Storms, Floods and Sunshine: Isaac Monroe Cline, an Autobiography Review

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Storms, Floods and Sunshine: Isaac Monroe Cline, an Autobiography ReviewIn a field of science where writing can be used more as a weapon than as a tool for understanding, Isaac Cline still shines as a meteorologist who knew how to write in a way most anyone can understand, without "dumbing up" the prose. The only thing missing are pictures, charts, and diagrams, if for no other reason than as a necessary break from all the text. His short chapters work to the book's advantage.
Even after 49 years, the spirit of the author comes alive in his writings. He was in a unique situation - witnessing the birth of the National Weather Service, and leading to its eventual acceptance from a public unable to believe anyone could make a one hour forecast, let alone one for two days!
He expanded the role of the NWS in his 55-year career, and now has an award named after him, long after his demise. He lived to a ripe old age, doing what he loved most. His personality is in full effect - he comes across arrogant at times, and uses shameless self-promotion in order to get everyone to know all the contributions he has made to meteorology and Early American Art. It was, and still is, well deserved, however.
He goes over his role in the Galveston Hurricane, the 1915 New Orleans Hurricane, and numerous Mississippi River Floods, including the great crevasse of 1927. He put most of the pieces of the hurricane puzzle together, and advanced the science significantly. He raised a family, and still found time to restore old paintings and make great contributions to his community in Galveston and New Orleans throughout his life.
The lessons he learned in life were hard, but it helped make him the man he was. His story is still fresh, even after all these years. This book is well worth owning, and is valuable in its historical information. Meteorologists and local historians could do worse than do read/own this work.Storms, Floods and Sunshine: Isaac Monroe Cline, an Autobiography Overview

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Stormchasers: The Hurricane Hunters and Their Fateful Flight into Hurricane Janet Review

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Stormchasers: The Hurricane Hunters and Their Fateful Flight into Hurricane Janet ReviewFor anyone who has ever been fascinated by airplanes, by meteorology, by weird and anomalous weather, "Stormchasers" is an excellent read. And for anyone who has ever been fascinated by weird and anomalous proofreading, it's even better. It all began to unravel on page 49 when I was told of the airplane "hangers" being constructed in Jacksonville. My first image was of gigantic wire objects on which airframes were hung to keep from wrinkling. When the word appeared again a few pages later, I finally checked my dictionary, aware that words sometimes become part of the language through years of misuse. Such was not the case. Apparently the proofreader figured this out after a while too, for as the book moved forward, "hangers" transmogrified into "hangars" and all was well. Except, later, in reference to the hurricane hunters, I was told that no one's interest had been "peaked." And all the time I kept saying to myself, "poor David Toomey." Here's a man whose powers of research and attention to detail seem inexhaustible, whose ability to reconstruct the events of that day (as well as the hundreds of years of storm study that preceded it) are beyond dispute, but whose reputation is ambushed at every turn by sloppy proofreading.
The book, in the end, is excellent, both dramatically and scientifically. We gain an intimate knowledge of the plane's crew while being schooled in the history of modern (and sometimes ancient) meteorology. Best of all, Toomey clearly delineates life inside a P2V Neptune flying through the wall and eye of an Atlantic hurricane; and even though the title divulges the ending, it does not diminish the tension or suspense. I have been a weather "fan" all my life, but I found it humbling to learn just how little I actually know about the atmosphere. This a five-star book in every area but one, and that one is hardly the author's fault. Even though this may not be a cliffHANGER, "Stormchasers" will PIQUE your interest from the start.Stormchasers: The Hurricane Hunters and Their Fateful Flight into Hurricane Janet Overview

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Down to the Sea: An Epic Story of Naval Disaster and Heroism in World War II Review

