The Coming Storm: Extreme Weather and Our Terrifying Future - Hardcover

Reiss, Bob

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0786866659 ISBN 13: 9780786866656

Publisher: Hyperion, 2001

Synopsis

Tornadoes, earthquakes, floods, heat wavesacts of God or the results of mans actions To answer that question, this riveting book places readers in the eye of todays deadliest storms. If you think the worlds weather catastrophes are becoming more frequent and more powerful, youre right. Ten of the last eleven years have been the hottest on record, filled with dozens of record-breaking hurricanes, floods, and droughts. Is this a coincidence, or is our civilization wreaking havoc on global weather Journalist Bob Reiss shares North Americas growing fascinationand concernwith the phenomenon of extreme weather, a series of interlocking human stories that together create an ominous forecast for the twenty-first century. The Coming Storm presents a frightening, enlightening, and fascinating portrait of an ecosystem off track.

About this title

About the Author

Bob Reiss is a former Chicago Tribune reporter who has written for The Washington Post, Outside, Parade, Smithsonian, GQ, and Rolling Stone.

Reviews

Don't be fooled by the similarity between the title of this new book by journalist Reiss and The Coming Global Superstorm by Art Bell and Whitley Strieber. The books have little in common beyond the broad conclusion that the increased atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases, resulting from human activity, threatens to unleash extremes of weather and climate never seen on earth in the history of our species. Many have found that Bell and Strieber embraced both science and pseudo-science equally. In contrast, Reiss writes in the urgent yet reasoned voice of a person sounding an alarm while there is still time to act. Tracing both scientific and policy debates year by year from 1988 through 2000, he recounts the drama of deadly winter storms, wildfires, droughts, floods, hurricanes, killer heat waves, melting glaciers and thinning polar icecaps, while relating the parallel stories of scientists, politicians, lobbyists and industrialists and their clashing views in the face of mounting evidence and conflicting national interests. As Reiss describes it, the worst human disasters of this new century may result not only from storms in the geophysical climate but also from crises in the geopolitical one. It's time for the world to make plans if only we can agree what to plan for.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

First off, do not confuse this book with Whitley Strieber and Art Bell's preposterous Coming Global Superstorm (2000). That book got lots of publicity (due mostly to the notoriety of its primary author), but its only resemblance to Reiss' carefully documented, intelligently reasoned account is its similar title. Reiss, an experienced journalist and novelist, begins his story in 1988, when littleknown scientist Jim Hansen testified at a senate hearing, warning that changes to the earth's natural greenhouse effect could spell disaster. Here we learn just how accurate, even understated, Hansen's warning was: storms attacking out of nowhere all over the world, temperatures rising (10 of the past 11 years were the hottest in recorded history), people dying, and perhaps, Reiss suggests, the planet itself dying. A truly scary book--not blatantly fear mongering like the Strieber-Bell title but genuinely unsettling and thought provoking. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

These two books deal with two different aspects of extreme weather. Reiss, a former newspaper reporter, relates the consequences of the greenhouse effect and its probable role in climate change and severe weather events. Because he is not a weather expert, he lets others tell his story. Chiefly dialog, the book recounts various weather-related disasters, including the Mississippi River flood of 1993, the Oakland fires, and the effect of rising sea levels on the Maldives. Reiss also recounts the political aspects of climate change and includes statements and congressional testimony from climatologists. Though nonfiction, his book reads like a suspense novel or, at best, a very long newspaper feature article. The many one-sentence paragraphs attempt to add dramatic effect, and the entire work is a sensationalized warning of climate change. Though it purports to describe future severe weather, it mainly describes past events and adds little to our understanding of climate change. Not recommended.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Hyperion
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0786866659
• ISBN 13: 9780786866656
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 323