Rating: 
Summary: We've come so far - or have we?
Review: Isaac Cline was in many ways the right man at the wrong place at the wrong time. His story is not just about the great Galveston Hurricane a century ago. It's about the birth of the weather service. Now we take the weather service and predictions for granted (and often revile them for mistakes) but this book shows how imporant information is for building the big picture. Conflicts with Caribbean stations politically come into play and tanish what should by all rights be an apolitical operation. You are taken into Galveston and almost can see the city and the people there. While we have seen disasters and storms on television, the book gives you an almost "you are there" quality as you see it unfold, bringing death and destruction in the path and forever changing an American city. Yet for all the subtext of "they didn't see what was gunning for them" are we really much better off 100 years later? We still can't fully predict where storms will come ashore, relying on best guesses. At least we can warn those in the potential path, and prevent devistation on this scale again, but we really are not much further along in knowing what's going to happen beyond now.
Rating: 
Summary: GALVESTON'S STORM
Review: Telling the story of The Great 1900 Galveston Hurricane through the central character of U.S. Weather Bureau Officer Isaac Cline doesn't really work. Author Erik Larson forces much drama into the story, concocting a rivalry between true-life weathermen who are also brothers. The Cain and Abel angle seems a slight supposition of facts and doesn't play well against the monster hurricane that socked Galveston, Texas in 1900 killing nearly 6,000 people. What "Isaac's Storm" does accomplish is a fascinating history of The United States Weather Bureau. It's shaky beginning of bureaucratic bungling, public mistrust, and reliance on meteorological inaccuracy makes for page-turning reading. The hurricane itself is told in exciting descriptive prose but Isaac's participation, or lack of, best remains rested in peace.
Rating: 
Summary: Tragedy that could have been avoided
Review: Larson has written a wonderful book, with great details, historic documents, and maps. The great Galveston flood was inevitable but the loss of life was not. Larson brings history to life with a stirring, clear, fast-paced account of the storm itself and, more importantly, the possible ways tragedy could have been avoided and the way heroes and scapegoats emerge, sometimes inaccurately. The serenity of a booming city is destroyed by a disaster on the horizon. You have to feel moved at the plight of the victims yet also disturbed at their unwillingness to prepare for harsh realities.
Rating:
Summary: A good read for the history buff
Review: I found this book very interesting. I chose it because I've visited Galveston many times and had heard little of the hurricane there in Sept, 1900. Being familiar with a few of the landmarks mentioned made all the more interesting to me. Fortunately Isaac Cline and his Weather Service observation book survived to tell the story of this tradegy with unimaginable loss of human life. This volume builds slowly, but has many interesting observations from those who lived through America's largest disaster. It also addresses some of the political issues of the time (even a century ago, Cuba was a "problem"). Overall a good book. At times I had trouble putting it down, especially in the latter half.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing and Tragic Tale
Review: I have a mind for trivia, and I knew that the Galveston hurricane was the worst in US history in terms of loss of life. But it wasn't until I read this book that I understood what it meant for the people involved. While Isaac Cline's story is compelling and the research involved in reconstructing it is an impressive accomplishment, the real drama doesn't get started until the hurricane hits. The slow build of dread as the townspeople notice the first signs of flooding and treat it as a nuisance, to the climax of the storm when houses literally fall apart around them, to the stunning aftermath found by rescuers over the next few days...I read this book last year and the images remain vivid.
Rating:
Summary: Intriguing Hurricane Season Reading
Review: The publication of this very intriguing Novel was, in publishing terms, a long time ago thus much has already been said on the best qualities and follies of this story. One can read those in the many other reviews below this one. However, I do wish to add my own Kudos' to the author in that from the perspective Erik Larson approved abridged audio version of this tale is well written fictionally enhanced history. I felt that the author did a good job at keeping me captivated to the story line, provided a lot of accurate and historical information, and brilliantly speculated on fictionalized aspects of the story while carefully painting them as a "possibility" but not touting them as the absolute truth. Further captivating was the pleasure of listening to the reading of this story by Edward Herrmann. One could not possibly have a better voice with which to tell this story. Very familiar with Herrmann's past roles in movies such as FDR, Automaker Dodge commercials and more recently as a guest appearance on the HBO series "OZ", I was delighted with his pleasant baritone voice-guiding the story. His use of inflection brought this story to life. Having listened to this in my car to go with my daily commute among the Washington, DC clogged I-95 corridor, I actually found myself looking forward to my "commute". That alone speaks volumes about both the authorship of the story and the quality of the narration.
Rating:
Summary: Isaac's Storm
Review: One of the best books that I have ever read. Incredibly well done and very compelling reading. I would even rate it slightly better than The Perfect Storm!
Rating:
Summary: "Interesting and Compelling"
Review: Very good and interesting telling of the 1900 Galveston Hurricane. Larson did an excellent job capturing the period, the atmosphere of turn of the century America and the way people thought. Pride and ego seemed to be the big downfalls in the lack of warning for Galveston. Even with Main character Isaac Cline, who considered himself the best of the best among weathermen. The description of the destruction of Galveston and what the people went through was gripping. Very vivid. The hurricane didn't hit all at once. The problems gradually built up, starting with a little flooding that no one worried about to the full fury of the storm that took an estimated 6,000 lives. Did enjoy some of the parts about the history of hurricane study and how forecasters really didn't know a lot about the storms, but thought they knew everything. Some of the scientific descriptions went over my head. Still, very enjoyable book.
Rating:
Summary: Simplistic writing but extremely interesting
Review: If you look beyond the writing style (which is, to be charitable, just below the level of your average high school student, and the reason I give this book three stars), this is an interesting tale of an event that deservedly got a huge amount of press in the first days of the 20th century, and seems to be all but forgotten now (at least it seems to be up here in the Big Apple). Larson's descriptons of Isaac Cline, his brother Joseph, and the various other people that lived in Galveston in 1900 all have the ring of truth to them, especially his rendering of Isaac's bosses - among them Willis Moore, chief at the time of US Weather Bureau; and H.H.C. Dunwoody. It seems to me that most of the people of that time were more closed (emotionally speaking) and priggish than we are today, but according to Larson, these people carried these traits to an unheard-of extreme. They were egotistical braggarts who were convinced of their own superiority and refused to accept that they could possibly be wrong about anything - and they certainly were wrong about the hurricane that hit Galveston in September 1900. By today's standards one would have to wonder why these bureaucrats didn't get their walking papers immediately once the full extent of the hurricane's damage became known. I can only assume that the mores of the time were quite a bit different than they are today. I will also say that I felt sorry for Isaac and Joseph. The few days surrounding the hurricane were probably the only days these two brothers shared any "family time" together as adults. As Larson makes clear they really never spoke to each other after that, or even acknowledged each other's existence - but he isn't exactly clear on what caused this rift. I would have liked to learn more about that particular piece of Isaac's history.
Rating:
Summary: Powerful Book
Review: This was a gripping book. It tells the story of the events leading up to a horrible storm that hit Galveston, TX in 1900. It presents the timeline of a man trying to do the best job he could with the information available to him at the turn of the century. It talks of governmental interference and egos that allowed this storm to devastate an unsuspecting populace. It is a well-researched, powerfully written book.
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