Big weather
Subtitle: chasing tornadoes in the heart of America
By: Mark Svenvold.
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher: Henry Holt
Published: 2005
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 289
ISBN-13: 9780805076462
Subjects: Tornadoes -- United States.; Tornades -- États-Unis.
Description: Following an eccentric band of storm chasers during tornado season, a writer delves deep into our fascination with catastrophic weather. Why is it that devastating weather--and tornadoes in particular--maintain a primal hold on our collective imagination? With his guide Matt Biddle, an Ahab-like veteran storm chaser, Svenvold draws a portrait of a culture enamored by extremes. Along the way, he encounters an assortment of characters out of a Fellini film, a subculture of catastrophilia. At the heart of the excitement are the awe-inspiring events themselves--a tornado that levels a small town, and the look back at the central Oklahoma tornado outbreak that included the single-most destructive tornado in US history.
Table of contents: title: Becalmed: dreaming of Yevtushenko; title: Weather talk; title: Children at play; title: Catastrophilia; title: Paparazzi del Cielo; title: Present progressive; title: A citizen's brigade; title: Good-bye, Wakan; title: Weather risk and the great folly; title: How firm is your foundation?; title: What would Jesus drive?