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Windswept

The Story of Wind and Weather

Walker & Company, June 2007
ISBN: 978-0-8027-1519-7, ISBN10: 0-8027-1519-2,
5 1/2 x 8 1/4 inches, 352 pages, b&w/color illustrations throughout, plus inserts,
Trade Paperback, $14.95

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See All Categories Environmental Studies & Nature Environmental Studies & Nature - All Titles

Windswept is the story of humankind’s long struggle to understand wind and weather—from the wind gods of ancient times to early discoveries of the dynamics of air movement to high-tech schemes to control hurricanes. Marq de Villiers is equally adept at explaining the science of wind as he is at presenting dramatic personal stories of encounters with gales and storms. We have made great strides in understanding how wind affects weather, but much is left to learn about how global warming and pollution may impact the winds themselves. The stakes are high because, as Hurricane Katrina so vividly reminded us, anything that affects the winds eventually affects human life.

Praise

"Windswept moves breezily through the meaning of wind—what it represented for the ancients, and how it was personified as arbitrary and angry—to a history of our understanding of it, from early measurements of air pressure to the discovery that storms travel, and then on to the science of accurate measurement, the art of prediction and the appearance, on Jan. 11, 1954, of the first TV forecast. 'Well-coiffed weather people have been with us ever since,' the author writes. Some of the liveliest bits cover how wind smashes up structures and how it has been used for sailing, flying, cooling, grinding corn and generating power. Throughout, de Villiers stresses that winds are important agents of planetary self-government, and as such make life on earth possible. Winds, both gentle and giant, redistribute air, moisture and heat vertically and latitudinally, they scrub the air of pollutants, and they accelerate the movement of the great ocean currents that keep our planet stable."—The New York Times

"Fans of de Villiers' Sahara and Sable Island will revisit both windy places in this eclectic tour of the eternally kinetic atmosphere. Describing the historical perspective on wind in myth and modern science, de Villiers adopts Hurricane Ivan as his narrative sinew. Proceeding from the ancient Greek philosophers and their four elements to developments in scientific recognition of wind as the local manifestation of global weather fronts and eddies, de Villiers tracks Ivan's transformation in 2004 from Saharan nimbus to Caribbean calamity to blustery rainstorm in his Nova Scotia home. As Ivan progresses, de Villiers discusses the 'theater' of wind, the stage setting of the atmosphere's differentiation into layers and wind belts, and the unpredictable actors in meteorology that influence the course and strength of Ivan or any other storm. De Villiers also detours to consider notoriously devastating tempests, resumes with trends in weather prediction, and describes the technologies for harnessing wind energy. With an engaged, personal voice, de Villiers' appealing presentation taps the wide interest in weather."—Booklist

"Natural history author de Villiers combines science, mythology, history, and reminiscences in this engrossing survey of wind and weather. He examines subjects ranging from hurricane forecasting to wind farms, although some relevant topics (e.g., tornadoes, Mt. Washington's notorious winds) are given surprisingly short shrift . . . readers will enjoy his evocative writing and inclusion of myriad accounts of personal experiences with extreme weather. Appendixes include detailed explanations of various wind and storm scales and compilations of data on several different storm types."—Library Journal

"Wind is personal for de Villiers, winner of Canada's Governor General's Award for Water: The Fate of Our Most Precious Resource. A gust from a ferocious gale in South Africa came close to blowing him over a cliff when he was a child, a fearful experience that invests this articulate study of the history and nature of moving air with notable immediacy. Winds figure in the creation myths of almost all cultures, he notes. But it wasn't until the mid-18th century that scientists began to develop a cogent theory about wind and its relation to weather. Two centuries later, during WWII, high-altitude flyers discovered the jet stream and 'a real understanding of winds was, finally, in place.' De Villiers has marshaled an absorbing . . . array of historical, cultural, environmental and scientific facts to detail that wind, despite its destructive power, makes life on Earth possible. But the book's grace notes lie in entertaining did-you-know nuggets. Among them: a great storm that lashed London in 1703 caused windmill blades to rotate so fast that friction set them on fire; Cuban meteorologists, more advanced at the turn of the last century than Americans, warned fruitlessly about the path of the hurricane that devastated Galveston."—Publishers Weekly

About the Author(s)

Marq de Villiers

Marq de Villiers is the author of Sahara: The Extraordinary History of the World’s Largest Desert, Sable Island: The Strange Origins and Curious History of a Dune Adrift in the Atlantic, and several other books. De Villiers lives in Eagle Head, Nova Scotia.