Book Review | Curse of The Narrows: The Halifax Disaster of 1917

Rating | ⭐⭐⭐⭐

It's 1917 and the port at Halifax is beyond crowded. Ships have constantly been on their way to Europe since the UK's declaration of war on August 4th, 1914. While Canada determined for itself how much military and financial support it would give, there was no question that support would be provided.

But this day, December 6th, would be different. Two ships, the Mont Blanc and the Imo, would collide in the Narrows. Called such because of a hard-to-navigate stretch of the harbor, the ships should never have even been close to one another.

Yet they were, and the result of the collision would have devastating consequences for the entire city. The Imo would survive, despite severe structural damage. Massive repairs would be made and the Imo would return to service in 1918.

The Mont Blanc, though? That one didn't stand a chance.

From the collision, she burned quickly and rammed into the city's docks. Initially bound for Europe with a cargo of 2,700 tons of explosives, the captain and crew abandoned the ship at once, rowing for Dartmouth across the harbor and trying to warn everyone of what was to come. Thousands at the shore crowded with homes and businesses were already watching the fires burn, and at 9:05 AM, said fires reached the explosives packed carefully within the hold.

The result was an explosion with such force that all 3,000+ tons of iron that was the Mont Blanc was immediately vaporized in a cloud that shot into the sky over 2,000 feet high. Not only was much of the city flattened by the blast, but the blast created a massive wave that drenched the decimated and bewildered city. Not a single building in Halifax, or within a 16-mile radius, was left undamaged. An estimated 2,000 people were killed (different reports give different numbers) instantly, while another 9,000 were injured. Of those injured, another 300 would succumb to their injuries later.

On top of all of this devastation, a blizzard would arrive the following morning, completely isolating Halifax from any help from the outside world.

It's so difficult to wrap one's head around just how big this explosion was - the largest pre-atomic explosion in history. The anchor of the Mont Blanc landed some two miles away. The explosion was heard as far away as Boston, Massachusetts, when a fishing boat returned to the harbor there and inquired about the explosion they'd heard. The cloud of smoke was visible to ships more than fifty miles away.

The author describes in great detail each small event that happened, one after the other, in this massive chain of things that should NOT have happened, that resulted in such terrible death and destruction. Mac Donald does not stop there though. She shares how a massive relief mission set out from Boston almost immediately, despite not knowing the exact nature of the damage or even what was needed to help. Even with communication pretty much cut off completely, there was no hesitation. Food and water, clothing, money, building materials (especially glass - not a single window was left in Halifax after the explosion), doctors, medication, and volunteers headed northeast, ready to do whatever necessary to help a community in need.

The sheer volume and magnitude of injuries and causes of death were overwhelming. As mentioned previously, not a single window was left in Halifax. Much of that glass was embedded in the victims - including in their eyes. I can not stress enough how many eyes were removed due to this. The author goes into great detail. Buckets-ful of eyes. No anesthesia except ether, sometimes. We're talking HUNDREDS of severe eye injuries. Roughly 250 eye removals occurred to prevent infection, with sixteen people losing both eyes. The majority of those hundreds had partial vision loss due to the glass.

Scores of bodies were recovered, though many could not be identified due to the damage inflicted by the blast. The massive tsunami dragged dozens of witnesses and sailors back into the freezing water to drown. Others were crushed in collapsed buildings, mutilated by flying debris, or consumed by the raging fires.

Naturally when something of this magnitude occurs, there is the need to assign blame. Someone had to have caused this. While the captain and pilot of the Imo were killed in the collision, the captain and pilot of the Mont Blanc survived and were able to give their accounts of what happened in the moments before the fatal collision. Investigations, both judicial and military, were conducted and came to the same conclusions.

First of course, is that the two ships never should have gotten as near to one another as they did in the first place, regardless of what was on board. Both investigations ultimately decided blame was to be placed equally on the pilot and captain of the Mont Blanc, and the pilot and captain of the Imo. While the latter were both killed, the former were never indicted and there would be no actual trials to decide innocence or guilt. There was also the issue of the whistles from both ships, sending contradictory and misinterpreted signals to one another. The Imo had moved into the Mont Blanc's shipping lane to avoid a smaller vessel in its own, which caused more confusion. And of course there is the issue of the Mont Blanc not flying a red flag to indicate explosives were on board. However, maritime law at the time stated the flag only needed to be flown when loading or unloading cargo, not while in transit. As the Mont Blanc was moving to the harbor to join an Allied convoy, they were not required to fly it - nor would they have, as German u-boats were certainly on the look-out for just such flags.

The author does a masterful job recreating the horrific events of the day and documenting everything that came after. It is a riveting story of both catastrophic loss and enduring hope as people came together to bury their dead and rebuild their community.

Highly recommended.

Mini Reviews | Natural Disasters

 Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Natural disasters have long been a source of endless fascination for me, starting when I was a child. No surprise then that books like this continue to interest me as an adult.

The book focuses on California and the San Andreas Fault and the information contained within it is not entirely new. Everyone knows the fault is massive, and has spawned countless secondary faults, many just as potentially deadly as the big one. Yet people live over the fault. People drive across it everyday on one or more of the dozens of highways and interstates. Both San Francisco and Los Angeles sprawl out over the fault - and no one seems keen to move away any time soon.

