Windswept: The Story of Wind and Weather
by Marq de Villiers

Although sometimes enormously destructive, wind is also is one of the elements that make life on Earth possible. Without it, the intense solar radiation beating down on the tropics would have no way of escaping. Wind warms the higher latitudes and moderates the equatorial regions, and it carries evaporated moisture from the oceans to the land, where it descends as rain. Wind, therefore, sculpted the rivers that nurtured the earliest of human civilizations. Even hurricanes, it turns out, are an essential part of the planet's self-regulatory system.

Winds not only taught us to sail, they taught us to fly. Winds and their distribution patterns have to some extent dictated which nations became rich, and which remained poor.

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 presenting dramatic personal stories of people's encounters with gales and storms, including his own near-misses. Although we have made great strides in understanding how wind affects weather, there is much left to learn about how global warming and pollution may impact wind. The stakes are high because, clearly, anything that affects the winds eventually affects human life.

Regularly: $25.00  Now: $20.00  Save $5.00 (20%)

ZN4692    Windswept: The Story of Wind and Weather              $20.00

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