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Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History (Vintage)
: This is a tragic story told exceptionally well. I read it in one long evening, and was exhausted (in a rewarding way) when I finished. I recommend this book to anyone who loves history, or just a great story.
Isaac's Storm truly captures a moment in American history and reveals an intruiging insight into a man's life that shaped the future of a city, a state and to some degree a country. Beside the gripping descrpition of the hurricane itself, I found the politics and the human element equally interesting. My great grandmother survivied this storm in a bathtub on her second floor after drilling holes in the floor to keep the water from washing her house away. To hear Larson's accounts of those who didn't survive gives me a new perspective on this event. For anyone who lives in areas threatened by hurricanes, this is required reading.
This is without question one of the most, if not THE most compelling book I have read to date. It gives the reader a clear understanding of the perception of the world around them that the people of the time had.
What an incredible story! The most incredibly deadly storm in history, and much of it could have been avoided if egos had been checked at the Door. Isaac Cline, head meteorologist of the Galveston, Texas Weather Bureau, believes he knows everything there is to know about weather, specifically Hurricanes. Then on Sep 8 1900, almost 100 years ago, the deadly storm ripped through Galveston! Galveston was, at the time, attempting to become the major port on the Gulf of Mexico, after Sep 8, 1900 it would be only a small one. As a professional weather forecaster, and one who has worked with Typhoons before, I know how incredibly difficult it is to forecast them, let alone tell someone where the storm will not go! Cline, perhaps the most arrogant person I've ever had the pleasure of reading about, had convinced everyone in Galveston that no hurricane could ever come into Galveston. He was wrong, so wrong that perhaps as many as 10,000 people died. This book is one which should be read, by all those interested in history, weather, and most especially, those who think that man has learned all he will ever know. We will never know everything about weather, or anything else.... A great book. Buy it. Read it, again and again.
In "Isaac's Storm," the deadliest hurricane in history is so real you can taste it -- and can taste the panic of the residents of Galveston as they drown or are crushed to death, as their lives fall apart, as their beautiful homes collapse and their city is destroyed. Through it all is Isaac Cline, the chief weather forecaster of Galveston, who should have seen it coming, and didn't. Erik Larson is a powerful writer and a great spinner of yarns, and he shows us in this wonderful book how a weird combination of things -- human insecurities, sibling rivalry, political ambition, personal responsibility, and the unconquerable Mother Nature herself -- can lead to tragedy. I highly recommend this book, even for people (like me) who don't usually read adventure tales. The lyrical writing and the vivid characters make it hard to put down, harder to forget.
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