I found this to be an easy enough read, no science background required. yet still well-researched and in-depth as well, thoroughly explaining the geology needed to understand the San Andreas Fault. We are also given a history of the area and pertinent people, such as Andew Larson, the UC-Berkeley prof who named the fault in the late 1800s and Charles Richter, who developed and refined the scale we still use today to measure these beasts.

It is interesting to compare the jump in knowledge from the 1906 SF earthquake, to nearly 60 years later when plate tectonics were discovered. Up until that time, scientists believed that underground volcanoes caused the earth to move. Needless to say, the science has come a long way since then.

But even so, it has not come far enough, and I don't know that it can. We still can't predict earthquakes, and it is possible we will never be able to. Major earthquakes will continue to happen. But don't expect California to one day just go floating off into the Pacific Ocean. Instead the author maintains that the San Andreas Fault and all of its offshoots are actually pulling California apart. Between the fires and the earthquakes, California doesn't stand a chance.

 Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I did not realize this was an older book, published in the 1970s. Even as a I read it, it seemed as if it were a more recent publication, while at the same time also reading as though it was an eyewitness reporters account. Not too shabby to make a reader believe to completely opposite things at one time.

The authors make fantastic use of sources not previously available to the public. They acquired documents from insurance companies, the Red Cross, the military, and also collections of eyewitness accounts of those who managed to survive one of the worst disasters in US history.

As with any other catastrophic event, there are heroes and villains. It will surprise no one that the powers that be were incapable of handling a disaster of this magnitude for a couple reasons - they were corrupt beyond reproach and had no idea what the hell they were doing.

Just as the title says, this truly is a minute-by-minute accounts, from those first terrible seconds in the early morning of April 18th, beginning at 5:13 AM. The book moves quickly and the reader can only hang on for the ride as we move quickly through the city, witnessing the horrors of that day and the aftermath of the fires raging.

One thing I also really appreciated was the interviews the authors did with survivors. It must have been quite difficult for them to share their stories, but I am so glad they did. They gave a depth to the story, sharing their grief over such an awful experience.

 Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Our planet would not be what it is today, giving us life, were it not for natural disasters. We need them for our home to flourish and without these life-giving forces, our planet would die and so would we.

If we were not so arrogant, and did not think that time and time again we could thwart Mother Nature, these disasters would not so often result is huge losses of life.

Yet here we are, living on super active fault lines, building cities below sea level...you get the idea.

This book looks at several incredibly devastating disasters that have impacted humankind. From Pompeii to Katrina, there are many here that prove that not much has changed, and we still think we are in charge.

We know that our world is changing. As climate change continues to wreak havoc, we must learn from past mistakes. Temperatures are rising around the world, ice caps are melting, eventually major life changes are going to start happening for a lot of people living on the coasts. All kinds of natural disasters are getting worse, and will continue to do so. It doesn't have to be this way though, if we could just take five seconds to learn from our past.

The author does a fantastic job examining each natural disaster, then exploring how each impacted society dealt with the aftermath - what they did differently, what they predicted, what they got wrong. Not a bad way to spend a couple hours.

Review Bomb | Getting To Be That Time Of Year...

 

Since summer is nearly upon us I thought this would be a good time to remind everyone that no matter what we as humans try to do to control Mother Nature, she will never be tamed.

(Side note: while these are natural disasters, I consider the Galveston Hurricane to be a man-made disaster as well, seeing as how weather reports from Cuba were completely ignored by the US, due to us thinking we know more than everyone else.)

 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Any book by Erik Larson is a must-read for me. I started years ago with Devil in the White City and haven't stopped yet. Dead Wake rivals White City as my favorite, but you can't miss when picking up any of his books.

Isaac's Storm is Larson's first book and I loved it every bit as much as his most recent works - though I still have to get to Thunderstruck (which I own) and The Splendid and the Vile, which I have literally just checked out in ebook form from the library - 'Currently Reading' shelf and overdue ARCs be damned!

I have read several books about the Galveston Hurricane and this is the best. Larson uses much of Cline's own words to paint the picture of a man who, despite his experience, had no idea what he was truly up against that early September day. Through Cline's reports, letters, and telegrams we are given a look into his mind to see what he was thinking.

Cline and his family lived in Galveston where he was the resident meteorologist for the US Weather Bureau. As he observed the unusual weather phenomena the morning of September 8th, 1900, he failed to see what was coming even as the winds and sea swells gave warning. The hurricane barreling down on Galveston would become the greatest natural disaster in the history of the US, with at least 6,000 lives lost and the entire city nearly obliterated.

Larson masterfully blends science and history together, telling the story mostly from Cline's perspective. Cline was sure, based on his experience and knowledge, that no hurricane could really do damage to the city. This alone might be the worst thing about the whole tragedy, except there's more. the US Weather Bureau received warnings from Cuba that the massive storm as on its way, but Americans did what Americans do, and dismissed the warnings because we obviously know everything and what are the chances that someone else might be correct?

