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Outdoors & Nature |
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Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History
written by Erik Larson
Studio : Vintage
by Vintage
Release Date : 2000-07-11
Publisher : Vintage
Released : 2000-07-11
Availability : Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Number of Items : 1
EAN : 9780375708275
Avg. Customer Rating: (based on 260 reviews)
List Price : $14.95
Our Price : $5.70
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Product Description |
September 8, 1900, began innocently in the seaside town of Galveston, Texas. Even Isaac Cline, resident meteorologist for the U.S. Weather Bureau failed to grasp the true meaning of the strange deep-sea swells and peculiar winds that greeted the city that morning. Mere hours later, Galveston found itself submerged in a monster hurricane that completely destroyed the town and killed over six thousand people in what remains the greatest natural disaster in American history--and Isaac Cline found himself the victim of a devestating personal tragedy.
Using Cline's own telegrams, letters, and reports, the testimony of scores of survivors, and our latest understanding of the science of hurricanes, Erik Larson builds a chronicle of one man's heroic struggle and fatal miscalculation in the face of a storm of unimaginable magnitude. Riveting, powerful, and unbearably suspenseful, Isaac's Storm is the story of what can happen when human arrogance meets the great uncontrollable force of nature. |
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Jas-store.com Review |
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Reading in his signature dispassionate style, narrator Edward Herrmann brings an eerie calm to this powerful chronicle of the deadliest storm ever to hit the United States--a huge and terribly destructive hurricane that struck land near Galveston, Texas in September of 1900. Author Erik Larson re-creates the events leading up to the disaster in astonishing detail, tracing the thoughts and actions of Isaac Cline, a scientist with America's burgeoning U.S. Weather Bureau. Cline's unwavering confidence--"In an age of scientific certainty one could not allow one's judgment to be clouded..."--blinds the meteorologist to the deadly onslaught about to be unleashed. Herrmann's calculated performance reflects the impending doom and dangers inherent to an unquestioned and absolute faith in science. (Running time: 5 hours, 3 cassettes) --George Laney |
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Lacking in Style |
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The only give I gave two stars is because the storm itself is so interesting. The writing itself deserves one star. The style of the of the book is annoying. By writing short sentences and making assumtions that cannot be backed up with evidence, he tries to bring drama to a story that already has enough drama of it's own. This shoddy writing style makes me question his scholarship. |
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Exciting, detailed true story |
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Isaac's Storm is a wonderful book, well-researched and well-written. The attention to detail and accuracy is excellent. The scientific and historical detail on storms, hurricanes, and weather forecasting was fascinating. It was particularly interesting to get to know Isaac Cline. However, the story of the hurricane and the people of Galveston was the best part of the book, so exciting that I could hardly put the book down. I can whole-heartedly recommend the book. |
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Excellent |
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I totally enjoyed this book. I read it for a book club and didn't expect to like it so much. I spent a lot of my childhood in Galveston in the 1940's and there were people there at that time who had lived through the storm and still talked about it. It is very well researched and I found myself picturing exactly where things were happening and feeling a part of it. Next weekend I'm planning a nostalgic trip to Galveston to see what it looks like after hurricane Ike passed through. |
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I've always said the Weatherman prevails even when he's wrong{{ |
Erik Larson has documented an extraordinary narrative of an epic storm which killed over 6,000 people and wiped out the City of Galveston, Texas.
Here we find Isaac Cline employed as the resident U.S. Weather meteorologist failing to warn the residents of Galveston of an epic hurricane which was larger and more powerful than Hurricane Katrina which happened 105 years later.
It's rather incredible that hardly any warning was given. Isaac Cline was a good man. He just made a great mistake. This is a gripping true tale. Larsen wrote a great book. Five Stars!!
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a reminder of tragedy |
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Isaac's Storm, published in 1999, is the story of the most horrible hurricane in American history. While reading, I wondered if Hurricane Katrina had outstripped the Galveston hurricane described by Larson. It did not. The Galveston hurricane claimed at least 6,000 lives and the entire town. Hurricane Katrina, however, claimed less than 2,000 lives according to most estimates. While Katrina is the most tragic natural disaster of our age, our forebears experienced even worse. The Isaac of the title is Isaac Cline, the U.S. Weather Bureau's chief observer in Galveston. Larson weaves meteorological details of the storm with the story of Isaac and other Galveston residents as well as the bureaucratic failures that left the city vulnerable. The story is touching and, at times, horrifying. Larson clearly conveys the fear residents felt during the storm and the way it changed the lives of survivors forever. I cannot imagine living through such an ordeal. This is a wonderful precursor of Larson's later work, The Devil in the White City. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoyed that book. |
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