Storm by George R. Stewart
My rating: 3.75 of 5 stars
This is a unique novel, in that it follows a storm over the course of twelve days, from it’s birth to death. The storm is a main character – Maria (pronounced like Ma-RYE-a). This is an old book, written in the late 1930s, published in 1941 and it feels old.
Instead of one main character, we see glimpses of various lives and how they deal with the storm.
We see men at their jobs – from road crews, telephone men, airplane dispatchers, to the weather forecasting bureau. The make sure the infrastructure continues to run smoothly, despite the effects of the storm. We start with the weather bureau, the Junior Meteorologist, with his new scientific methods such as using a slide rule. There is the Load Dispatcher who maintains the electric power and water, keeping track of the rising level of water making sure the dams don't overflow.
Many of the men aren’t named, just called by their titles, such as the Chief Service Office who directs the planes, The General Manager overlooking the rail lines. Everyone’s job is very important to keep people out of danger.
We get glimpses of something that happens with the effects later on, such as an owl that accidentally is electrocuted. Later the weakened wire breaks, the linemen are called out to go fix it, with the details provided.
Certainly these jobs are still being done today, but in different ways. Probably with less people with more monitoring done remotely. They had people out there visibly checking the rail lines, the roadways, the waterways, and today I expect there are cameras or other sensing equipment.
Somewhat interesting book even though it was old, and lots of details on meteorological storms and how they could behave. Every storm is unique.
book reviews, mostly.
books pulled from the shelves and new ones flying through the door. Enjoy!
Thursday, December 21, 2023
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Previous Popular Posts
-
Fever by Deon Meyer My rating: 4 of 5 stars 4.25 stars Good, but a bit too much with the violence aspect...
-
City of Quartz: Excavating the Future in Los Angeles by Mike Davis My rating: 5 of 5 stars I have so ma...
-
Deep River by Karl Marlantes My rating: 4 of 5 stars Book read: December 9-23, 2019 This was an epic of a book. A long t...
-
Turtle Island by Gary Snyder My rating: 4 of 5 stars Not sure why it took me so long to re...
-
Why David Sometimes Wins: Leadership, Organization, and Strategy in the California Farm Worker Movement by Marshall Ganz My rating:...
-
Scottish Journey by Edwin Muir My rating: 4 of 5 stars While this is a travel journey around Scotl...
-
The 33 1/3 B-Sides: New Essays by 33 1/3 Authors on Beloved and Underrated Albums by Will Stockton My rating: 4 of 5 stars ...
-
Rabbits by Terry Miles My rating: 5 of 5 stars This book was a wild ride and I enjoyed it....
-
The Crofter and the Laird by John McPhee My rating: 5 of 5 stars This was an enjoyable small book. McPhee is descended fro...
-
Dreambound by Dan Frey My rating: 5 of 5 stars This book surprised me! It's a bit of a mystery...
No comments:
Post a Comment