It wasn't until late afternoon into the evening that Cline realized something was wrong. In his defense, despite the winds and swells, there were other factors that indicated there was no storm coming - the barometer rose throughout the day. Yet the swells grew bigger and by nightfall they were so huge that structures near the beach were rapidly being demolished. But even before this, the city began to flood in the afternoon.

Yet Cline alone is not to blame, so I do not want my words misconstrued. As we know, bureaucracy is a bitch and it reared its ugly head here just as it does in disasters of our time. Even as the Weather Bureau was ignoring hurricane warnings from Cuba, they were also hamstrung by rivalries within about whether or not to even send out storm warnings. With no warnings issued, no calls to evacuate were ever given. The city was completely blindsided when the rage of the hurricane was suddenly upon them after nightfall. Not a single other person in the city aside from those who worked at the weather station even knew a storm as coming, let alone a hurricane.

As I have read books about this storm, I have wondered if the death toll might have been lower had it occurred during the day and honestly, I am not sure. No doubt that trying to find one's way in complete darkness contributed to many deaths, but the majority seem to have come from people struck by debris or their shelters collapsing on them. That would have happened no matter the time of day. But perhaps some who drowned would have avoided this fate had they been able to see how quickly the water was rising, and made it to higher crowd? This supposes a lot, I know, but I have spent a lot of time thinking about this particular hurricane and thoughts like this continue to pop up in my mind.

Like all of Larson's books, this reads as a novel and the pace is quick as we are taken along on the collision course with the storm. The lead-up is intense because you know what is coming, you have all kinds of information that the citizens did not, and know that many of them will not survive. Through the storm's arrival and its aftermath, you feel as though you are there in the midst of it, there among the remains of once-stately homes, businesses, churches, schools. You witness the desperate search for missing loved ones, and joy when reunions occur and the overwhelming grief and agony when they do not.

Highly. highly recommended.

 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

In the terrifying hours that began on April 3rd, 1974 and ended on the 4th, a total of 148 massive tornados would wreak havoc in North America, from southern Ontario down to Alabama, Illinois to Virginia. It is surprising that more were not killed in the fury, given the devastation. In total over 300 lives were lost, but that is still 300+ too many. This "perfect storm" so-called by experts, will happen every 500 years or so, according to their estimates.

Here the author focuses on Limestone County, Alabama. We are given a history of the area and he introduces the people going about their lives until suddenly they aren't anymore because their whole world has changed. Levine focuses here because it is in this county that eight of the tornados touch down. One of the eight is an F5 and another is either an F4 or F5, though it was never fully determined which.

I appreciate the author's use of the science behind what makes a tornado happen and I feel like he explained it in a way that those with less knowledge than weather nerds like me have can still understand. The tornados come, lives change forever, and all the survivors can do is bury the victims and try to move on. It is as heartbreaking as it is compulsive to read. He makes the survivors so real as he sets their lives on these two days against the backdrop of the US at the time. Think of 1974 and all that the US was dealing with, as well as Alabama specifically. He paints quite a picture of figurative upheaval coupled with literal upheaval, and does so with the utmost compassion. There is nothing voyeuristic here as he relates the stories of the people who survived, and what they went through in order to do so.

Highly recommended.

 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Perhaps the best account of the absolute clusterfuck that was Superstorm Sandy. The storm was so massive, even scientists aboard the International Space Station were singularly focused on it as is stretch for literally hundreds of thousands of square miles. No one knew what to call it after it morphed from a tropical storm into the monster it became and absolutely no one knew how to prepare for it because they could not decide what it was, until it was too late to make any meaningful decisions. NOAA, the NWS, and the Coast Guard were constantly stumbling over themselves in regards to warnings and reports because the storm was so unprecedented.

The author does a fantastic job here of weaving together multiple points of view as those in power grappled with decisions they could not confidently make because the storm was constantly changing and morphing into something no one had ever seen before. As always there are heroes and villains, and everyone in between. The story specifically touches on the crew of the Bounty, a replica of the HMS Bounty that was not completely seaworthy even after some much-needed repairs, yet her captain took her straight toward the hurricane anyway. Some crew survived, bodies were recovered, though his was never found (this story is touched on in A Furious Sky, which I am also reviewing in this post, but much more information was included in this book than that one).

Overall I found this to be a very engaging read, though it was a bit dry in places when I was bombarded with acronyms and some technical aspects. I love weather stories but even I was a little bleary-eyed in parts where I was not sure what was actually being discussed. This is a thorough look at an absolutely devastating storm. I recall feeling that after reading this book there must be a better system put in place, so many lives could have been saved. But after reading A Furious Sky and seeing how many times we have said that exact phrase with each new kind of storm, I don't know that we will ever have a perfect system. Our world is changing rapidly due to climate change and these storms will always get worse. There is always a new big one coming and we honestly have no way to be 100% prepared for any of them that will most certainly follow. However, the author does well to point out that with better funding and better policies, those future situations could at least potentially result in better outcomes for the majority of people impacted. If everyone could just let NOAA do its job and give them the funding and technology to do so, we could be in a bit better shape at least.

