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Zusatztext ? "Each section is introduced with a stunning photographic spread! and the text is broken up with clearly captioned photographs . . . Stormy weather elegantly explained." — Kirkus Reviews! starred review Praise for When the Earth Shakes : ? “Powerful writing. . . The visuals! too! are strong. Spectacular photographs are included. . . A must-buy for libraries serving middle school! this title works both as a basic overview of earth science and as a fine example of how to incorporate personal narrative into nonfiction.” — School Library Journal ! starred review Praise for Simon Winchester: “Simon Winchester never disappoints . . . Inspiring and engaging.” —Tom Brokaw on The Men Who United the States "Elegant and scrupulous." — New York Times Book Review on The Professor and the Madman "Winchester once again demonstrates a keen knack for balancing rich and often rigorous historical detail with dramatic tension and storytelling." — Publishers Weekly ! starred review of Krakatoa "Winchester brings a knowledge as vast and deep as his subject to this history of the Atlantic Ocean." — Entertainment Weekly on Atlantic "As with every book he's written and narrated! Winchester makes abstruse subjects available and fascinating for every reader and listener." — Publishers Weekly ! starred review on The Man Who Loved China Informationen zum Autor Simon Winchester Klappentext New York Times bestselling author Simon Winchester looks at which way the wind blows in this exciting book about giant storms. Simon Winchester is an avid weather watcher. He's scanned the skies in Oklahoma, waiting for the ominous "finger" of a tornado to touch the Earth. He's hunkered down in Hong Kong when typhoon warning signals went up. He's visited the world's hottest and wettest places, reported on fierce whirlpools, and sailed around South Africa looking for freak winds and waves. He knows about the worst weather in the world. A master nonfiction storyteller, Winchester looks at how, when, where, and why hurricanes, typhoons, cyclones, and tornadoes start brewing, how they build, and what happens when these giant storms hit. His lively narrative also includes an historical look at how we learned about weather systems and where we're headed because of climate change. Stunning photographs illustrate the power of these giant storms.Chapter One The Biggest, Baddest Weather My experience of Hurricane Sandy—or Frankenstorm, the Blizzacane, the Snor’eastercane, or any of the other outlandish names the press chose to give to the most devastating American weather event of 2012—confirmed what I knew as a homegrown weatherman: when trouble is in the offing, listen very carefully to the weather forecast. We had been living in a basement apartment in New York City that had flooded once before, so the likelihood of a major storm surge in lower Manhattan was alarming, to say the least. This alarm was reinforced by a passage from one of my recent books. My own words suggested that something terribly bad was about to happen: New York sits on stable geological features that rise well above sea level, but it has been tunneled into and bored through until it resembles an ants’ nest, and all its tunnels lie well below sea level. A storm surge coming into New York Harbor could flood the subway lines without difficulty. But far more goes on underground than subways: the telecommunications cables and fiber-optic lines alone are vital for the running of the world’s financial industries: soak them in the water, and the world starts to fall apart. Vulnerable cities are not merely going to slide slowly and elegantly under the sea, millimeter by millimeter. They are going...
