book Isaac's Storm - A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane...

[Guest LilBambi]

Speaking of good books. And this one is based on a true story.

 

Isaac's Storm by Erik Larson

 

At the turn of the last century, Isaac Cline, chief weatherman for Texas, believed no storm could do serious harm to the city of Galveston, a fast growing metropolis on the Gulf Coast destined for great things. In September 1900 a massive hurricane proved him wrong, at great personal cost. The storm killed as many as 10,000 people in Galveston alone, stole the city’s future, and caused hurricane experts to revise their thinking about how hurricanes kill. The book won the American Meteorology Society’s prestigious Louis J. Battan Author’s Award.

 

For the record, of all my books, this is my wife’s favorite. I also discovered that some people in Texas would read this book to their children at bedtime, presumably leaving out the pyres of burning corpses toward the end—or maybe not.

 

Amazon and Random House versions.

 

Just the main page info from the Random House page (much more there!):

 

Courtesy of the Rosenberg Library, Galveston, Texas

 

Galveston, Texas, awakened on September 8, 1900, on its way to becoming the most prosperous city in the nation, brimming with activity, commerce, and confidence. The following morning, it was a city decimated and humbled by nature, its businesses and homes unrecognizable, its hope swept away by what is still the deadliest weather disaster in American history.

 

At the turn of the century, Isaac Cline was the chief weatherman for Texas -- he was also the one man who could have saved Galveston. The morning the storm hit, he watched as huge ocean swells transfigured the usually calm seascape of the Gulf Coast of Texas, timing the arrival of each swell, noting its size and shape. What he had yet to realize was that he had stumbled upon the greatest storm ever to target America, one in which eight thousand men, women, and children were about to lose their lives -- a figure more than twice that of the combined death toll of the Johnstown Flood and the Great San Francisco Earthquake.

 

 

Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History is Erik Larson's riveting and detailed account of that storm. It is also the story of Isaac Cline, the nascent National Weather Service, the town and people of Galveston, and America at the last turning of the century, when the hubris of men led them to believe they could disregard even nature itself.

 

 

Really enjoying the book. Very well written and well worth reading. The version I have has the same cover as with Isaac Cline's picture and the storm waters below. It is a large edition paperback; which thankfully makes it easier for me to read with my tired eyes these days.

[Guest LilBambi]

Now this one is part of the good reads posting as well thanks to Eric creating a good reads topic.

[V.T. Eric Layton]

COOL!

[abarbarian]

Over this side of the pond mums read the book at bedtime too, but it was rebadged and amended slightly and was called The Wizard of Oz.

[Guest LilBambi]

[Guest LilBambi]

Many books about Oz actually.

 

List of Oz books by L. Frank Baum