 ⭐⭐⭐

This one tells the story of Moore, Oklahoma's complete devastation in May of 2013. The author grew up in Moore and as a child of Oklahoma it makes sense that she wanted to be a storm chaser. Instead, she became a journalist and returned home in the wake of the worst tornado ever recorded to find what was left.

Even as a journalist, certain choices in her writing style bothered me throughout, otherwise this would have easily been a four star read. She's a good writer and journalist, her reporting on the actual facts of surviving this monster are fantastic. Yet there was so much repetition on certain points that it became a chore at times to read. Everyone who has a fascination with tornadoes knows who Gary England is and it was unnecessary to constantly remind us of who he is and what he does. I understand doing so the first time for those who might be unfamiliar with him, but seriously. He's pretty much achieved worship status in Oklahoma.

The most frustrating part of the constant repetition though had to do with the children who were in school when the tornado struck. Everything was tiny.  Tiny tiny tiny. Tiny chairs and tables, tiny bodies, tiny faces, tiny bathrooms. Tiny tiny tiny. This was so unnecessary to convey the complete vulnerability of these children and bordered on ridiculous. Even use of a different word would have been helpful because, GOOD LORD!

The majority of the book, however, is a good read and at times you feel like you are there in the midst of this monster, trying to survive. The lead-up itself was a bit slow but once we are in it, the pace moves quickly and you are whisked from location to location to survey the damage.

Recommended.

 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Just finished this one yesterday afternoon, could not put it down!

The author dives deep in the US history of hurricanes, going back through historical records to see how these monstrosities were written about, what progress was made along the way and by whom, and with what tools and instruments, and so on.

It is kind of embarrassing to admit that I've never really given a thought to how people hundreds of years ago dealt with this kind of weather phenomenon and how they viewed these storms. I learned much about these early hurricanes that remained nameless - and of the how the naming system we have today functions. I knew previously that lists are drawn up a couple years in advance, containing male and female names. I had no idea that prior to this, hurricanes were given strictly female names - and in that era the headlines about said hurricanes were as gross as one can imagine as misogyny gleeful abounded in the form of all sorts of ridiculous adjectives.

Dolin opened my eyes to just how impactful these storms were in the early days of our country - and the time before we were even that. As a result of hurricanes striking, it seems that this is one of the reasons Spain was unable to get a foothold in any farther than Florida. Not to mention the fact that these storms also played major roles in helping us win the Revolutionary War.

The author does a masterful job tracing the developments of scientists as they worked to understand these live-altering events. So many men who I had never heard of (so you know that there are women involved whose names we will never know as a result) contributed greatly to the field of hurricane study. It will surprise no one that Benjamin Franklin was in on the action as well.

Yet even for all the progress we have made in predicting and tracking hurricanes, we will be our own downfall.

Much like I mentioned in the Hurricane Sandy review, we will never have a perfect system because of our own impact on our planet. Climate change is making these storms deadlier and deadlier each year. If we do not make changes NOW, and some scientists warn we are already past the point of no return, then things will get worse - something likely unimaginable to those who survived the Galveston Hurricane in 1900. The official count remains around 6,000 killed, though given the timing and the fact that Galveston was a perfect summer vacation spot, we will never know how many truly died in what remains the worst natural disaster in our history.

Despite being such a massive undertaking to succinctly lay out our five-hundred year history in relation to hurricanes, I feel Dolin has done a fantastic job with what must have been an overwhelming amount information to work with. With recovery after these major events, there are many societal issues raised as it quickly becomes obvious that there is inequality in the way resources are dispersed among various communities all devastated by the same storm. One must only look to Katrina to see this is full view.

Highly recommended.

Book Review | Eruption: The Untold Story of Mount St Helens

Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐

This isn't simply a retelling of the day Mount St. Helens erupted and killed 57 people. It is the story of everything that came before, the stripping of the land, the greed, and a governor who did not do anything to protect those who lived or travelled near the mighty volcano.

I can never pass up a book about a natural disaster. I think what I am drawn to is that nearly every time, there are things that could have been done to prevent a horrible loss of life. Not always, but in many cases. Usually we also find that so and so knew of the dangers, and for one reason or another, failed to inform the public to protect their own interests, money, etc. This eruption occurred three years before I was born, so that is yet another reason I am fascinated by Mount St. Helens - it is an event that marked a clear before and after of the area and people it impacted.

A little background quick for those unfamiliar with the event/not from the US:

In 1980 there had been literal rumblings for months that Mount St. Helens in Washington (the state) was going to erupt. Scientists were keeping careful track of the stratovolcano that was part of a massive volcano chain connected to the Cascadia fault which runs for 700 miles along the western coast of the US. On that fateful day in May when she finally erupted, it was any event that had been witnessed in a very long time. The entire top of the mountain disappeared with the force of the eruption, hundreds of miles of forests were decimated, and ash covered eleven states as well as five provinces in Canada. Dozens of people were killed, even miles from the summit. It completely stunned everyone with a stake in the game.

