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informative
inspiring
slow-paced
Powell's Summer Reading Challenge: Your choice!
This strays far enough into techno-babble at times that it was a slower read for me and my four remaining braincells. But it was also delightfully reverent of its main characters, weather forecasters, the "cloud warriors". NOAA should be given the Pentagon's budget tomorrow but sadly I live in the worst country on Earth
"Weather predictions are already impressively good, so much so that their accuracy might surprise you. Consider the challenge: Anticipating the future state of Earth's atmosphere, a planet-wrapping blanket of gases that extends more than fifty miles above the surface before it begins to dissipate into space. Those gases move continuously at every moment in swirls of pressures and temperatures, constantly shaped by heat from the sun and the Earth and by moisture from the oceans. Imagine trying to predict the changing blooms of the creamer in your coffee as it mixes in."
This strays far enough into techno-babble at times that it was a slower read for me and my four remaining braincells. But it was also delightfully reverent of its main characters, weather forecasters, the "cloud warriors". NOAA should be given the Pentagon's budget tomorrow but sadly I live in the worst country on Earth
"Weather predictions are already impressively good, so much so that their accuracy might surprise you. Consider the challenge: Anticipating the future state of Earth's atmosphere, a planet-wrapping blanket of gases that extends more than fifty miles above the surface before it begins to dissipate into space. Those gases move continuously at every moment in swirls of pressures and temperatures, constantly shaped by heat from the sun and the Earth and by moisture from the oceans. Imagine trying to predict the changing blooms of the creamer in your coffee as it mixes in."
informative
medium-paced
informative
medium-paced
informative
reflective
medium-paced
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
Cloud warriors is a crash course in all things weather. From the science behind forecasts to the social reasons why people don't heed weather alerts. Some of it was interesting some of it wasn't. The way I practically force fed myself this book to get the review done on time probably didn't help. Parts felt hurried and other parts dragged on. The majority of it was very carefully not political but still accurate. I thought the chapter on extreme heat and the authors own weather collection was really interesting. I would recommend reading it slower than I did, there's some very interesting parts to it.
As always, thank you to the publisher and Netgallery for this audiobook.
As always, thank you to the publisher and Netgallery for this audiobook.
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
I received an ALC of the audiobook from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Weather! I just think it's neat!
This is a very worthwhile read, although it took a while for me to really get into it. The first half felt very US-centric to me. A lot of the discussion of the role of the public vs private sector felt like it came from a very US perspective without the impact of that context really being acknowledged. I am glad that at the end of the book the author comes back to making the US political context explicit in discussing privatisation and inequity.
The second half, although still often geographically focused on the US, felt much more generalisable, and I found it way more engaging. The book has a big focus on how weather forecasting is applied and communicated to the general public, and how critical it is to do it well. I'd never thought about the implications of forecasting in that way, and it was great to explore that in this book. The efforts to reach underserved people in different contexts with warnings and information - like the farmers in Ghana without smartphones, and the Amish with limitations on the use of tech - were really well explained and thoughtfully discussed.
I found the chapter on extreme heat especially fascinating. I'd never thought of heat as being a threat in the same way a hurricane is, and it was very interesting to have it explained. I am curious about the emphasis on air conditioning as a solution, probably because I live somewhere where it's not at all standard for our houses to have it. Despite the book's strong focus on climate change and sustainability, I don't remember the negative impact of air conditioning on the environment coming up much in this section.
I also happened to be in NYC when Superstorm Sandy hit it, so I was particularly interested in the discussion of the European model that most accurately predicted it.
The audiobook was well produced and narrated.
Weather! I just think it's neat!
This is a very worthwhile read, although it took a while for me to really get into it. The first half felt very US-centric to me. A lot of the discussion of the role of the public vs private sector felt like it came from a very US perspective without the impact of that context really being acknowledged. I am glad that at the end of the book the author comes back to making the US political context explicit in discussing privatisation and inequity.
The second half, although still often geographically focused on the US, felt much more generalisable, and I found it way more engaging. The book has a big focus on how weather forecasting is applied and communicated to the general public, and how critical it is to do it well. I'd never thought about the implications of forecasting in that way, and it was great to explore that in this book. The efforts to reach underserved people in different contexts with warnings and information - like the farmers in Ghana without smartphones, and the Amish with limitations on the use of tech - were really well explained and thoughtfully discussed.
I found the chapter on extreme heat especially fascinating. I'd never thought of heat as being a threat in the same way a hurricane is, and it was very interesting to have it explained. I am curious about the emphasis on air conditioning as a solution, probably because I live somewhere where it's not at all standard for our houses to have it. Despite the book's strong focus on climate change and sustainability, I don't remember the negative impact of air conditioning on the environment coming up much in this section.
I also happened to be in NYC when Superstorm Sandy hit it, so I was particularly interested in the discussion of the European model that most accurately predicted it.
The audiobook was well produced and narrated.
I read this book during not one but two tornado warnings and crazy Austin weather. (I know deadly heat will follow soon) I found it helped set the mood…but it is not required to do so.
Cloud Warriors focuses on the people pushing boundaries of science and technology to build better weather forecasts—providing life-saving warnings and crucial intelligence about nature’s deadliest threats. I found it fascinating that the groups studying weather are not just meteorologists but also social scientists to study how the best way to get warnings out there, and the study the inequities of weather and survival. I work on the opposite side from the people in the book. I am in disaster recovery, so I see the world every day after the storms, fires and heat have left. The Cloud warriors out there are trying to find better ways to warn peoples, while I try to help communities mitigate the disasters when they hit. It is not an if, but when.
I found this book fascinating and may have sent a lot of coworker’s teams messages telling them they had to read it. Thank you, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley! #cloudwarriors #netgalley
informative
medium-paced