Rating: 
Summary: fantastic writing and reporting
Review: This is one of those books you will not be able to put down. It is as much about the hubris of the age, a hubris we still cling to far more than we should, as it is about the devastating storm and how a city almost was washed away by it. Larson is a wonderful writer who is willing to take risks. Some reviewers have said there is stoo much speculation in the book but I disagree. Larson was diligent and smart enough to choose a story that was amazingly well documented through journals, memoirs, news accounts, federal weather service records, etc. And he treats the story as a skilled novelist would. The result is a true page turner in which the reader continues to be amazed at the sheer magnitude and destruction of the storm and the human ignorance and arrogance that made the people who were hit by it so vulnerable. This is a book that is hard to get out of your mind after you've finished it.
Rating: 
Summary: Over-rated speculation presented as fact
Review: The rave reviews here are troubling - pay attention to the critics. This is a marginally entertaining book. It is an easy read, but with this great raw material, it should be much more. Don't mistake this for well-researched, solid history. It is instead one journalist's effort to create a melodramatic and controversial story out of the 1900 storm. If you want something along the formula of The Perfect Storm, you may be happy enough with this book. But the writing is way overdone, and the central conflict between the two brothers is almost all speculation by the author. The more you know about Galveston, the less impressive this book is. But it's a best-seller because Time magazine and the publishers hyped it.
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Summary: Isaac's storm - horrific tragedy
Review: This is one of the saddest books I have ever read. I finished the book over a week ago, and I am still haunted by the events spelled out in this story. Like others who have read the book, I must say that the weather details at the beginning were a bit dull, but hang in there folks, after 80 pages or so, you won't be able to put this one down. The arrogant ignorance of the some of the people in the weather bureau proves that some things never change - the world is still full of petty, self-centered people who think the world revolves around them - true then, true now. I think the biggest blunder of this book is to not include photographs of the storm disaster. It is one thing to know that 6,000 people died in a hurricane in Galveston in 1900 - it is quite another to know some of their names and their own personal, tragic stories.
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Summary: Does Amazon Sell Liferafts?
Review: While I enjoyed Isaac's Storm a great deal, I found the firstfew chapters a bit plodding, even difficult to read in someinstances. As the rain begins to fall the pace naturally quickens, and the author's style becomes much more readable. Maybe there was a bit too much reality in the closing chapters. That there were hundred and thousands of bodies lining the streets, wrechage, and waterways is not necessarily something that needed to be affirmed on almost every page. But maybe it does. Not quite the book that The Perfect Storm or Into Thin Air was for this genre, but not far off.
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Summary: Hits too close to home..
Review: I have to say that I enjoyed this book. It seemed to include a lot of technical terms which may seem a bit hard to understand at first, but the story itself was very well researched and told as best it could be. Living in Galveston, I find that the hurricane story very interesting, and educational. It is sad that many before-the-storm pictures do not exist or were destroyed in the disaster. A lot of people dont understand exactly how devistating the storm was, and hopefully this book can help people realize that as well as the naivity of people and the 'it will never happen to me' syndrome. And living here, I do have a bit of it myself.. :) The book definatly makes me want to go to the Rosenburg Library, do some research for myself, and take a look at all the pictures. Nothing makes you identify with the characters more than walking the same streets they walked so many years ago.
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Summary: A truly gripping read, unsettling
Review: Although cliche, I honestly could not put this book down. Larson masterfully weaves facts, dialogue, and vivid descriptions to create a documentary-like experience of a haunting chapter in weather history. Morals and themes emerge from the book throughout, creating feelings of shock, anger, and at times, disbelief in the reader. As the storm approaches Galveston, the suspense is as great as any popular adventure or horror film, and the lives affected seem like close acquaintances after Larson's insightful characterizations. In short, a powerful read underscored by the impacting credibility of nonfiction.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting, but a little long and jumpy
Review: The most disconcerting aspect of this book is that is jumps around constantly. Overall there is a definite timeline, but within the chapters, we are constantly jumping from the current time of the hurricane to a time in the future, where there is something of note happening. I found it difficult to keep track of "when" we were at times. It might have been clearer to present the story in brief with Isaac's career presented in counterpoint, and then going into the morbid hour-by-hour detail of the storm. I also found the writing to be rather florid for the subject matter. With sentences like "From Chattanooga to Brooklyn, men and women greeted the day with a feeling not unlike love.", and always referring to Isaac's youngest child as "his baby, Esther Bellew" instead of just "Esther" (like the other children), it seemed like the author was attempting to inappropriately romanticize his account of the horrible deaths of thousands. Removing some of the lengthy descriptions and vignettes not really related to the story would have cut down on the size of the book, and made for a better read. And where are the before and after photos? Surely there are photos of Galveston before it was destroyed and after; or photos of the seawall they built or after the city was elevated. And what about photos of Isaac and his family? The author mentions on more than one occasion a specific photo of Isaac taken later in his career - why was that excluded? The author went to great pains to include townspeople not really related to Isaac, but there are no photos, and only one direct quote (that I recall) from a descendent of a survivor. It almost seems like there was so much information the author wanted to convey, but had difficulty putting it together smoothly.
