Soul of the Sky

Book excerpt: This is a different kind of weather book. "Soul of the Sky" is not preoccupied with charting fronts, defining what an isobar is, or trying to get you to memorize the conversion formula from degrees Centigrade to degrees Fahrenheit. It is a collection of essays that illustrate how the weather can inspire, terrify, connect us and urge us on to new adventures, and invite us to gain a deeper appreciation of how weather and climate affect our everyday lives. Each essay is built around a personal moment of terror, appreciation, or epiphany: a storm on an exposed mountain ridge that tested a mother's ability to care for her children; a savage tornado that forced an obsessed storm chaser to quetion the nature of his pursuit; a drought that parched the hopes of a small farming community in rural Georgia. The essays here deal with every kind of weather our climate dishes out, yet they are linked by the fact that a first-rate writer was on the scene to experience, and record, the weather event. They provide clear, accessible and detailed answers to scores of meteorological mysteries. The result is a fascinating blend of science and adventure -- a blend that will appeal to a huge spectrum of readers.