Defining The Wind - The Beaufort Scale, And How A 19th century Admiral Turned Science

Zusatztext “[An] enchanting stroll through maritime and science history . . . [Huler is] a charming guide.” — New York Times Book Review “Huler writes with self-deprecating wit! and . . . he captures the Beaufort scale’s ‘open-hearted intellectual decency.’” — The New Yorker “On a scale of 0 to 13! this will blow you away . . . Hang on for a lighthearted romp over two hemispheres! two centuries of discovery! and the consuming passions of two men: Beaufort and Huler.” — Seattle Times “Scott Huler’s obsession with the scale is a match for Beaufort himself. Part history! part textbook! part memoir! Defining the Wind explores how we think about the currents that shape sea and landscapes.” — Los Angeles Times “[A] reminder of why we read science books. . . . Read Huler and you’ll pay more attention to the air moving through your backyard! fluttering leaves! rattling windows . . . compelling! powerful. . . . ” — Boston Globe “To some people! the devil is in the details. But a true researcher will revel in the details. That’s what Mr. Huler joyfully discovered in his investigations! and it shows in every page of this unusual and delightful book.” — Dallas Morning News Informationen zum Autor Scott Huler is the author of On Being Brown and A Little Bit Sideways: One Week Inside a NASCAR Winston Cup Race Team . His work is heard regularly on National Public Radio. He lives in Raleigh, North Carolina. Klappentext Defining the Wind is a wonderfully written account of one man's crusade to learn about what the wind is made of by tracing the history of the Beaufort Scale and its eccentric creator, Sir Francis Beaufort. It's as much about the language we use to describe our world as it is an exhortation to observe it more closely. Leseprobe Chapter 1 Beaufort of the Admiralty THE WORST THING about the ferry that runs between Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Montevideo, Uruguay, is that it's a hydrofoil. On the one hand this makes for a fast trip-kicking up twin spumes of seawater, the hydrofoil takes only two and a half hours to go 137 miles across the Rio de la Plata, the world's widest river. But on the other hand, the speed of the boat means they won't let you outdoors. A boat going fifty-five miles per hour kicks up quite a wind (it's Beaufort force 10, if you're wondering: "trees uprooted; considerable structural damage occurs" if you're on land, to say nothing of the terror it would inflict on a straw hat and sunglasses), so the speed prevents you from doing what you naturally want to do on a boat in summer, which is stand on the deck and watch the world go by. Or, in my case, watch the world come toward you. What I specifically wanted to see was Montevideo, and I wanted to watch it emerge from the vastness of the Rio de la Plata and assert itself on my eye as we approached it from the west, exactly as Sir Francis Beaufort had in 1807. It shouldn't have been hard to see what he wanted me to see-he actually left me directions, and I boarded the boat with a sheaf of maps under my arm and high hopes. But no soap. The ferry Juan Patricio doesn't even have a deck open to the weather, so the tourist-class passengers are left squinting out of windows with an aerodynamic slant seemingly designed to maximize the reflection of interior seats, carpeting, and the knees and feet of passengers. The window ledge itself reflected a sharp line at almost exactly horizon height as you gazed out the window, and trying to keep the two lines separate, in a boat skipping over water at 55 mph, can actually leave one rather queasy. I initially envied the first-class passengers, whom I imagined strolling in front of huge banks of flat windows as the broad Rio de la Plata sped regally by beneath the boat, but an earnest look at the attendant, a flourished sketchbook, and a few words of ...

Product details

• Authors: Huler, Scott Huler
• Publisher: Crown Publishing Group
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback
• Released: 28.06.2005
• EAN: 9781400048854
• ISBN: 978-1-4000-4885-4
• No. of pages: 290
• Dimensions: 127 mm x 203 mm x 19 mm
• Series: Crown
• Subject: Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Geosciences > General, dictionaries