approaches. At first, a carnival like atmosphere grips the beachfront as the storm approaches. But as the onlookers get wet, they realize this is no laughing matter. Unlike the book the Perfect Storm, this book gets the meteorology correct, lending credibility to the story and the lives of the characters therein. Some real heroes emerge in this story, including Joseph Cline. There are real are victims in this story and the author does an incredible job showing how this tragedy impacted real people. Not all the characters or their families survive. An enjoyable though fast read. A book laced with a good history, a good human story, and a myth that evolved about a man.
Rating: 
Summary: Sad Bookend to _The Perfect Storm_
Review: I can't believe the reviews I've seen and am forced to chime in to warn those who expect _Issac's Storm_ to provide the thrill and grip that _The Perfect Storm_ did -- not even close. While the fact that so much of this book -- especially the climactic storm itself -- is almost entirely the imagination of the author. This, in itself, isn't the weakest link of the text (keeping in mind that the same final moments of _The Perfect Storm_ are also imagined... though Junger is kind enough to clearly point this out). The weakest link is the writing and structure which make the plodding pace and frequent diversion to filler unbearable. Yes, understanding the weather bureau politics is interesteding as well as the history of storm prediction is key and intersting... so why is the sum of the book such a drag? Hmm... could be the third-rate writing. Read with low expectations.
Rating: 
Summary: Mirroring Its Subject, Story Builds Slowly Then Explodes
Review: On the cusp of 1900 while doctors Minor and Murray were working across the pond on the Oxford English Dictionary, in the recently completed novel Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester, a tropical hurricane of immense proportions was hurtling unannounced toward Galveston, TX and its meteorologist, Isaac Cline. I've had great luck so far with turn of the century historical non-fiction, this is my second novel after The P&tM. Like all great disaster epics the reader is introduced to a variety of people whose lives this will alter, and even snuff out. The beginning exposition moves slowly, describing the events of the day, as well as Isaac's childhood, eventual rise through the ranks of the nescient weather bureau, and ongoing rivalry with his brother. Interspersed with the background of the major players are pages detailing the birth, development, and murderous progress of the storm, humanizing it in a way that reminded me of Peter Benchley's malevolent sharks and squids. Erik Larson does a commendable job unraveling the politics which lead to the blatant disregard of the storm warnings in Cuba. Without this information relayed ahead, the hurricane slams into Galveston full force killing 8000+ citizens. The novel really takes off at this point, moving at a speed to match the flowing current, as the reader bounces back and forth between characters. Families are decimated, houses collapse, parents see their children slip away into the sea, refugees struggle through 12+ foot flow. Through all the devastation and terror the author keeps a menacingly placid tone, he does not sensationalize.. and it is this almost dispassionate view which lends a chilling aspect to the death that abounds; it is so frank and curt that it desensitizes. Once again man pays for his hubris with tragedy. Recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Hubris
Review: Erik Larson's book on the 1900 Galveston Hurricane Disaster compares well with David McCullough's The Johnstown Flood. The books describe similar phenomena that resulted in indiscriminate loss of life and destruction of property resulting from unexpected massive surges of water. The drama in both books is provided by two sources. The tragedies themselves, with their descriptions of lives lost or miraculously saved, provide one source of drama. But that source of drama alone does not make either Larson's book or McCullough's book so readable. In addition, both authors expose the human error and negligence that provided the background for the tragedies. In both situations, it was hubris of nineteenth-century trust in engineering and "science" that made people confident that no danger existed. In Johnstown, it was a poorly-engineered earthen dam (constructed to provide a resort for Pittsburgh's rich) that gave way. In Galveston, it was misplaced confidence in the predictive power of the weather forecasters, coupled with an unwillingness of the forecasters to deliver a negative prediction. The villain in Larson's science drama is Willis L. Moore, the chief of the National Weather Bureau. Moore had taken upon himself the control of all weather forecasts nationwide. As a result, no hurricane prediction was allowed to be issued along the gulf coast prior to the storm. A vessel left Galveston Harbor as late as the day before the storm struck. Warnings from Cuban observers were suppressed by directives from Moore. When the storm passed over Key West, it knocked out the weather station, but no report of this was sent to weather stations along the coast. The Weather Bureau predicted the storm would pass over Florida and into the Atlantic, yet even when this did not happen, no new prediction or advisory was posted. Thousands lost their lives in the 1900 Galveston hurricane. But great lessons were learned, which undoubtedly saved many lives in the rest of the twentieth century.
Rating:
Summary: A Riveting Account
Review: This is an extremely readable and riveting account of the Galveston storm of 1900. It concentrates, initially, on the arrogance and pride of the American weathermen who ignored Cuban forecasters warnings of the presence of a dangerous storm. This attitude of national superiority of intelligence was to cost the people of Galveston dearly, for the lack of advance warning was directly responsible for the debacle and loss of lives that came in the wake of this killer storm. This is a cautionary tale wrapped up in a well-presented historical package, and is well worth reading.
Rating:
Summary: History as Adventure Story
Review: Larson's book is a masterpiece of historical storytelling. Rather than a dry retelling of the events surrounding the 1900 Galveston hurricane, Larson personalizes them by focussing on Isaac Cline, the meteorologist who in the tenor of the times was arrogant enough to think that man had mastered the weather. Larson's account of the destruction of Galveston is particularly riveting. Also interesting is his his history of weather forcasting before 1900. A classic piece of history writing that contains both a moral and and a warning.
Rating:
Summary: Wet History At Its Best
Review: This is great reading for the historian and/or the adventurous in spirit. You feel like you are on a Galveston street as the water swirls past your ankles and the humid air crosses your face. One of the best books I've read in quite some time.
|
