Product Description

Weather correspondent Philip Eden has written a fascinating book on a vast subject: the weather, or more specifically, weather disasters. Balancing just the right amount of science with illustrations and practical language, this book asks and answers some difficult questions that must be discussed.Here is a popular book with big set-piece descriptions accompanied by illustrations at its core, but with enough science to attract both the specialist reader and to educate the lay reader without scaring them off. Disaster books traditionally feed on hype, sensationalism and bad science. Eden redresses the balance.What then is the place of weather disasters in our climate? Are they freaks or a necessary part of the whole? How rare are meteorological event does it take to cause chaos in our day-to-day lives? Are we becoming more at risk and less capable of dealing with them? Or do we just complain more? These days we try and mitigate the effects of different hazards, by acquiring personal and property protection - individually, personally and politically.So what is the role of local and central government, the insurance industry, the media and the public? And how do we actually measure disaster? By rarity, insurance cost, death toll, recovery times or what? Can we merge all these so we can compare - say - the 1976 drought with the 1891 blizzard? Can we rank disasters? 15,000 died in last year's European heatwave. Is this the shape of things to come? What will happen when the Gulf Stream/North Atlantic Drift stops flowing? Here are just a few of Philip Eden's topics in a book which will be riveting to readers.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #37942 in Books
• Published on: 2008-09-20
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 351 pages

About the Author
Philip Eden is the weather correspondent of the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph. He also presents his own programme on BBC Radio Five Live.

Customer Reviews

Informative and Invividual - Excellent read
This is a good book for anyone interested not just in disasters, but in the Weather & Climate of the British Isles.

It is easy to read, irrespective of your level of knowledge on the subject, and is very well researched.

It is written in an individual, sometimes amusing, but always informative style

Highly recommended

its helped me with my exams!
philip edan has helped me to understand alot more about weather and has got me interested in taking the study of weather patterns further! he has mainly helped me with my geography exams!