Yet, as survivors, scientists, journalists, and politicians began to sift through the destruction, the victims and survivors alike were blamed for their deaths, injuries, and misfortune. The public was told that they'd ignored road blocks and warnings, chose to put themselves in harm's way for a day of fun, a week of camping, whatever. This could not have been further from the truth.

The book is divided into seven parts to explain in great detail the before, during, and after of the eruption. And when I say 'great detail', I truly mean it. The amount of research here is extraordinary.

The very beginning offers us a look into the two months prior to May's violent eruption. We meet scientist Dave Johnston, a volcanologist tracking all that was going on with the sleeping giant. That March, she was slowly waking up and Johnston was keeping tabs on what was happening, and also projecting what could be coming in the near-future. Several small earthquakes preceded the big event, and on March 27th, after hundreds of earthquakes within the prior 11 days, the first eruption occurred, albeit much smaller than what was to come on May 18th. At this point we are also introduced to the Weyerhaeser logging company who owned vast tracts of land all over the area. When the March eruption occurred, there were approsimately 300 loggers working the area and they pulled back immediately. When the volcano quieted, they were sent right back to work, clearing the old growth trees, making what was to come even worse. The author takes time to go back even farther in time though, giving us a whole history of the area dating back to when European explorers first came to the area, destroying much of it to clear the land for profit.

Part two explores those two months in which the earthquakes and minor eruption occurred. Geologists gave repeated ignored warnings about what could be coming. Johnston and others were there to study what was happening, yet were completely ignored by the governor and others who could have done literally ANYTHING to keep people safe. Some of the studies showed just how powerful an eruption from Mount St. Helens could be, finding ash and pumice from previous eruptions several miles from the volcano. As the massive bulge on the north face of the volcano grew considerably, causing scientists to try to amplify their warnings, the governor did nothing. People were told it was safe. They continued their camping and hiking throughout the area, never knowing until it was too late the danger they were in. Had warning been given, it would have impacted the logging going on, and we all know how big businesses hate to lose profits.

In this section we also meet several individuals and families in the area who are there for work or pleasure. Young families camping, scientists studying the volcano, and those who had lived in the area for years. This is a great segue into part three which details conservation efforts and more about those in the immediate impact zones. At this point the author provides a map and list of those we've read about, showing who was in the area and would become the first victims.

In parts four and five detail the eruption itself and the rescue/recovery efforts after. We get a whole slew of perspectives - the final moments of many of the 57 victims, as well as the efforts of survivors to, well, survive. With the eruption occurring on a Sunday, the area was not nearly as populated as it might have been. On any given weekday, the mountain was the worksite of hundreds of loggers. While any death toll is unacceptable, it also could have been much worse. Rescue efforts were at many times hampered by the far-reaching devastation - mile after mile of railroad and highway destroyed. The flooding that came afterward also did not help.

The final two parts of the book cover what has happened in the years since the devastation of May 18th, 1980. Conservationists and logging owners went head-to-head, battling for the land that had just been decimated. The conservationists eventually won, and a national monument was created around the volcano, encompassing over 100,000 acres of land. This land is protected and has allowed for great study and insight into how ecosystems recover from such devastating events.

I admit that the beginning was far less interesting to me, and at times I had to skim. This does not mean that the early section on logging is not important - it is crucial in understanding the hows and whys of the governor's actions. But there came a point for me where I 'got' it and wanted to move on to the next section. Even so, it was a well-written and engrossing account. I was also impressed with the bibliography provided and will look into several of the titles and sources mentioned there. This is an excellent account and one that I feel anyone with an interest in natural disasters would find riveting, and especially those who live in the shadow of the giant.

I found this quote to be of special interest and will end with it, as it relates specifically to the victims of the eruption. I've included links with peoples' names so you can learn more about them, if you so desire. For nearly four decades the victims been blamed for their own deaths, and it is far past time to lay those accusations to rest.

"But blaming the dead misrepresents the facts and insults the memory of the victims. It doesn't even make sense. Was ham radio operator Gerry Martin, perched above South Coldwater Creek to warn others of an impending eruption, breaking the law? Would the Killians break the law to go camping at Fawn Lake when they couldn't even see the volcano from there? If the volcano had blown up twenty-four hours later, would the hundreds of loggers who would have died be responsible for their own deaths? No one was acting illegally because there was no law to break. None of the people camping around Mount St. Helens that morning went around the roadblock on the Spirit Lake Highway. And because the red and blue zones ended at the Weyerhaeuser's property lines, police officers did not even try to keep people off the Weyehaeuser land. The extension of the blue zone sitting on Dixy Lee Ray's desk Sunday morning would have helped get people out of the danger zones, but who nows if she would have signed it. She later said that she didn't believe in the blue zone: 'It's like, you can't be half pregnant...You have a place you say people should stay out of, but not a sort of half-assed place, where they might and they might not. I never did accept the concept of a blue zone.' Only three people were in the red zone, and two of them - Bob Kasewater and Beverly Wetherald - had permission to be there. In fact, the only person who broke the law was the one person who emerged from the disaster with his reputation relatively enhanced: Harry Truman" (54%).

Highly recommended.