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Down to the Sea: An Epic Story of Naval Disaster and Heroism in World War II ReviewDown to the Sea: An Epic Story of Naval Disaster and Heroism in World War IIMy name is Pat Douhan and I am one of the few survivors from the USS Hull DD350. After reading this book I can truthfully say that Bruce Henderson did an outstanding job of compilling
the true facts leading up to, during and after our loss in Typhoon Cobra. Being the reunion coordinator for the USS Hull reunions I am very close to most of my surviving shipmates as well as others that transferred prior to our sinking and this author has put together the true facts he obtained through research, interview, Naval records and ships deck logs, something than none of the previous authors accomplished. When reading this book you can see that our problems really begin when we had a change of command in October during our yard overhaul in Seattle. We destroyer sailors are close nit group and not too much was known about the loss of the three "tin cans" in the typhoon and we did not say much, but over the past few years this Naval tragedy has come to light and is getting some attention and as you can see by this authors writings you are not going to win when you are fighting mother nature. I will say again, after having been there,that this book "Down to the Sea" truthfully tells it like it was.Down to the Sea: An Epic Story of Naval Disaster and Heroism in World War II Overview

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Sea Cobra: Admiral Halsey's Task Force and the Great Pacific Typhoon Review

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Sea Cobra: Admiral Halsey's Task Force and the Great Pacific Typhoon ReviewIn 2007 two different publishers released two different books on the 1944-1945 typhoons that sank three ships in the U.S. Third Fleet. Under the command of Admiral William Halsey, the U.S. Navy lost more men due to these natural disasters than it did at the battle of Midway. Bob Drury and Tom Clavin's "Halsey's Typhoon" was the first one to make it to book stores and garnered more attention and sales than Buckner F. Melton Jr.'s "Sea Cobra." Given the timing and focus of these two books, this review will compare and contrast the two. In short, there is no question that Melton wrote the better book.
The illustrations of carriers, battleships, oilers, destroyers, and destroyer escorts compared to 30, 60, and 90 foot waves is the best feature of Drury and Clavin's account. It gives landlubbers a good idea of how rough seas are problems for some ships and not for others. The shortcomings of this book, however, are much more significant. First, the book ignores altogether the second typhoon Halsey sailed into. Melton discusses this one, but not at length. This brevity is understandable, the second typhoon did less damage and sank no ships. It does show, though, that the commander and staff of the Third Fleet learned little from their experiences with the first typhoon despite efforts to do so. The problem that Drury and Clavin have is that this second storm undermines their argument that Halsey was largely blameless for sailing into the typhoons.
The mechanics of publishing also favor Melton. Drury and Clavin have only one map. Melton has nine. He also provides an extensive bibliography and footnotes, whereas Drury and Clavin have a brief bibliography and make no effort to provide any sort of documentation on their sources. Drury and Clavin also make a number of basic mistakes when it comes to nautical matters and use maritime terms incorrectly. Examples include "helming" a ship; calling a battle jack a "battle guideon" (an Army term); referring to a ship's mess deck as its "mess hall." They also put generals in the Japanese Navy Ministry and refer to the Army Ministry as the "War Department" (an American term). Stylistically, Melton is the better wordsmith. Drury and Clavin use too many editorializing adverbs ("legendary" or "untold") to exaggerate the significance of their story.
Much more significant is the thesis of each book. Drury and Clavin make Lt. Cmdr. James Marks, captain of the USS HULL, out to be the main villain in this incident. The HULL was one of his ships lost in the first typhoon. This charge seems reasonable at first, but Marks' seamanship does not explain why the USS MONAGHAN and SPENCE sank, nor does it explain a number of close calls on other ships. It seems that the two authors allowed crewmen from the HULL that they interviewed for the book to use the opportunity to settle old scores with Marks. In fact, Drury and Clavin do not spend much time talking about ships other than the HULL while Melton does. Melton also gives much more attention to the post storm investigation. Since Marks was the subject of an official investigation, Drury and Clavin argue this was proof enough of his guilt. The fact that there was no court-martial or that the other captains died in the storm makes this observation rather weak. Melton gives a much more nuanced description of the investigation. Halsey rather than Marks was the main target of the investigation and the board placed primary blame for sailing into the storm on the Admiral. There were a number of mitigating circumstances, though, and Melton is good at describing them. This incident is no black and white morality play.
In short, Melton offers a much better book than Drury and Clavin.
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