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Best Weather

Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History
Isaac Cline was one of the era's new men, a scientist who believed he knew all there was to know about the motion of clouds and the behavior of storms. That August, a strange, prolonged heat wave gripped the nation and killed scores of people in New York and Chicago. As the bureau's forecasters assured the nation that all was calm in the Caribbean, Cuba's own weathermen fretted about ominous signs in the sky. Hundreds of people gathered at the beach to marvel at the fantastically tall waves and gorgeous pink sky, until the surf began ripping the city's beloved beachfront apart. In Galveston alone at least 6,000 people, possibly as many as 10,000, would lose their lives, a number far greater than the combined death toll of the Johnstown Flood and 1906 San Francisco Earthquake. As barometers plummet and wind gauges are plucked from their moorings, Larson (Lethal Passage) cuts cinematically from the eerie "eyewall" of the hurricane to the mundane hubbub of a lunchroom moments before it capitulates to the arriving winds, from the neat pirouette of Cline's house amid rising waters to the bridge of the steamship Pensacola, tossed like flotsam on the roiling seas. Major ad/promo; author tour; simultaneous Random House audio; foreign rights sold in Germany, Holland, Italy, Japan and the U.K. (Sept.). Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Reviews
"I enjoyed reading about the story about the terrible hurricane that hit Galveston Texas in 1900. If you have an interest in learning about the history of weather forecasting, then this is the book for you. If you have an interest in the social history of the United States around 1900, then this is a good book to read."
"Extensive notes and references give sources for every word the people say or write, and for every fact stated--but there's nothing dry about this history; even if you already know about the Galveston Storm, this book is a page-turner."
"I live a short distance from Galveston and wanted to know more about the great storm."
"I would recommend this and his other books--Devil in the White City, Dead Wake, In the Garden of Beasts--whole heartedly."
"I was totally caught up in this section and "felt" the hurricane and "felt" the agony and "felt" the despair."
"Larson's ability to place the reader in the midst of a place and time is amazing, and his ability to translate the experience of being in the midst of a storm that happened before any of us were alive makes the terror, sadness and desperation come alive in a way that even today's movies can't equal."
"Isaac Cline was head of the Galveston Meteorological Bureau, nationally part of a behemoth bureaucracy tipping into corruption, hellbent on never mentioning the word "hurricane" as a threat to the great wheel of commerce."
"If one has been to Galveston they find a beautiful coastal city full of mansions and lovely Victorian houses and cottages."
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Cosmos
RETURNING TO TELEVISION AS AN ALL-NEW MINISERIES ON FOX Cosmos is one of the bestselling science books of all time. Cosmos retraces the fourteen billion years of cosmic evolution that have transformed matter into consciousness, exploring such topics as the origin of life, the human brain, Egyptian hieroglyphics, spacecraft missions, the death of the Sun, the evolution of galaxies, and the forces and individuals who helped to shape modern science. With a lyrical literary style, and a range that touches almost all aspects of human knowledge, Cosmos often seems too good to be true.” — The Plain Dealer “Sagan is an astronomer with one eye on the stars, another on history, and a third—his mind’s—on the human condition.” — Newsday “Brilliant in its scope and provocative in its suggestions . Cosmos was the first science TV blockbuster, and Carl Sagan was its (human) star. By the time of Sagan's death in 1996, the series had been seen by half a billion people; Sagan was perhaps the best-known scientist on the planet. From stars in their "billions and billions" to the amino acids in the primordial ocean, Sagan communicated a feeling for science as a process of discovery. Inevitably, some of the science in Cosmos has been outdated in the years since 1980--but Sagan's sense of wonder is ageless.
Reviews
"Its contents incorporate genetics, ancient history, chemical biology, sociology, religion, human psychology and philosophy... Dr Sagan weaves these realms together in the context of the Cosmos, and raises intriguing questions about hypothetical alternate turn of events as well as where we (humankind) go from here. Sagan goes as far as to compare government spendings on military weapons with scientific research funding, and demonstrates how far will have still to go before our loyalties are united not just within nation-states, but as a species of Planet Earth. I wonder what Dr Sagan would have thought about the state of the world today… recent election results, SpaceX, virtual reality, artificial intelligence/machine learning, Kepler missions, CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing, instability in the Middle East, the Higgs Boson… My guess is that he would simultaneously be alarmed that we are STILL arguing whether or not climate change is a problem, and amazed at our technological achievements with the internet and a legitimate goal to visit Mars. After having read the book, one could truly dwell on what we can do to unify ourselves as citizens of Planet Earth, with a mutual interest of survival, pursuit of interplanetary/interstellar travel and constant discovery of what our universe has to offer."
