Isaac's Storm

"...when the hubris of man led them to believe they could disregard even nature itself."

Isaac's Storm

Erik Larson

It's funny to think that man could disregard nature, but it is something that we as a collective species do all the time. We settle in areas that are hit seasonally by storms, and plan seasons in basins with limited water. With the changes that are occurring in climate, these problems are just going to get worse. However, these problems of thinking we can weather (no pun intended) whatever nature throws at us are not new. Even as far back as 1900, when our understanding of meteorology was in its infancy and next to nothing, we assumed that we could weather the worst storms, and that we had seen the harshest weather phenomenon that would ever occur. The hurricane that decimated Galveston on September 9, 1900 proved us wrong.

In Isaac's Storm, Erik Larson ( you may now him as the author of Devil in the White City) gives us a play-by-play of the events that occurred leading up to and during that storm, and explores the lives of the key players, namely Issac Cline, the resident meteorologist for the U.S. Weather Bureau ( which was then in its infancy). Using telegrams, documents, records, and letters Larson recreates what it was like in the city before, during, and after the storm and why the Bureau responded as it did to the few misunderstood warning signs, and how the disaster shapes our knowledge of hurricanes today.

I really liked this book, more than Devil in the White City. I am very interested in weather, and hurricanes are a phenomena that I don't ever experience living in the mountains. Larson's storytelling is superb, the way he balances all the characters, the science, and the emotional loss that the characters experienced was amazing. It's estimated that 6000 people died from this storm. I think people often forget how powerful weather is, especially in this day an age when we believe we can get through anything with the right equipment. I think that this story was very important,