Mini Reviews | Natural Disasters

Much like my most recent post discussing books about man-made disasters, I think I am devouring books on natural disasters for some of the same reasons. We have to be hopeful, we have pray, and we have to do the things we are required to do in order to keep ourselves, our families, and our communities safe. 

 ⭐⭐⭐

This was a brief account of a devastating hurricane that struck the Cedar Keys at the end of the 19th century. I always find it interesting how natural disasters were watched and communities recovered from them long before technology came along that could help either process. In the time before hurricanes were given names, they were simply numbered, and Hurricane Number 4 did quite a number on Cedar Keys. The destruction crippled the island. Buildings and people were washed away with ease.

This is another factual account, written as such without a narrative style that many seem to prefer when reading non-fiction. The author uses many firsthand accounts to describe what happened to the people that early morning, and many photos as well. The book is fairly short, and I feel like this is because there is simply not as much information about this event than there are of those that came later, even by a few years. Still, it is a decent introduction into the disaster.
Recommended.

 ⭐⭐

This book started off really strong and I was impressed by the wealth of information that the author had access to. She weaves an incredible story of a town that expected rain and instead were confronted with a massive F5 tornado that claimed dozens of victims by the time it was over. The town of Rocksprings was small, less than one thousands people. Many had plans that evening to attend a show that evening at the school. Instead, their plans changed the moment hail began raining down on them, smashing windows and roofs. It took less than ten minutes to flatten nearly the entire town, kill nearly 80 people, and injure more than 150. What makes this all the more worse is that some of the victims were never found, and I can't imagine dealing with that kind of pain, knowing that you were not able to protect your loved ones, and had to live the rest of your life never knowing where they came to rest.

Those who were not injured sought to help immediately, however they could. There was a story of two men leaving town to get help. Due to the heavy rains, roads were very slick. They told how the car slid, ended up rolling twice before landing right side up again, and off they went to get helped for their community.

The author told the actual story of the tornado and its destruction so well, using so many sources - historical records, newspaper accounts, personal accounts - that is was deeply disappointing in the way the rest of the information was laid out. The story was told in chronological order, so naturally the most content was devoted to that date and the events that occurred then. Eventually the dated sections became brief statements of how people died, or other connected events as we moved further away from April 12th, 1927. The final section was the dedicated to each of the families impacted and conveyed so much of the same information already found elsewhere in the text. The only additional facts provided were what, if anything, was known about those families long after the tornado.

Recommended with caution, due to repetitive information in final section of book.

Book Review: Into the Storm: Violent Tornadoes, Killer Hurricanes, and Death-Defying Adventures in Extreme Weather

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

Just an aside before we get started, I find it rather fitting that I am writing this review today, of all days, when one of my favorite movies of all time premiered in theatres:

I used to think Reed Timmer was just another egotistical boneheaded adrenaline junkie. Turns out he still is, but he is also far more intelligent than I have previously given him credit for and I ended up not being completely put-off by his book.

I used to love watching Storm Chasers, though Reed drove me crazy (and Sean Casey, don't even get me started!) because he would take such huge risks that always seemed in the end not quite worth it. Almost dying one hundred times just to get the closest shot possible is just not a risk I want to take. Timmer is free to do that of course, and I don't think for him it is a matter of wanting to, but needing to. he makes it clear in his book that he HAS TO chase every storm he possibly can. And that's fine for him. But there were a couple stories he recounted in his book where he made that decision not only for himself, but for the people chasing with him and that was unfair. Putting yourself in danger is one thing, but making that choice for others is not cool, especially when they have made it clear they do not want to be put in that position.

There is no denying that Reed Timmer is intelligent about how the weather all works. The book is an easy read and he pretty clearly explains the basics so readers understand how tornadoes and hurricanes come into being. He also includes a glossary at the end of the book that readers might find helpful if they forget what something means.

Prior to this, I knew nothing of Timmer besides the antics I saw on the show - and also that he now has himself a nice little weather-related empire after starting his website tornadovideos.net so many years ago. It really worked out for Timmer that he was just getting into the weather video game so to speak, as YouTube was a little fledgling thing; that timing could not have been more perfect. While that's all well and good now, in the book Timmer (or, his 'co-author') recounts how this all came to be. He was a freshman at OU and was bored by the basics in his intro classes because it was stuff he already knew. Despite this kind of statement, I did not interpret that as any kind of bragging. It's pretty obvious in any field that if you are really, really interested in something, an intro course will not be a whole lot of fun for you. That would be like expecting me to sit through a semester of an Intro to Medieval History class - I'd want to be up there teaching the class for myself. But, anyway, Reed didn't want to be up there teaching, he wanted to be out in the field, chasing storms. He did so throughout his undergraduate and graduate days, dragging along a variety of friends and acquaintances. Some knew what they were getting into, some did not, and some probably would never go back out with him again. Throughout this time Timmer scrapes together money selling videos, quickly learning how many times he can sell footage, and how to make the most of the film he's got. 