"For anyone who has not yet watched and, in doing so, immerse themselves in the wonders of our marvelous universe, I heartily endorse this epic series and urge you to purchase a copy."
"The last chapter of "Cosmos" asks "Who speaks for Earth?""
"There are also occasional earthly detours - evolution of life on earth, ancient greeks, the library of Alexandria, voyages of explorers, etc.The book also tries to bring up some philosophical questions, especially in relation to the possibility of other civilizations in the cosmos, and how a contact between us and them would happen."
"I have previously read this book and thoroughly enjoyed it."
"Modern science quickly discards old theories but it still holds truth to the narrative - of that there are many new stories yet to be told: and Sagan's Cosmos is a foundational one, connecting the blocks how the history of science propelled the age of discoveries that have culminated at his time in the shuttle program, the moon landing probes, the Voyagers program."
"Read this years ago in hard cover when first came out."
"But really, this book ignites a love for and connection to the cosmos unlike any other."
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The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea
It was the storm of the century, boasting waves over one hundred feet high—a tempest created by so rare a combination of factors that meteorologists deemed it "the perfect storm." In The Perfect Storm , author Sebastian Junger conjures for the reader the meteorological conditions that created the "storm of the century" and the impact the storm had on many of the people caught in it.
Reviews
"Good book."
"The author's research on tuna fishing is amazing."
"The book talks about the life of fisherman and how dangerous sword fishing is, but despite the dangerous voyages, fisherman have to make money somehow even if it means risking their lives and never coming back to their loved ones."
"Much better than the movie."
"Must be read much better then the movie."
"It was almost as informative as being in that area and having a knowledgeable tour guide tell the story of the place and the people. Since I have a deep concern for the sustainability of the environment, it is of interest to read about the forces that push people to essentially destroy the very hand that feeds them. The book combines a personal life story, history, psychology, and world economics and even international relations."
"This book was extremely well researched and very detailed and descriptive...I couldn't put it down, and quite frankly learned so many things from it that I was not aware of regarding the risks taken every day by commercial fisherman everywhere, nautical terms, all about charts, weather tracking and patterns, rescue protocall...just sooo many new things."
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Best Water Supply

Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water, Revised Edition
"The definitive work on the West's water crisis." ''When archaelogists from another planet sift through the bleached bones of our civilization, they may conclude that our temples were dams, says Reisner in this angry, exhaustive and gracefully written account of America's quest to turn the inhospitable, irredeemably dry West into a Garden of Eden…Not the first book on the subject, but one of the best.''. -- Kirkus Reviews ''[This] timely and important book should be required reading for all citizens.''. ''Masterful…Among the most influential environmental books published by an American since Silent Spring .''.
Reviews
"This is a timeless work detailing the history of water wealth and distribution in the West."
"Man this book is encyclopedic, with all that implies."
"While the editing causes some revisiting of projects ant times, this book gives a clear picture of the technical, economic, political, and bureaucratic forces surrounding the largest group of public works in American history."
"I recommend this book to anyone wanting to understand the history of the water "crisis" or has the least bit of interest in our nation's history!"
"While the activities recounted in the book paved the way to agriculture and population growth (and clearly contributed to the rise of the United States as a world leader), the calculated and manipulative things people of the time did to drive "progress" were monumental and jaw-dropping in some cases."
"It is not a perfect work: the author occasionally allows his passion to overwhelm his recounting of the facts, and it detracts from both his case and the flow of the book."
"A really excellent dissertation on the history of US water and the institutions that control it."
"It's easy to call all cities in the American West "cancers", and state or imply how and how much the West should've been settled, based on 20/20 hindsight and without thought for where settlers could've gone if every inch West of the 100th meridian had been settled only by a very limited number of environmentally prophetic, conscientious stewards."
