Product Description

Every night across the country, viewers tune in to their evening news to glimpse the next day's weather. They are treated to graphic images of invading air masses, colliding fronts, and growing tropical storms. This book is the story of this tool, the weather map, which in its many forms has made the atmosphere visible, understandable, and at least moderately predictable. No other maps are so spontaneously timely, so widely and frequently consulted, and so central to the daily activities of so many. The singular history of the weather map developed around the twin poles of weather's many facets and the public's varied needs. Mark Monmonier traces the contentious debates among scientists eager to unravel the enigma of storms and global change, explains the strategies for mapping the upper atmosphere and forecasting disaster, and exposes the efforts to detect and control air pollution. He introduces Karl Theodor, a Bavarian politician who devised one of the first weather-tracking networks in the late-18th century, and Heinrich Wilhelm Brandes, who drew the first maps of European weather in 1819 - for the year of 1783. Monmonier also explores the interaction between technology - from the telegraph to the Internet - and weather forecasting.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #614995 in Books
• Published on: 2000-11-28
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 324 pages

Customer Reviews

Delight and Disappointment
I am delighted to read this book because Prof. Monmonier has raised the profile of a neglected area of cartography and scientific visualisation. Well over a hundred years of effort by meteorologists all around the world have produced useful, ergonomic tools that transcend language and cultural boundaries (but I would say that as I am a meteorologist).

I am disappointed because I was planning to write this book, especially Chapter 12, when I retire in a few years time!

Prof. Monmonier has been much more thorough, scholarly, accurate and readable than I could be. However, I could probably throw some light on the various activities that happened during international standardisation and why Jim Schiavone's proposal sank without trace!