Surviving
Extreme Weather, by Gerrie McCall
Surviving Extreme Weather
may look like a boring textbook, but don't be fooled! Gerrie
McCall's excellent manual is as riveting as a thriller. Every
time I picked it up thinking I'd spend a few minutes browsing,
it sucked me in with its compelling, well-researched, not-found-anywhere-else
information. It doesn't matter that most of us will probably
never be adrift in shark-infested waters or require Inuit techniques
for melting ice into drinking water. It's fascinating to learn
about skills you never knew existed. In addition, I found I
had a lot to learn about how to stay alive in a tornado or a
flash flood.
The book contains over 120
black-and-white drawings illustrating techniques and solutions
that anyone faced with life-threatening weather situations
can use. The prose is simple and easy to understand, (although
there are a number of UK-influenced word styles - for example
"torch" instead of "flashlight" and "caravan"
instead of "mobile home") but McCall does a good
job of providing most of the equivalent American forms of
these words in the text.
The first two chapters provide
valuable tools for understanding weather maps and include
a comprehensive overview of basic meteorological concepts.
When you complete these two sections, you will have a much
better understanding of the forces that combine to create
weather in your local area. The third chapter provides some
very useful tips for ensuring that your home is weatherproof
to the extent possible.
The balance of the book presents
tips, drawings, and narrative accounts from survivors who
have encountered life-threatening extreme weather situations
including hail, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, extreme cold
and heat, and heavy snowfall. The author also shares techniques
for surviving if you get lost while hiking or find yourself
adrift at sea. Throughout the book, the author provides suggestions
for assembling human and pet survival kits to mitigate the
effects of various forms of extreme weather. Perhaps the most
useful information is the detail she provides about the effect
of specific conditions on the human body. Being able to recognize
weather-related health symptoms is a critical step to staying
alive, and this book provides plenty of information about
warning signs and specific steps you can take in the event
you are faced with a dangerous situation.
The author has also developed
a superb list of online resources for monitoring and responding
to extreme weather situations. Anyone living in North America
will be affected, in one way or another, by some of these
conditions, and Surviving Extreme Weather is an excellent
manual for learning how to respond to such threats. In addition,
this book is fascinating to read from cover to cover. Weather
is the one phenomenon that affects us all, and even if you've
never been in a threatening situation, Surviving Extreme
Weather will help ensure you're well-prepared when Mother
Nature starts playing rough.
Mark
Sedenquist
12/03
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