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Best Conservation

A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail (Official Guides to the Appalachian Trail)
The AT offers an astonishing landscape of silent forests and sparkling lakes — and to a writer with the comic genius of Bill Bryson, it also provides endless opportunities to witness the majestic silliness of his fellow human beings. When this American transplant to Britain decided to return home, he made a farewell walking tour of the British countryside and produced Notes from a Small Island . Accompanied only by his old college buddy Stephen Katz, Bryson starts out one March morning in north Georgia, intending to walk the entire 2,100 miles to trail's end atop Maine's Mount Katahdin. As Bryson and Katz haul their out-of-shape, middle-aged butts over hill and dale, the reader is treated to both a very funny personal memoir and a delightful chronicle of the trail, the people who created it, and the places it passes through. Awed by merely the camping section of his local sporting goods store, he nevertheless plunges into the wilderness and emerges with a consistently comical account of a neophyte woodsman learning hard lessons about self-reliance.
Reviews
"I'm a sexagenarian who, on a recent vacation, happened to walk out and back on the first three miles or so of the southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail (Springer Mtn, GA) and, in a fit of exhilaration, decided then and there that I would, by golly, hike the AT before I died. As I was joyfully entertained by his incisive sense of humor, I was simultaneously and seriously learning history, biology, geology (and several other -ologies) as well as being discomfitted by Bryson's documentation of our culture's dismissive practices regarding ecology."
"Read one and except for a few events, you've pretty much read them all and almost any extended backpacking trip involves the same rigors, risks, weather and that mixture of misery and exhilaration."
"One of the funniest books you will every read."
"Bill's storytelling captured me immediately...I was taking every step he took, I enjoyed every vista he looked out on, I was eavesdropping on his conversations with his fellow hikers and feeling the spectrum of emotions held for his friend and hiking companion."
"An adventure that walks you experientially and historically through the nation's longest series of trails from Georgia to Maine while feeling every fear from blisters, hunger, thirst, wildlife, climate changes, man's limitations and nature's nuances, all the while trekking with a forty pound pack on your back, and any one of these could do you in, well it's a wonder why the wild is so compelling."
"With the film in theaters, I decided to pick it up and give it a go. I loved this book, and place it among Jon Krakauer's "Into the Wild," Cheryl Strayed's "Wild," and Elizabeth Gilbert's "The Last American Man" in terms of well-written essays that explore our yearning to return to a simpler, untethered way of life."
"Unfortunately some of his stories about what happened to people along the trail, made me not that interested in walking any trail."
"I think Bill Bryson is an incredibly good writer whose humor extends to poking as much fun at himself as he does at others."
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Best Recycling

Garbage Land: On the Secret Trail of Trash
By showing us what happens to the things we've "disposed of," Royte reminds us that our decisions about consumption and waste have a very real impact-and that unless we undertake radical change, the garbage we create will always be with us: in the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we consume. Royte is a journalist with a nose for the "sordid afterlife" of trash, thoroughly at home in the putrid world of "Coney Island whitefish" (used condoms); "disco rice" (maggots); and—the darling of American consumer culture and the nemesis of waste activists—"Satan's resin" (plastic). Her book takes the form of a quest for the surprising final resting places of her yogurt cups, beer bottles, personal computer, and organic-fig-cookie packaging, and leads to an impassioned attack on overconsumption in America. If Royte does not quite demonstrate the muckraking skills of an Eric Schlosser in "Fast Food Nation," she does expose the feculent underside of our appetite for things and challenges her readers to disprove the resigned assessment of a former New York sanitation commissioner: "In the end, the garbage will win."
Reviews
"I found the book interesting, especially since I will soon be working at a solid waste management company (which is the reason I wanted to do some research on the industry)."
"A good attempt by the author to actually trace the flow of her own garbage and other waste through the system of collection, processing, and final disposal. Also, she works on reducing her incoming stream of material (grocery store plastic bags as an example) that will go to either recycling, or the landfill. Some things of note: She does mention the amount of waste in a Fast Food Restaurant & follows the trail of the commercial side of the trash (what she gets when she buys a meal). (As an aside, I was camping at a KOA this summer & next to the facility was a special dumpster that a fast food restaurant used only for paper & cardboard waste. One final note: I had not considered the sheer volume of plastic that I personally go through in a typical weekly trash cycle until I read this book."
"It's the next best thing to being there - up close and personal with garbage, where we all need to be if we are to raise consciousness about the dirty little secrets of trash management, reverse the misconceptions that 'garbage goes away' and start the process of seriously shifting to a more mindful consumption culture."