One topic Timmer does not shy away from is that of his relationship to others in the same field, those who felt and may still feel that Timmer's recklessness are a detriment to what they do. He's been accused more time than anyone can count of taking risks he does not need to, nor should not take. I never got the impression that Timmer felt like he was above this criticism. He is very honest about this and that he understands why they are concerned, but also that he is doing things his way. I think he does want to be accepted, or at least did in those early days, by the more traditional storm-chasing community, and it wasn't as though he did not listen to what they were saying. Even so, he has this almost uncontrollable impulse to go farther and deeper into a storm every single time, which will always put him at odds with much of the rest of his field.

Timmer is passionate about what he does and that comes through on pretty much every page. It would be interesting to read new material about his more recent adventures in the last nine years or so since this was published.

Recommended.

The 1959 Yellowstone Earthquake

Rating: 4 Stars

This was an incredibly compelling read about an earthquake that I never knew even happened. It was such an engrossing read, I could hardly put it down. This was not just an old earthquake either, so the fact that I went this long without hearing about it is kind of alarming. It was a 7.5 quake that killed 28 (possibly 29) people and injured scores of others. Most of the victims never stood a chance, the moment the mountainside gave way and sent an avalanche down onto several campsites in the area. The force of the wind was so strong, it literally ripped clothing off victims and survivors alike. In the aftermath a lake was created by this quake, named Earthquake Lake, which still exists today. With the quake came the threat of the dam in the Madison River Canyon bursting, which would have potentially killed another 200 people trapped there. Only adding to the chaos and confusion was that this occurred near midnight on August 17th, so survivors were forced to search for friends and family in the dark.

The narrative moves back and forth, following various friends and families out on summer excursions, enjoying their vacations. Interspersed throughout were photos taken before, during, and after. I did not mind this way of storytelling at all, as I feel like it helped create kind of a sense of chaos, which is exactly what the survivors would have been feeling. I could see the scenes playing out in my head, much like you would see on a show or in a movie, with the angles jumping back and forth from one story to another.

I appreciate when photos are used to maximize their value, instead of being all lumped together either in the middle of a book, or at the end. I think it does a disservice to the story, and lucky this text suffered no such problem.

For as much as I complain about technology ruining our lives (ironic, right, as I type this on my laptop about a book I read on my Kindle), situations like this make me appreciate what we do have. I can not even imagine the fear that gripped those who knew their loved ones were camping in the area and had no idea if they were safe or not, once word got out that the massive earthquake had occurred.

When tragedy like this occurs, we often see the very best and worst of humanity. Luckily, I feel like here we only saw the best. Complete strangers banded together to help in any way they could, sometimes while injured themselves. Pockets of survivors worked together, knowing it might take a while for help to reach them.

In addition to the plethora of photos from the period, the author also relies on eyewitness accounts, news paper articles, and official records that detailed the event. I can never say it enough, contemporary sources are KEY.

Fast-paced story telling that keeps you interested the whole way through. Highly recommended.

The Man Who Caught the Storm: The Life of Legendary Tornado Chaser Tim Samaras

I received a free ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Rating: 5 Stars

Let's just get this out of the way right now - this book is one of my few 5 Star reads of the year and it was fantastic. I could not put it down. I mean, I was forced to when I had to go to work and such, but the book was an awe-inspiring glimpse into the life of a man who KNEW tornadoes and that ultimately cost him his life.

I've lived in the Midwest my whole life, Minnesota and Nebraska. I have been very lucky to have never actually crossed paths with a tornado, but they are terrifying nonetheless, as well they should be. As much fun as it is to go out and chase, this book and the death of Tim Samaras shows that even for the professionals, that choice can have tragic consequences.

Tim Samaras can easily be classified as one of the giants of the meteorology field, something quite remarkable for someone who never went to college. He was a man obsessed, determined to uncover the secrets that tornadoes still hold, working without tiring to understand this most dangerous curse Mother Nature has to offer. Time and time again, scientists did their best to figure out the inner workings of these beasts, with no success. it was not until Samaras arrived on the scene with inventions and tools of his own making that would get man closer than ever before to the phenomenon. Samaras took risks that many others wouldn't, and it paid off as data poured in. But the fact that he constantly escaped death honestly may have lead to his belief that he would always be able to outrun the fury.

There is much to appreciate in this book. I am rather fascinated by tornadoes, and first 'met' Tim Samaras when watching Storm Chasers years ago. I knew him from this and various other documentaries and I remember clearly his enthusiasm for his subject that he never seemed to tire of. That commitment and passion is admirable, especially when one continued to accomplish the things he accomplished, yet he kept pushing the limits because there is still so much more to know. Seeing the non-weather side of Samaras, catching a glimpse of him at home, with his family, provided a more complete picture despite the main focus being on Tim and his tornadoes.

Another aspect I appreciated was the fact that I actually understood what the author was talking about when explaining the scientific 'stuff'. I know so many of the important 'tornado words', but understanding some of the complexities would have been more difficult had the author not explained things in an easy-to-comprehend way. I don't shy away from complex topics, but while I love science, we have never been great friends (kind of ironic when one of my best friends has papers published in Science Magazine. I dutifully read his work, understanding very little except the punctuation marks and walking away with the vague notion of 'lasers'. But I read them! Can't say I am not a dedicated and loyal friend.)

