Wind: How the Flow of Air Has Shaped Life, Myth, and the Land. This item is unavailable.Wind: How the Flow of Air Has Shaped Life, Myth, and the Land

Siroccos, Santa Anas, monsoons-the wind has as many names as moods. Few other forces have so universally shaped the earth and patterns of human exploration. Jan DeBlieu brings a poet's voice and a scientist's eye to Wind, showing how the collision of a few molecules can lead to the creation of religions, the discovery of continents, the destruction of empires.

DeBlieu, who writes for a living, has a poetic touch that adds a special grace to her prose when she turns to a subject in nature. The prose and the venturesome research behind it won the 1998 hardcover version of this book the John Burroughs medal for distinguished natural history writing; this is the paperback edition. "The wind, the wind," DeBlieu writes. "Few other forces have so universally shaped the diverse terrains and waters of the earth or the plants and animals scattered through them. Few other phenomena have exerted such profound influence on the history and psyche of humankind." She explains lucidly the physics of wind and describes her trips to experience the wind--including the time she had herself strapped into a hang glider, towed to 2,000 feet and turned loose.