Description:
On April 12, 1934, the strongest wind ever known to blow across the face of the earth descended on Mount Washington, New Hampshire. The Big Wind, as it was called, hasn't appeared with quite the same force since, but, writes Eric Pinder, Mount Washington gets plenty of powerful, downright nasty weather all the same. Pinder, a meteorological observer on the mountain, does many things in Tying Down the Wind. He offers a fine study of mountain meteorology, for mountains make their own weather; and he provides a fascinating natural history of that particular Appalachian spire, which sees millions of visitors each year. More than that, Pinder serves up wonderfully learned musings on some of the basic questions that children ask and adults are too often unprepared to answer. Why, he asks, is the night sky black? Why does the wind blow at all? He answers with notes on the planet's core, on the powerful ionic winds that blast from the belly of the sun, on planetary paradoxes (how can the sun be responsible for both heat and cold?), and on what thinkers through time have had to say about such matters. His answers are sometimes speculative, but always grounded in reliable data, much of which Pinder backs with anecdotes drawn from his own experiences on Mount Washington--which, though located in a temperate zone, is really a fragmentary Arctic island, meteorologically speaking. Imagine yourself kept indoors by inclement weather with a companion who has a keenly developed sense of how the world works, and who is all too happy to tell you about it. That's the kind of experience reading Pinder's book offers, and it's a treat. --Gregory McNamee
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