The author's narrative flowed well and I could picture what was going on as we moved from chase to chase to chase. it never got tired or boring, it was a fast-paced move, trying to keep up with Samaras as he pushed himself further and further. He had to know everything about this most stunning and destructive creation. I suspect that based on the work Samaras did, we will one day know all there is to know about tornadoes. Current and future storm chases can build on his work and go farther than anyone thought possible. What an amazing legacy.

A History of Civilization in 50 Disasters

Rating: 4 Stars

Review:

I have this habit of going through the new release section of the public library catalog and putting a bunch of books on hold that I am interested in. Half the time, the books end up being YA/juvenile, despite me clicking specifically on the history section on the adult list. Sometimes I read the book anyway and this is just such an occasion.

First, I love these kinds of history lessons, these sort of lists that look at some sub-section of human history and how those pieces matter and come together to form one aspect - another good one is 'The History of the World in 100 Objects'. Very interesting.

Anyway, despite being about a depressing subject matter, the content was highly interesting and worked well for an adult, as easily as it would for a YA reader. The book covers a wide range of topics, from earthquakes, plague, volcanoes, to a molasses flood. For real. A flood of molasses. It would be funny if people had not died. I guess the phrase "Slower than molasses in winter" is not really accurate after all. I don't say this to be cheeky, I had never heard of this disaster and it was very interesting, I love that Santorini, the burning of Rome, and Pompeii were included, though the majority of the disasters that the author focused on were 13th century and beyond. This makes sense of course, those darn dinosaurs Neanderthals never bothered to write anything down.

Each chapter is between two and four pages long, so not overly detailed for the intended audience, but still giving enough information to keep the reader interested. This would be a great resource for research, or for a reluctant reader to find topics that might be of interest to them. In addition, there are a few further resources - a glossary for readers who might be unfamiliar with the terms in the book, and additional resources related to each topic, as well as a brief introduction to the research process. There are also tons of maps and photos throughout, great color photos that add to the content.

I like this series, I think it is an interesting way to hook those readers who have had a hard time finding things that they want to read about. Short chapters, with addition resources if they do find something of interest.

My only real, tiny complaint is in the form of the 50th disaster - it was actually called 'Disaster in the Making' and discussed climate change in our century and the possible ensuing consequences that will come if we do not reverse course and try to get global warming under control. So really, this is not actually a disaster that has happened, but one that is in the process of happening as I type this review. And even then, this is not major - more of an aside.

I recommend this both for those YA readers looking for something engaging, and those who are interested in learning more about these types of disasters and how they have impacted our history.

The Storm of the Century: Tragedy, Heroism, Survival, and the Epic True Story of America's Deadliest Natural Disaster: The Great Gulf Hurricane of 1900

Rating: 2.5/3 Stars

Review:

First, the title. While I love Erik Larson, even his titles are sometimes too long for my taste, and they are not even that long. But THIS ridiculousness is just that. I mean, it is absurd and bordering on comical. THE SUBTITLE HAS A SUBTITLE. It was almost enough to make me not even bother with the book, because books with stupidly long titles tend to be on the pretentious side and no one likes too much pretension. Luckily, the book itself is written very simply, almost too simply for what the title implied. Does that even make sense? Oh well, it makes sense to me at least.

This is by no means the worst book I have ever read. Though it is certainly written in such a way that 'popular' history is, to make is easily accessible, there are some good things here. I did like that the book introduced and focused on specific citizens of Galveston prior to the hurricane. Though as I have said in other reviews, when there are children involved, that always seems to tug at my heart more and the moment we meet little Louise, I had to flip to the end to make sure she survived. I'm not sure I could have continued reading if she hadn't. It is one thing to think about the destruction and death in general terms, because in that way the victims are nameless. But when you get more personal, it is even harder to comprehend or accept tragedy on this scale. I don't mean to make that sound impersonal, but it does make the reading of events easier to stomach.

The book moves very quickly and I read it in almost one sitting. It menaders back and forth between Galveston, meteorology, and the path of the hurricane. I found this to be interesting, though was less interested in the meteorology in general. Once again American arrogance shines through brightly, and the warnings from Cuba are silenced and ignored. It is infuriating that so many lives could have been saved had they just listened. It is heartbreaking to think of all these people going through such trauma and tragedy, for nothing.

I am especially interested in reading more about Issac Cline. It is a wonder he was able to continue in his job after losing his wife and unborn child in the storm, and some of the blame can surely be laid directly on his shoulders for denying the necessity of building a seawall to protect the island city. He was arguably the best weatherman in the country and his opinion was naturally highly valued. Had the seawall alone been built, even if the warnings from Cuba still been ignored, who knows what difference that might have made. I understand that in that time they were of course operating with the best scientific understanding of the time, and hindsight is always 20/20, but I imagine that burden might have been difficult to carry for the rest of his life.

I am wavering back and forth between 2.5 and 3 stars on this one. It really was okay, and it is not that I didn't like it at all, I just have a feeling that after I finally get around to reading Larson's version (Isaac's Storm), everything else will pale in comparison.