Scan barcode
tangleroot_eli's review
emotional
informative
medium-paced
Beautifully illustrated and a fascinating way to approach weather writing. Like looking through the windows of a dollhouse, each chapter offers one small glimpse of a vast world, leaving the reader to decide for ourselves which topics we'd like to explore further.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Child death
nomadreader's review
3.0
3.5 stars. Perhaps my expectations were too high, but I found most it pretty 'meh'
piratequeen's review
4.0
This was a pleasant surprise. I added it to my Amazon wish list a year or so ago, after reading Cynthia Barnett's gorgeous "Rain", then forgot about it until I saw it there the other day and ordered it on a whim. I was expecting another popular science book, but instead I got a lovely picture book, full of cultural and scientific vignettes about weather and its impact, and peculiar drawings to illustrate the stories. I started reading it half-heartedly, just to see what I was getting into, and found I couldn't put it down. The illustrations were engaging, and the text was approachable and informative. (The Old Farmer's Almanac is still a thing, which I did not know.) A genuine pleasure.
tracey1981's review
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
4.5 stars. This graphic novel is kind of a pop science/journalistic history of weather. It’s beautiful and interesting and a bit strange but totally worth checking out. I anticipated and wanted more content about climate change but otherwise this was great!
michelle_neuwirth_gray9311's review
4.0
I loved the artwork for sure! It was a wonderful way to illustrate the concepts in this book. I enjoyed learning all about the history and mystery that is the weather. :)
bel017's review
2.0
I couldn't get into this, but I totally get why others love it. It's a picture book for adults, I saw a review calling it science art. I just found some of the pictures a bit off-putting and for me the disjointed writing was confusing, but my rating reflects my experience, I do think others with an interest in this kind of graphic art would enjoy it more.
drifterontherun's review
4.0
Call me crazy, but I think the weather is absolutely fascinating. This is obscured by the fact that the weather is, rather famously, the favorite go-to topic for those who don't know what else to talk about. But such small talk, which really consists of variations on a single phrase, Some weather we're having, isn't it?, is never actually about the weather but about getting a mundane response to a very mundane comment.
It's almost a joke. You say something about the weather, and the person you're talking to gives you that eyebrows-raised, knowing glance that says, Do you really have nothing better to talk about?
Imagine if, instead, those awkward elevator conversations were actually about the weather?
"What is your opinion on geoengineering?"
"You mean whether I advocate carbon dioxide removal or the management of solar radiation?"
or
"Do you think it's ethical for governments to control the weather, as the US did in Vietnam?"
Talking about the weather really does present endless conversational possibilities, but weather talk gets a bad rap. Unless you're a meteorologist, you bring up the weather only if you don't know what to talk about or are dancing around the obvious.
"Just as I was thinking I had better try to fill in with something about the weather, she spoke." - P.G. Wodehouse, The Code of the Woosters
Lauren Redniss does a fantastic job here of making the weather accessible to all. She's done her research too, and her coffee table sized book on the subject is divided into 12 chapters, ranging from "Chaos" to "Forecasting." It's illustrated, too, which is nice, even if the illustrations range somewhat in terms of quality.
This, though, is the kind of book I live for. The sort of book that provides answers and anecdotes to all your weather-related ponderings, even if not quite in the depth one might ultimately desire.
But it sure makes for excellent conversation, whether in the elevator, at the dinner table, or anywhere in between.
It's almost a joke. You say something about the weather, and the person you're talking to gives you that eyebrows-raised, knowing glance that says, Do you really have nothing better to talk about?
Imagine if, instead, those awkward elevator conversations were actually about the weather?
"What is your opinion on geoengineering?"
"You mean whether I advocate carbon dioxide removal or the management of solar radiation?"
or
"Do you think it's ethical for governments to control the weather, as the US did in Vietnam?"
Talking about the weather really does present endless conversational possibilities, but weather talk gets a bad rap. Unless you're a meteorologist, you bring up the weather only if you don't know what to talk about or are dancing around the obvious.
"Just as I was thinking I had better try to fill in with something about the weather, she spoke." - P.G. Wodehouse, The Code of the Woosters
Lauren Redniss does a fantastic job here of making the weather accessible to all. She's done her research too, and her coffee table sized book on the subject is divided into 12 chapters, ranging from "Chaos" to "Forecasting." It's illustrated, too, which is nice, even if the illustrations range somewhat in terms of quality.
This, though, is the kind of book I live for. The sort of book that provides answers and anecdotes to all your weather-related ponderings, even if not quite in the depth one might ultimately desire.
But it sure makes for excellent conversation, whether in the elevator, at the dinner table, or anywhere in between.