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Summary: Isaac's Storm
Review: The information in this book relating to the creation of hurricanes, the weather service, the in-fighting, and the incredible strength and devastation of the Galveston storm was riveting. What bothered me was the jumping around, first we're here then we're there. People wading around in chest-high water. Surely they weren't stupid in 1900--they must have recognized this was bad. And just why was it Isaac's Storm? However, I found the info about all the ships that were lost during horrendous hurricanes in the 1800s very startling. Based on the history in this book, if the Big One ever comes, half the east coast will be wiped out! I was also dismayed by the lack of illustrations. The author alludes to a photo of Isaac--why didn't he include it? Surely there were photos of Galveston before the hurricane destroyed it. Where are they? Photos of the destruction? In a work of nonfiction set in the 1900s photos/illustrations are a must. Borrow it from your local library.
Rating:
Summary: Both intriguing and unbelievable
Review: Isaac Cline of "Isaac's Storm" unfortunately represents a generation that thought they had just about mastered the elements. Author Larson points out quite the contrary in the first chapter of the book, when we learn the very weather that Cline is taking readings from will soon kill more than 6,000 people in under a day. A chilling statement in a great book that only gets better from there. Please don't ponder the reviews of folks who say there's too much background on Isaac or boring weather logistics (why don't these folks just rent "Poseidon Adventure" if they demand instant catastrophe?). Just as in life, good things take a little time to reach, and to know why so many perished in this storm is to understand Isaac Cline and his foolishly proud superiors at the Weather Service who displayed such mind-boggling passivity to accepting that this behemoth was bearing right down on the citizens of Galveston. The reader has just a short amount of time to develop a healthy disdain for a few characters--and particularly, for me, it was Weather Service chief Moore whom I wanted to pound--when suddenly a storm surge that rivals Andrew and Camille starts to toss houses around like legos. Too late for safe haven. The traumatic challenge to save one's life and family, and aftermath of this monstrous storm-- described in such vivid detail as to make one feel fortunate not to have to personally experience it--make this book a short, albeit engaging read. Only reason I did not give it five stars was, like others, I really would have loved some of the photos to be placed in his copy (and I'm sure a second publishing will no doubt contain them). Pick up a copy, and if disappointed, send it to me!
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Summary: Progress humbled by Nature
Review: Many historians have pointed out that the sinking of the R.M.S. Titanic in 1912 shocked a Western world that had firmly believed that technological advances could conquer any threat posed by nature. For many Americans, though, that faith had been shattered 12 years earlier when one of the strongest hurricanes ever recorded literally wiped Galveston, Texas, off the map. Larson's story focuses on how that turn-of-the-century faith in the works of mankind proved deadly to thousands of people. Isaac Cline, the head of the federal weather bureau in Galveston at the time of the hurricane, is the fulcrum that illustrates Larson's thesis. Isaac the meteorologist is a consummate professional -- an excellent scientist, a medical doctor, a faithful and trustworthy administrator. The Galveston hurricane stripped much of value from Isaac -- his wife, his brother, his home, his neighbors and friends. It left him grasping for nearly half a century to come to terms with what he must have secretly viewed as his own failure to predict the arrival of the storm and its severity in time to warn the city's residents to flee for their lives. Isaac lived on to serve as a meteorologist in New Orleans, a posting he detested, for four decades after the hurricane. But Larson gives us tantalizing clues about Isaac's internal agony and his turn away from the naive certainty fostered by the technological triumphalism in which he was immersed during his training. He wears his dead wife's engagement ring on his pinkie for the rest of his life. He never remarries. He finds solace in the arts and crafts. Larson's spare writing style suits the pace of events. The book meanders at first, drifting from subject to subject as it gathers narrative strength. When the storm breaks over Galveston, Larson's narrative whips through the sequence of events, a sudden and sharp catastrophe that lasted only a few hours. You will rarely see a writer do such an outstanding job of matching the pace of his or her narrative to the actual pace of the events he or she is writing about. There's an almost musical sensibility to Larson's writing. Ultimately, Isaac Cline is a metaphor for a whole mindset swept away by the tidal surge that leveled Galveston. Larson certainly does not ennoble Isaac or make him a hero. But he does treat Isaac with admirable equanimity and sympathy. Isaac Cline wasn't the only survivor of the Galveston hurricane who had to carry the weight of its remembrance for the rest of his life. But he, more than most, surely must have felt the burden of grief and guilt every moment for the rest of a long and distinguished life.
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