"It's a matter of time before it comes back to you in some form through dangerous poisons in your drinking water or food, being washed up on a nearby shore, or in the air you breathe. I personally think her efforts to reduce her own waste footprint, while admirable and noble, is too small to make a difference and the burden should be put on the massive industry that creates this junk that will either never break down or will wind up as lethal poisons. It's not an easy pill to swallow, but Garbage Land made me aware of the scope of the problem and making industy responsible for their waste is now one of my personal issues."
"It was an interesting topic, but the book was very repeative and oversaturated in unnecessary details."
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Best Environmental Ecology

1491 (Second Edition): New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus
In this groundbreaking work of science, history, and archaeology, Charles C. Mann radically alters our understanding of the Americas before the arrival of Columbus in 1492. but by boat along the Pacific coast 10 or even 20 thousand years earlier; the Americas were a far more urban, more populated, and more technologically advanced region than generally assumed; and the Indians, rather than living in static harmony with nature, radically engineered the landscape across the continents, to the point that even "timeless" natural features like the Amazon rainforest can be seen as products of human intervention. And those who came later and found an emptied landscape that seemed ripe for the taking, Mann argues convincingly, encountered not the natural and unchanging state of the native American, but the evidence of a sudden calamity: the ravages of what was likely the greatest epidemic in human history, the smallpox and other diseases introduced inadvertently by Europeans to a population without immunity, which swept through the Americas faster than the explorers who brought it, and left behind for their discovery a land that held only a shadow of the thriving cultures that it had sustained for centuries before. Groups likely traveled across the Pacific in boats.Wheat and barley grown from wild ancestors in Sumer.60005000In what many scientists regard as humankind's first and greatest feat of genetic engineering, Indians in southern Mexico systematically breed maize (corn) from dissimilar ancestor species.First cities established in Sumer.40003000The Americas' first urban complex, in coastal Peru, of at least 30 closely packed cities, each centered around large pyramid-like structuresGreat Pyramid at Giza265032First clear evidence of Olmec use of zero--an invention, widely described as the most important mathematical discovery ever made, which did not occur in Eurasia until about 600 A.D., in India (zero was not introduced to Europe until the 1200s and not widely used until the 1700s)800-840 A.D.Sudden collapse of most central Maya cities in the face of severe drought and lengthy warVikings briefly establish first European settlements in North America.1000Reconstruction of Cahokia, c. 1250 A.D.*Abrupt rise of Cahokia, near modern St. Louis, the largest city north of the Rio Grande. Population estimates vary from at least 15,000 to 100,000.Black Death devastates Europe.1347-13511398Birth of Tlacaélel, the brilliant Mexican strategist behind the Triple Alliance (also known as the Aztec empire), which within decades controls central Mexico, then the most densely settled place on Earth.The Encounter: Columbus sails from Europe to the Caribbean.1492The Encounter: Columbus sails from Europe to the Caribbean.Syphilis apparently brought to Europe by Columbus's returning crew.1493Ferdinand Magellan departs from Spain on around-the-world voyage.1519Sixteenth-century Mexica drawing of the effects of smallpox**Cortes driven from Tenochtitlán, capital of the Triple Alliance, and then gains victory as smallpox, a European disease never before seen in the Americas, kills at least one of three in the empire.1525-1533The smallpox epidemic sweeps into Peru, killing as much as half the population of the Inka empire and opening the door to conquest by Spanish forces led by Pizarro.1617Huge areas of New England nearly depopulated by epidemic brought by shipwrecked French sailors.English Pilgrims arrive at Patuxet, an Indian village emptied by disease, and survive on stored Indian food, renaming the village Plymouth.1620*Courtesy Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site, Collinsville, Ill., painting by Michael Hampshire.
Reviews
"Read this book at the library and decided I wanted a copy for myself."
"A wonderful insight into the true history of the western hemisphere before and after the conquest from the east."
"This is the kind of book that I pick up and read over and over again."
"Well written, very readable and full of information your history teacher probably doesn't know!"
"so much of what was written questions the way we all think of the Americas pre 1491."
"Mann likes to jump around the time rather than stay chronological which my little brain has a hard time with - but the content is fascinating and I highly recommend this to any history buff!"
"Terrific book, a real education into the huge population of the many nations that lived on our continent prior to the invasion of the Europeans with their disease and predation."
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